Unanswered Questions

The case relating to the kidnapping and brutal murder of Daniel Pearl, the American journalist who belongedto the "Wall Street Journal", is getting curiouser and curiouser -- and murkier and murkier.

In the case as projected by the Karachi  Police investigators till recently, there were threeprincipal accused, who masterminded the act of terrorism, and three others who played a peripheral role onlyin the events relating to the dissemination by E-Mail of the photograph of Pearl in captivity with a list ofthe demands of the terrorists.

While Gen. Pervez Musharraf himself and the military-intelligence establishment projected the principalaccused as belonging to the Jaish-e-Mohammad (JEM) led by Maulana Masood Azhar, the Karachi Police continuedto project them as activists of the Harkat-ul-Mujahideen (HUM) and the Harkat-ul-Jihad- al-Islami  (HUJI)led by Qari Saifullah Akhtar, which, amongst all the Pakistani jehadi organisations, is estimated to have thelargest following in the lower and middle ranks of the Army.

The Police suspicion on the HUJI and the HUM was based on the modus operandi (MO) followed by thekidnappers for killing Pearl -- cutting open the throat and then beheading -- which, according to them, is notused by any other terrorist organisation in the Jammu & Kashmir (J&K) State of India, Pakistan orAfghanistan and on the known HUJI/HUM background of some of the dramatis personae.

Among the dramatis personae named by the Police as belonging to the HUJI/HUM were Omar Sheikh himself,Mansur Hasnain alias Imtiaz Siddiqui alias Hyder, Amjad Hussian Farooqui, and  Muhammad Hashim Qadiralias  Arif. The Police quoted Omar Sheikh as saying that Mansur Hasnain, a Pakistani Punjabi from theToba Tek Singh District of Punjab, was  the leader of the HUM group, which had hijacked an IndianAirlines plane to Kandahar in December,1999, to secure the release of Maulana Masood Azhar and Omar Sheikh. Omar surrendered to a retired ISI officer in Lahore on February 5, 2002.  Mansur Hasnain and Farooqui arestill absconding.  The peripheral accused have all been arrested.

According to the Police, Amjad Hussain Farooqui, also a Pakistani Punjabi,  belongs to the HUJI . The "News" of February 16,2002, quoted a Pakistani Police officer involved in the investigation assaying as follows on Farooqui: ": " He is a jehadi who has been mainly active in Afghanistan, but helives in Karachi.  The HUJI is the main Pakistani backer of the Taliban.  About 1,800 of its 5,000members were killed in northern Afghanistan during the US-led air strikes and the anti-Taliban NorthernAlliance offensive.  The HUJI members are believed to be part of a network of cells involved in thekidnapping.  The operation was planned very intelligently, using cells unknown to each other."

It was said that Muhammad Hashim Qadir alias Arif, a resident of Bhawalpur, whom Pearl met first, belongedto the HUM.  Omar Sheikh  reportedly  told the Police that the kidnappers operated in threegroups. Omar himself and Arif won the confidence of Pearl. Mansur Hasnain and Amjad Hussain Farooqui kidnappedPearl and kept him in custody and Omar, with the help of Adil Mohammad Sheikh, a member of the staff of theSpecial Branch of the Sindh Police, and his cousins Suleman Saquib and Fahad Nasim arranged for taking thephotograph of Pearl in custody, having it scanned and sending the E-Mail with his photograph to the media andothers making their demands.  According to the Police, Saquib and Nasim belonged to the JEM, therebyindicating the possibility that the kidnapping and murder might have been jointly planned and carried out bythe HUJI, the HUM and the JEM.

The HUM, the JEM and the HUJI are members of Osama bin Laden's International Islamic Front for Jehadagainst the US and Israel.  The HUM was designated by the US as a foreign terrorist organisation in 1997,but it has not so far been banned by Musharraf.  The US had designated the JEM as a foreign terroristorganisation in December, 2001. This was followed by an ostensible ban on the organisation imposed byMusharraf on January 15, 2002, and the detention of Azhar and about 500 of his followers, who have all beenreleased since then on the ground that there was no evidence of terrorism against them.

The HUJI, which is considered the most ruthless and the most anti-American amongst the terroristorganisations of Pakistan after the Sunni extremist Sipah-e-Sahaba Pakistan (SSP), which has also beenostensibly banned by Musharraf since January 15,2002, has not so far been banned.  Nor has the USdesignated the HUJI  as yet as a foreign terrorist organisation.

The HUJI was associated in 1995 in a coup plot with a group of Army officers led by Maj. Gen.Zahir-ul-Islam Abbasi, former head of the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) set-up in the Pakistani HighCommission in New Delhi in the late 1980s, who was subsequently punished by the late Gen.  Asif NawazJanjua, the then Chief of the Army Staff (COAS), for undertaking an unauthorised raid into an Indian Armyposition in the Siachen, which ended disastrously for the Pakistani Army.

The plot was detected in time and  Abbasi and other officers were court-martialed by Gen. Abdul WahidKakkar, the then COAS, and sentenced to various terms of imprisonment. Abbasi, who was and continues to be aclose personal friend of Musharraf, was released last year.  It is not known whether he has completed histerm of imprisoment or was the beneficiary of a remission given by Musharraf.  Qari Saifullah Akhtar andsome other leaders of the HUJI, who were also arrested by the ISI during the investigation of the plot, werenever prosecuted and were subsequently released.

Since his release, Abbasi has formed an organisation called Hizbollah and has been carrying onanti-American propaganda among ex-servicemen in different parts of Pakistan and trying to motivate the variousjehadi organisations to keep up their jehad against India and the US.

After the suicide bomb attack in Karachi on May 8, 2002,which killed 11 French experts working in asubmarine project, Khaled Ahmed, the well-known Pakistani analyst, wrote an article titled "The BiggestMilitia We Know Nothing About" in the prestigious "Friday Times" of Lahore.  In thisarticle, he stated as follows:

"ARY DIGITAL TV’s host Dr Masood, while discussing the May 8 killing of 11 French nationals inKarachi, named one Harkat al-Jahad al-Islami as one of the suspected terrorists involved in the bombing. When the Americans bombed the Taliban and Mulla Umar fled from his stronghold in Kandahar, a Pakistanipersonality also fled with him.  This was Qari Saifullah Akhtar, the leader of Harkat al-Jahad al-Islami,Pakistan’s biggest jehadi militia headquartered in Kandahar.  No one knew the name of the outfit andits leader.  A large number of its fighters made their way into Central Asia and Chechnya to escapecapture at the hands of the Americans, the rest stole back into Pakistan to establish themselves in Waziristanand Buner.   Their military training camp (maskar) in Kotli in Azad Kashmir swelled with new fighters andnow the outfit is scouting some areas in the NWFP (North-West Frontier Province )to create a supplementarymaskar for jehad in Kashmir.  Its ‘handlers’ (in the Inter-Services Intelligence) have clubbed ittogether with Harkatul Mujahideen to create Jamiatul Mujahideen in order to cut down the large number ofoutfits gathered together in Azad Kashmir.  It was active in Held Kashmir under the name of HarkatulJahad Brigade 111.

"The leader of Harkat al-Jahad al-Islami, Qari Saifullah Akhtar was an adviser to Mulla Umar in theTaliban government.  His fighters were called ‘Punjabi’ Taliban and were offered employment,something that other outfits could not get out of Mulla Umar.  The outfit had membership among theTaliban too.  Three Taliban ministers and 22 judges belonged to the Harkat.  In difficult times, theHarkat fighters stood together with Mulla Umar.  Approximately 300 of them were killed fighting theNorthern Alliance, after which Mulla Umar was pleased to give Harkat the permission to build six more maskarsin Kandahar, Kabul and Khost, where the Taliban army and police also received military training.  Fromits base in Afghanistan, Harkat launched its campaigns inside Uzbekistan, Tajikistan and Chechnya.  Butthe distance of Qari Saifullah Akhtar from the organisation’s Pakistani base did not lead to any rifts. In fact, Harkat al-Jahad al-Islami emerged from the defeat of the Taliban largely intact.  In PakistanQari Akhtar has asked the ‘returnees’ to lie low for the time being, while his Pakistani fighters alreadyengaged are busy in jehad as before.

"The Harkat is the only militia which boasts international linkages.  It calls itself ‘thesecond line of defence of all Muslim states’ and is active in Arakan in Burma, and Bangladesh, with wellorganised seminaries in Karachi, and Chechnya, Sinkiang, Uzbekistan and Tajikistan.  The latest trend isto recall Pakistani fighters stationed abroad and encourage the local fighters to take over the operations. Its fund-raising is largely from Pakistan, but an additional source is its activity of selling weapons toother militias.  Its acceptance among the Taliban was owed to its early allegiance to a leader of theAfghan war, Maulvi Nabi Muhammadi and his Harkat Inqilab Islami whose fighters became a part of the Talibanforces in large numbers.  Nabi Muhammadi was ignored by the ISI in 1980 in favour of Hekmatyar and hisHezb-e-Islami.  His outfit suffered in influence inside Afghanistan because he was not supplied withweapons in the same quantity as some of the other seven militias.

"According to the journal Al-Irshad of Harkat al-Jahad al-Islami, published from Islamabad, a Deobandigroup led by Maulana Irshad Ahmad was established in 1979.  Looking for the right Afghan outfit in exileto join in Peshawar, Maulana Irshad Ahmad adjudged Maulvi Nabi Muhammadi as the true Deobandi and decided tojoin him in 1980.  Harkat Inqilab Islami was set up by Maulana Nasrullah Mansoor Shaheed and was takenover by Nabi Muhammadi after his martyrdom.  Eclipsed in Pakistan, Maulana Irshad Ahmad fought inAfghanistan against the Soviets till he was killed in battle in Shirana in 1985.  His place was taken byQari Saifullah Akhtar, which was not liked by some of the Harkat leaders, including Maulana Fazlur RehmanKhaleel who then set up his own Harkatul Mujahideen.

"According to some sources, Harkatul Mujahideen was a new name given to Harkatul Ansar after it wasdeclared terrorist by the United States.  Other sources claim that it was Harkat al-Jahad al-Islami thathad earlier merged with Harkatul Ansar.  But relations with Fazlur Rehman Khaleel remained good, but whenMaulana Masood Azhar separated from Harkatul Mujahideen and set up his own Jaish-e-Muhammad, Harkat al-Jahadal-Islami opposed Jaish in its journal Sada-e-Mujahid (May 2000) and hinted that ‘you-know-who’ hadshowered Jaish with funds.  Jaish was supported by Mufti Shamzai of Banuri (Binori) Mosque of Karachi andwas given a brand new maskar in Balakot by the ISI.

"The sub-militia (of the HUJI) fighting in Kashmir is semi-autonomous and is led by chief commanderMuhammad Ilyas Kashmiri.  Its training camp is 20 km from Kotli in Azad Kashmir, with a capacity fortraining 800 warriors, and is run by one Haji Khan.  Harkat al-Jahad al-Islami went into Kashmir in 1991but was at first opposed by the Wahhabi elements there because of its refusal to criticise the grand Deobandicongregation of Tableeghi Jamaat and its quietist posture.  But as days passed, its warriors wererecognised as ‘Afghanis’.  It finally had more martyrs in the jehad of Kashmir than any othermilitia.  Its resolve and organisation were recognised when foreigners were seen fighting side by sidewith its Punjabi warriors.

"To date, 650 Harkat al-Jahad al-Islami mujahideen have been killed in battle against the Indian army:190 belonging to both sides of Kashmir, nearly 200 belonging to Punjab, 49 to Sindh, 29 to Balochistan, 70 toAfghanistan, 5 to Turkey, and 49 collectively to Uzbekistan, Bangladesh and the Arab world.

"Because of its allegiance to the spiritual legacy of Deobandism, Harkat al-Jahad al-Islami did notattack the Tableeghi Jamaat, which stood it in good stead because it became the only militia whose literaturewas allowed to be distributed during the congregations of the Tableeghi Jamaat, and those in the Pakistaniestablishment attending the congregation were greatly impressed by the militia’s organisational excellence. It contained more graduates of the seminaries than any other militia, thus emphasising its religious characteras envisaged by its founder and by Maulvi Nabi Muhammadi.  It kept away from the sectarian conflictunlike Jaish-e-Muhammad but its men were at times put off by the populist Kashmiri Islam and reacted violentlyto local practices.

"The leader of Harkat al-Jahad al-Islami in Uzbekistan is Sheikh Muhammad Tahir al-Farooq.  Sofar 27 of its fighters have been killed in battle against the Uzbek president Islam Karimov, as explained inthe Islamabad-based journal Al-Irshad.  Starting in 1990, the war against Uzbekistan was bloody and wassupported by the Taliban, till in 2001, the commander had to ask the Pakistanis in Uzbekistan to return tobase.

"In Chechnya, the war against the Russians was carried on under the leadership of commanderHidayatullah.  Pakistan’s embassy in Moscow once denied that there were any Pakistanis involved in theChechnyan war, but journal Al-Irshad (March 2000) declared from Islamabad that the militia was deeply involvedin the training of guerrillas in Chechnya for which purpose commander Hidayatullah was stationed in theregion.  It estimated that ‘dozens’ of Pakistani fighters had been martyred fighting against Russianinfidels.

"When the Harkat al-Jahad al-Islami men were seen first in Tajikistan, they were mistaken by someobservers as being fighters from Sipah Sahaba, but in fact they were under the command of commander KhalidIrshad Tiwana, helping Juma Namangani and Tahir Yuldashev resist the Uzbek ruling class in the FerghanaValley.  The anti-Uzbek warlords were being sheltered by Mulla Umar in Afghanistan.

"Maulana Abdul Quddus heads the Burmese warriors located in Karachi and fighting mostly in Bangladeshon the Arakanese border.  Korangi is the base of the Arakanese Muslims who fled Burma to fight the jehadfrom Pakistan.  A large number of Burmese are located inside Korangi and the area is sometimes calledmini-Arakan.  Harkat al-Jahad al-Islami has opened 30 seminaries for them inside Korangi, there being 18more in the rest of Karachi.  Maulana Abdul Quddus, a Burmese Muslim, while talking to weekly Zindagi(25-31 January 1998), revealed that he had run away from Burma via India and took religious training in theHarkat seminaries in Karachi and on its invitation went to Afghanistan, took military training there andfought the jehad from 1982 to 1988.  In Orangi, the biggest seminary is Madrasa Khalid bin Walid where500 Burmese are under training.  They were trained in Afghanistan and later made to fight against theNorthern Alliance and against the Indian army in Kashmir.  The Burmese prefer to stay in Pakistan, andvery few have returned to Burma or to Bangladesh.  There are reports of their participation in thereligious underworld in Karachi.

"Harkat al-Jahad al-Islami has branch offices in 40 districts and tehsils in Pakistan, includingSargodha, Dera Ghazi Khan, Multan, Khanpur, Gujranwala, Gujrat, Mianwali, Bannu, Kohat, Waziristan, DeraIsmail Khan, Swabi and Peshawar. It also has an office in Islamabad. Funds are collected from these grassrootsoffices as well as from sources abroad.  The militia has accounts in two branches of Allied Bank inIslamabad, which have not been frozen because the organisation is not under a ban. The authorities have begunthe process of reorganisation of jehad by changing names and asking the various outfits to merge.  Harkatal-Jahad al-Islami has been asked to merge with Harkatul Mujahideen of Fazlur Rehman Khaleel who had closelinks with Osama bin Laden. The new name given to this merger is Jamiatul Mujahideen. Jamaat Islami’s HizbulMujahideen has been made to absorb all the refugee Kashmiri organisations.  Jaish and Lashkar-e-Taybahave been clubbed together as Al-Jahad. All the Barelvi organisations, so far located only in Azad Kashmir,have been put together as Al-Barq. Al-Badr and Hizbe Islami have been renamed as Al-Umar Mujahideen, "

the article concluded.

The trial of Omar Sheikh and the peripheral accused has been going on in a special anti-terrorism court inHyderabad, Sindh, for more than a month, with neither the Judge nor the prosecution nor the defence showingany interest in an early conclusion.  Despite the provision in Pakistan's Anti-Terrorism Act thatrecording of evidence should be held on a day to day basis without adjournment and the trial completed withina week, the defence has been given one adjournment after another under some pretext or the other.

Moreover, Omar Sheikh, who had during the investigation confessed to his role not only in the kidnapping ofPearl, but also in the terrorist attacks on the J&K Assembly in Srinagar on October 1,2001, on the IndianParliament at New Delhi on December 13,2001, and on the security personnel outside the American Centre inKolkata (Calcutta) on January 22,2002, has now retracted his entire confession and has been denying any rolein Pearl's kidnapping.