The Pashtuni Rage

Suicide terrorism is nothing new in South Asia. The Sri Lankan Tamils belonging to the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) and the Punjabi Muslimsbelonging to the anti-Shia extremist organisations of Pakistan such as theSipah-e-Sahaba and the Lashkar-e-Jhangvi (LEJ) have been practising suicideterrorism for many years.

However, the Khalistani terrorist organisations of Indian Punjab, theindigenous Kashmiri terrorist organisations of India's Jammu and Kashmir(J&K), the terrorist/insurgent organisations of India's Northeast, theMaoist terrorist organisations of India and Nepal and the jihadi terroristorganisations of Bangladesh did not practice suicide terrorism. Pakistan'sInter-Services Intelligence (ISI) repeatedly failed in its efforts to persuadethe Khalistanis to take to suicide terrorism. Even in Pakistan, thenon-sectarian jihadi terrorist organisations such as the Harkat-ul-Mujahideen (HUM--previously known as the Harkat-ul-Ansar)-- theHarkat-ul-Jihad-al-Islami (HUJI) and the Lashkar-e-Toiba (LET) did not practicesuicide or suicidal terrorism till 1999.

The position started changing after Osama bin Laden shifted to Afghanistanfrom the Sudan in 1996 and formed his International Islamic Front (IIF) forJihad Against the Crusaders and the Jewish People in February,1998. The HUM, theHUJI and the LET,which joined the IIF, took to suicide or suicidal terrorismthereafter and introduced the virus into the Indian territory --initially inJ&K and then in other parts of India. So did the Jaish-e-Mohammad (JEM),which came into existence in 2000 due to a split in the HUM, and joined the IIF.But the small number of Indian Muslims, who joined these organisations, as wellas the indigenous Kashmiri organisations kept away from suicide terrorism. Theincident in Glasgow on June 30,2007, in which an Indian Muslim from Bangaloretried to crash a car filled with fuel and a gas cylinder into the local airportwas the first confirmed instance of the involvement of an Indian Muslim in anact of suicidal terrorism.

Almost all the Pakistani Muslims involved in acts of suicide or suicidalterrorism in the Indian territory were Punjabi and Mirpuri Muslims. Like theKhalistanis and other terrorist/insurgent organisations of India, the Pashtuns,who live on both sides of the Pakistan-Afghanistan border, did not believe insuicide terrorism. This modus operandi (MO) was not used by them against the Soviet troops in Afghanistan in the 1980s or against the troops of theGovernment of President Najibullah after the withdrawal of the Soviet troops oragainst the troops of the Northern Alliance headed by the late Ahmed Shah Masood.In fact, none of the ethnic groups of Afghanistan--the Pashtuns, the Uzbeks orthe Tajiks-- practised suicide terrorism.

Even the advent of bin Laden and his Al Qaeda into Afghanistan in 1996 couldnot induce them to take to suicide terrorism. That was why for killing Masood onSeptember 9, 2001, through an act of suicide terrorism, he had to depend on Arabvolunteers. However, the position has started changing after the US troopsstarted their military operations against the Taliban and Al Qaeda on October 7,2001. The Pashtuns and the Uzbeks also started practising suicide terrorism.Initially, it was the Pashtuns on the Pakistan side of the border, who took tosuicide terrorism against the Pakistani security forces in theFederally-Administered Tribal Areas (FATA). Then, the Pashtuns from both sidesof the border took to suicide terrorism against the Western and Afghan forces inAfghan territory. This was followed by small numbers of Uzbeks taking to suicideterrorism in Afghanistan as well as Uzbekistan.

The UN has made an interesting study on suicide terrorism in Afghanistan by ateam of competent professionals led by Ms.Christine Fair, formerly of the RandCorporation and now of the US  Institute of Peace, who is quiteknowledgeable on jihadi terrorism in the Indian sub-continent. The results ofthis study were released by the UN on September 9, 2007. According to thisstudy, the number of suicide bombings in Afghanistan  has increased from 17  in 2005 to 123 in 2006 and has already touched 103 till August 31,2007. The report added that  most suicide bombers were Afghan nationals,but received training or support in  Pakistan's tribal region where manywere recruited from madrasas (religious schools). Unlike the suicide bombers ofAl Qaeda, who came from a well-to-do and educated background and werewell-trained and well-motivated, those of the Neo Taliban came from poorfamilies and were poorly educated. According to the report,  although thevast majority of suicide bombers targeted  military and governmentestablishments, around 80 per cent of the casualties were innocent civilians.

The report  does not sufficiently highlight the following facts:firstly, the majority of the suicide bombers were Pashtuns-- Afghan as well asPakistani; secondly, while the Pakistani Pashtuns belonged mostly to the FATAand some to the North-West Frontier Province (NWFP), the majority of the AfghanPashtuns were from the refugee camps in Pakistani territory; thirdly, thesePashtuns took to suicide terrorism only after the US went into action against AlQaeda and the Taliban in Afghanistan and the US counter-terrorism actions--particularlythe disproportionate use of the Air Force and heavy artillery-- resulted in alarge number of civilian casualties; fourthly,  the Pashtun anger againstthe US increased after bombings on madrasas in the FATA located near the border,which were suspected to be training camps for terrorists, in which a largenumber of young students were killed;  and fifthly, though the PakistaniArmy took upon itself the responsibility for the bombings, the Pashtuns believedthat the bombings were actually carried out by the US troops based in Afghanterritory.

The Pashtun anger was  against the US as well as the Pakistani securityforces. The anger against the Pakistani security forces has further increasedafter the raid of the Pakistani military commandos belonging to the SpecialServices Group (SSG), to which Gen.Pervez Musharraf belonged, into the LalMasjid in Islamabad between July 10 and 13, 2007. In this raid, about 300 younggirls studying in a madrasa inside the masjid campus were alleged to have beenkilled. Practically all of them came from  Pashtun families of the FATA andthe NWFP.

As a result of this anger, there has been a surge in acts of suicideterrorism by the Pashtuns in Pakistani territory. These attacks initiallystarted in the FATA and the NWFP, but have spread to Islamabad, the capital,Rawalpindi, where the General Headquarters of the Pakistan Army are located, andTarbela Ghazi, where important establishments of the SSG are located.The Pashtunsuicide bombers have been targeting military and police personnel, though, as inAfghanistan, more  civilians than personnel of the security forces havebeen killed except in Rawalpindi and Tarbela Ghazi, where many personnel of thesecurity forces and the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) were killed. There hasalso been a large number of targeted killings of Pakistani army personnel by thePashtuns in South and North Waziristan, which has been covered up by thePakistani Army. For example, the BBC reported on September 17,2007,asfollows:"Pro-Taliban militants have killed 18 soldiers in Pakistan's tribalarea of North Waziristan, local officials say. The soldiers are believed to havebeen shot dead after being captured in fierce fighting in the Razmak area thatstarted last Thursday. "

The torrent of  anti-US anger in the Pashtun tribal areas has now beenjoined by an equally strong torrent of  anti-Pakistani Army and anti-Musharrafanger, with each aggravating the other. The Pakistani security forces haveliterally been reeling under the impact of this spreading prairie fire ofPashtun suicide terrorism. Not much is known about the identity of theindividual suicide bombers due to poor investigation by the Pakistani policeofficers. In fact, the Police officers are afraid of vigorously investigatingthese incidents due to a fear that they might themselves be targeted by futuresuicide bombers.

From the circumstantial evidence available from the Pakistani media andpolice sources, the following factors emerge: 

• While the suicide bombers have been coming from all Pashtun sub-tribes, the Mehsud sub-tribe of South Waziristan headed by Baitullah Mehsud has been contributing a large number.
  
  
• Many of the suicide bombers did not belong to any organisation. They were angry individuals acting as Jundullas or soldiers of Allah in order to give vent to their anger. However, the Pakistani media identifies them as belonging to the Pakistani Taliban or as pro-Taliban.
  
• While Al Qaeda has been exploiting this anger for its own purpose, there is no evidence to show that it has been orchestrating the wave of suicide attacks. All it has been doing is to keep the anger alive and encouraging Jundulla terrorism by disseminating video and audio messages praising the concept of martyrdom. On July 14, 2007, the day after the Pakistani military commandos captured control of the Lal Masjid, As-Sahab, Al Qaeda's propaganda and Psywar wing, had put out a video of past clips of Osama bin Laden and others, in which they had glorified martyrdom in the cause of Islam. "Arise wherever you are and martyr yourself"--that was the hidden message it  sought to convey. The  video's central message was: "‘By Him in Whose Hands my life is! I would love to attack and be martyred, then attack again and be martyred, then attack again and be martyred.’" The Pashtuns have been following this advice on both sides of the Pakistan-Afghanistan border.
  
  
• Many of the suicide bombers were not recruits for suicide terrorism, but volunteers. Some of them were self-trained while many were trained by the Uzbeks belonging to the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan and the Islamic Jihad Union or Group  in their training camps in the Mir Ali area of North Waziristan. The Mehsuds are strong supporters of the Uzbeks.There is no evidence of Al Qaeda training.
  
  
• The torrential flow of volunteers for suicide terrorism in the Pashtun areas shows no signs of abating.
  
  
• There has been very little involvement of Punjabi and Mirpuri volunteers in the latest wave of suicide terrorism.

"Recruits are formally registered  with the Taliban as suicidebombers and given a receipt indicating their registration number. At any givenpoint, there are thousands in line waiting to sacrifice their lives, an observerreturning from South Waziristan told the weekly. If one of them is selected tobe the next bomber, the news is a cause for celebration in his household. Onceconfirmation arrives of his death, the funeral prayers are substituted withcongratulatory messages for the family....Women, because of the Taliban's strictanti-wife-beating policy, are largely in favour of them..... This is part of thestrategy of winning over the mothers, who, according to the Taliban, have thegreatest influence on the child as he grows up. Women are thus actively involvedin the process of indoctrinating children in favour of the Taliban."

This Pashtun anger on both sides of the Pakistan-Afghanistan border can becontained and hopefully reduced only by a change in the presentcounter-terrorism methods of the American and Pakistani Armed Forces, whichinvolve a disproportionate use of force, resulting in a large number of civiliancasualties--particularly children studying in madrasas. It is alleged thatduring the last three years, at least 600 children studying in the madrasas havebeen killed by the Pakistani security forces during their bombings of tribalmadrasas suspected to be terrorist training centres, either on their own or atthe instance of the Americans. While no one can find fault with bombings ofclearly identified terrorist training camps, the bombing of madrasas because ofa suspicion that they are in fact terrorist training centres is adding to theanger.

B. Raman is Additional Secretary (retired), Cabinet Secretariat, Govt. ofIndia, New Delhi, and, presently, Director, Institute For Topical Studies,Chennai.