On the sprawling 200-acre complex that is the Markaz-e-Toiba at Muridke near Lahore, over 30,000 Muslim militants gathered to reaffirm the waging of a jehad against the world, particularly India and the US. The Taliban delegates from Afghanistan vowed never to hand over Osama bin Laden, the most-wanted FBI fugitive. The occasion was the three-day annual congregation-from November 3 to 5-of the Lashkar-e-Toiba, the military wing of its patron religious body, the Dawatul Irshad.
While locals usually go to the Markaz for arbitration of their disputes and sometimes of murders, the tented village that sprung up midway between Lahore and Gujranwala functioned like an Islamic state. Even passing vehicles weren't allowed to play music; TV, smoking and photography were entirely prohibited. The premises were heavily guarded by Lashkar soldiers armed with sophisticated assault rifles, machine-guns and rocket-propelled grenade launchers.
In fact, the high point of every such congregation is the presence of highly trained and motivated Lashkar soldiers and fiery speeches by various Lashkar commanders who narrate their battle experiences in places as far afield as Bosnia, Chechnya, the Philippines, Burma and Kashmir. The congregation concludes with a display of the soldiers' military skills, including field craft, stripping and assembling weapons, assault techniques and training.
Founded in '89 by Prof Hafiz Mohammad Saeed, the religious university of Dawatul has 500 offices in Pakistan, 40 teachers and around 800 students, from ages eight to 20, who are educated to propagate Islam and prepare for jehad. The Dawatul project was originally initiated by a group of traders; now funds come through small donations from ordinary Pakistanis.
Jehad, in fact, was the leitmotif in the speeches of the Lashkar leaders this time too as also was the fact that more than ever before, it is incumbent upon Muslims today to wage the holy war till all of God's earth is turned into Darul Salam (the land of peace). Explaining the philosophy to the assembled mujahideen, Adbul Rehman Al-Dakhil, the Lashkar chief in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir, said: "Islam permits the killing of kafir (infidels) while terrorists kill for establishing their own rule. If jehad is terrorism, we're terrorists."Also attending the congregation was the nawab of Junagarh, Mohammad Jahangir Khanji, who claims that his grandfather, Sir Nawab Mahabat Khanji, had announced Junagarh's annexation with Pakistan on September 15, '47 but the Indian army forcibly occupied the territory on November 9, '47. The Nawab is reported to have said (during a private meeting with Prof Saeed) that Junagarh was still a part of Pakistan and that Lashkar militants should strive for its independence as well.
The Lashkar high command does not believe in democracy and understands-ironically, better than Pakistan's political parties-that true democracy is underpinned by the twin concepts of secularism and constitutional liberalism in Pakistan. Its leadership had been vocal in its opposition to the Nawaz Sharif government for first inviting the Indian prime minister to Pakistan and later withdrawing the Pakistani troops from Kargil where Lashkar militants were fighting alongside the regulars.
"We reject democracy: the notion of people's sovereignty is anti-Islam,"declared Saeed at the Lashkar congregation. "Only Allah is sovereign."Another prominent Lashkar leader, Qazi Abdul Wahid, praised Gen Musharraf's military takeover, saying they had been fearing a major crackdown from the deposed regime.
The second day of the Lashkar congregation was marked by fiery anti-India speeches following three bomb blasts within the span of an hour, close to Muridke on November 4. The Pakistan intelligence agencies held raw responsible, claiming that two dozen raw agents including 14 women and 12 men were present at Muridke on the day of the blasts to create disturbance. The blasts (that left one dead, 35 injured) were seen as India's avenging the November 3 killings of eight Indian soldiers during a Lashkar attack on the 15 Corps headquarters in Srinagar.
THE explosions in Muridke, the first of their kind under the new regime, took place 22 days after the October 12 military takeover. They were seen as a repeat of the blasts that took place at exactly the same place on the same day last year. A powerful bomb had exploded in the Muridke main market on the second day of the Lashkar's '98 gathering, leaving six dead and 22 injured. The agencies also claimed the arrest of four raw agents involved in these blasts and allegedly recovered sensitive material and documents from their possession.
Prof Saeed called these explosions a cowardly retaliation by the Indian government. "The world should witness that while we targeted a military installation, the coward Indians responded by targeting civilians,"he observed. "The blasts were aimed at scaring mujahideen but Indians should know that such cowardly acts would neither bring down their morale nor their spirit of jehad."He hailed as a big success the Lashkar's Srinagar attack, saying: "This was a very effective strike and a big success in responding to the crackdown by Indian forces on unarmed Kashmiris."He said two of the four fidai attackers from Lashkar were killed and two others returned to their hideout.
Saeed in fact claimed that their fighters could even strike the Indian prime minister's office. "Listen Vajpayee,"he said, "if you do not withdraw your forces from Kashmir, if you do not stop atrocities in Kashmir, then we have given you a message by attacking the corps commanders' office in Srinagar. Whenever we want, we will storm your office too. The decision on Kashmir will take place on a battlefield and will be made by the mujahideen."
