Pakistan's Confused Militants

I was sitting with my family in an Indian restaurant in Queens, New York at our annual pre-Thanksgiving dinner as my eye occasionally darted up to the screen overhead with images of Mumbai's Taj Hotel smoldering on a Hindi-language satellite channel. I thought to myself "This has got to be a Lashkar operation" as the casualty numbers mounted. Then when a local ABC news crew began to interview the Indian family at the next table, I knew the militants had really awoken the somewhat slumbering global media in a way their last foray in India did not. In December of 2001, members of Lashkar-e-Taiba and another Pakistani group Jaish-e-Mohammed, jointly attacked the Indian Parliament in New Delhi. However, the world was largely focused on the war in Afghanistan and the ensuing Bonn conference at the time. Lashkar-e-Taiba is known and feared throughout South Asia as a brutal terrorist network composed primarily of Kashmiri irredentists and unreconstructed pan-Islamists. Their agenda has morphed over the last two decades since the group's inception in the 1980's with a focused agenda wresting the Indian administered portion of Kashmir from Indian forces to attacks on India's political and financial institutions.

To explain how groups such as LeT and JeM operate openly in Pakistan is to try to understand Pakistan's dysfunctional political discourse. I attended a rally earlier this year set up by several of the country's "big tent" Islamist parties who opposed Musharraf's rule for not being sufficiently strident toward India and the United States. After shooting photos at the all day affair, a Pakistani friend and I went over the images on my laptop later that evening. He began to comb over the photos tooth-and-nail to show me what I was not nuanced enough to realize earlier. Amid the crowds of demonstrators and on-lookers mixed members of some of Pakistan's most feared militant outfits. Members of Jaish-e-Mohammed, like LeT, a supposedly banned formation, mingled around in their distinctive headdresses consisting of a very specifically embroidered prayer cap wrapped in a stylized turban. "How could it be" I asked my friend "that these terrorists are walking around central Lahore openly and in front of the press, even standing next to Punjab police officers?" This rally was not being held by a group of nameless malcontents either. Some of the most prominent members of the political establishment were speaking including cricket world champion-turned-pundit Imran Khan and the leader of Jamaat-e-Islami, one of Pakistan's oldest Islamic parties.

Traditional militancy in Pakistan is in fact a viable part of the political culture. Most of the militant groups operate not against the government but rather in the government's interest of fomenting violence by proxy throughout the region. Militant groups that are genuinely against the government such as the once Marxist-leaning ethnic Balochi nationalists are painted by Islamabad to be pawns of India's Research and Analysis Wing (RAW), the Indian CIA. However, among opposition politicians operating nationally in Pakistan, there seem to be certain red lines which, when crossed by the central government, can be used to stir up rage against the leadership. Qazi Hussein Ahmad, the leader of Jamaat-e-Islami extolled his followers to never forgive the Musharraf regime for assassinating Nawab Akbar Bugti in the context of a military operation in 2006. Bugti, in life was anything but an Islamist in the fashion of Mr Hussein. Nawab Akbar Bugti was an ardent Baloch ethnic-nationalist. Essentially, Baloch dissidents want to secede and therefore partly dismantle the Pakistani state while Jamaat players seek to further consolidate Pakistan's Islamization which they believe has not quite gone far enough. In comparison, there is virtually no synergy between the two groups. The province of Balochistan is a population poor, resource rich backwater long neglected for most of Pakistan's independence. Walking down The Mall, Lahore's trendy shopping street, there are signs advertising "Pay Your Sui Gas Bill Online". The Sui natural gas field is in the Dera Bugti district of Balochistan and is precisely what the elderly Nawab Akbar Bugti was fighting over. Most of the gas produced in the Sui field is fed to Lahore and Karachi while Balochistan seethes largely devoid of infrastructure.

While the chanting of "Bugti, Bugti" by the mostly Punjabi (and entirely male) crowd was likely solely for propaganda purposes and obliviously ironic seeing as Nawab Akbar Bugti struggled much of his adult life against the Punjabi domination of Pakistan's military and bureaucracy, the very fact that his name was being roused in Lahore demonstrates the fluidity of non state and terrorist alliances within such a fractured country. Jaish militants yelling "Bugti Zindaband" or "Long live Bugti" are actually voting against their interests since the Nawab's narrow goals of Balochi liberation were diametrically opposed to their broader narrative of religious violence. Such are what passes for politics in Pakistan.

While Lashkar-e-Taiba's primary aims are launching attacks across the Line of Control toward the Indian military in Jammu & Kashmir, their stated agenda has become much broader. Like Jaish-e-Mohammed, LeT has been partly co-opted into a wider global jihadist milieu. In the evolution of the ideological basis of Kashmiri separatism, these groups have stated their interest in attacking the architecture of the Indian state itself. Beyond that, they have resorted deploring Hinduism in the fashion of anti-Zionist Arab and Iranian groups decrying Judaism as an apostasy that stands in the way of their territorial aspirations. In the most unoriginal way they have equated India, whose destruction has become their raison d'etre, with Israel as part of an archipelago of anti-Muslim neo-colonial powers asserting themselves to destroy the global (although highly fissiparous) Islamic community.

LeT and JeM might sound almost like an exotic, murderous cults to those not familiar with Pakistan, but when I visited the southern city of Bahawalapur as a wandering college student less than a year before 9/11, Jaish-e-Mohammed was running their head office in the city, loud and proud with a corresponding set of charity offices and religious institutions all over Pakistan. Pakistan has border disputes with both Afghanistan and India and its militant groups can be used to irritate both and can easily provoke the Indian military to shift hundreds of thousands of soldiers with an inexpensive, coordinated suicide attack carried out by just a handful of cadres. For Pakistan, these armed formations with clerical justification are relatively easy to foster or deny depending on the current levels of Indo-Pakistani tension. The attack on Mumbai by a group like Lashkar can have one of two effects: India and Pakistan can move their forces along the border in a tired and expensive show of force as in 2002 or Pakistan and India's respective civilian leadership can forge new ties in the name of counterterrorism and intergovernmental integration and work together, perhaps even with Kabul as a peripheral partner, to deescalate regional conflict. Let the international community encourage the latter.

Creating dramatic headlines on India's west coast is an immense distraction from the reinvigorated interest in the war in eastern Afghanistan. It also helps to highlight the fact that the American strategy of dealing with Afghanistan and Pakistan in isolation from Indo-Pakistani relations and their hot and cold war over Kashmir is a strategy that contains built-in obsolescence. Rather than keep the Kashmir dispute simmering on the foreign policy back burner, it is in fact Palestine writ large.

Comments

[Free-Baloch]

Derek.

It is an excellent article. The name of Late Nawab was used by these militants to further their cause of Religious nationalism to underminde Musharaff government and . It has to nothing to do with Baloch secular movement. The whole theory of Baloch Nationalist Movement entirely negates the very notion of Islamic and religious nationalism. Nawab Akbar Bugti was a beacon of secular Baloch movement to the end. We are all proud of late Nawab Akbar Bugti

[Mustikhan]

Thanks for the very superb article.

However, I am wary and rather scared by the single line: "the very fact that his name was being roused in Lahore demonstrates the fluidity of non state and terrorist alliances within such a fractured country."

As you know many here have have been misled by the Pakistani military and they barely differentiate between Baluch nationalists and FATA. This will give them one more reason to mistrust the secular Baluch national movement.

I shall appreciate if you may please clarify we the Baluch have no such alliances with any Islamists. Islam was used to enslave Baluchistan at the point of gun. We look upon founder of Pakistan Muhammad Ali Jinnah as an MI6 agent.

You may recall Nawab Bugti's interview in Christina Lamb's book Waiting for Allah in which he poophpooed the idea of 72 virgin angels and limitless wine for pious Muslim men by saying neither of the two will have an opening...­.

Best regards,
Ahmar Mustikhan
Journalist and founder, American Friends of Baluchistan

[kohprush]

Mr Derek I am quite surprised at your knowledge and insight about the peoples mindset in Balochistan, particularly about the late Nawab. This is indeed a good example of an article very masterfully done. Your knowledge on Balochistan was truly impressive.

[Meds]

Very informative, insightful, and thoughtful. Wow! Thanks Derek. And thanks Shrinath for additional points.

[rkb123]

This article seems to be written by two authors. The last twelve lines by one and the rest (the good part) by other. The conclusions drawn are at a disconnect with the rest of the commentary.

Kashmir is just an excuse for the ersatz nation of Pakistan to weaken India, spread Islam, maintain Pak army's relevance and distract its people from it's own failure as a state. To effectively fight terrorism the world needs to be intensely focused on Pakistan, its army and ISI. Bringing Kashmir into the equation will only give credence to terror and embolden the diabolical powers that actually run Pakistan. The geopolitics of the region is more complicated than the author realizes.

[riafern]

Srinath you are so right about Kashmiri Hindus and that these problems began only in the 80's when we had infiltrators who came & cause all this in Kashmir ...we had a beautiful state of Jammu & Kashmir ..my entire fly has been to Kasmir before all this mess ...I am an Indian christian & would never like to see my country give away pieces just b'coz some outside elements wish to divide us ..
Like America ,India needs to stand strong ...but also keep in Mind to get the local Muslim population involved ...we need to all stick together ...
I am from Goa where a lot of Kashmiris live ...they do not like the fighting ...they just want to go back ...
This is a created mess to get more recruits & money ...for their causes ..
It will not work in India
may peace & prosperity live ...Here (USA) & back Home (India)

[Shrinath]

You from Goa?? Cool. I was living in Merces, Goa when my father was posted there in the 80s!

[Shrinath]

Derek nice post. I would like touch upon two subjects. 1. It would be a horrendous mistake to equate Kashmir issue with I Palestine. I urge you to read the book by Dominique Lapiere if you not already done so. Until 20 years back all of Kashmir was part of India, contested but as a whole. Infiltration began in 1987 and slowly terrorism emerged. The Indian government was flat footed and its response was abysmal. What you have not touched upon is the fact that many Kashmiri Hindus fled their homeland after 1988. In fact, Jawaharlal Nehru (first PM of Republic of India) and family were from the then princely state of Jammu and Kashmir. In the ensuing romance of mixing socialism with democracy, Nehru began siding with then USSR. And the rest is history. The world needs to address the issue of terrorism in the stringent of measures both political, economic and with force. The democratic world needs to come together as one. Hopefully, under the Obama leadership that will happen

[Derek Flood - Huffpost Blogger]

Srinath, Thanks for your comment. I couldn't touch on everything in the post that is true. In fact, I spent a good bit of time with a Hindu Pandit family (like Nehru) while in Srinagar last year and got to know the story of the Kashmiri Hindus, many of whom have fled to Delhi and points south. Also, Kashmir was in fact not always a part of India as a political entity though it is obviously geographically part of the Indian subcontinent. Most of the world does not take the sentiments of the Kashmiris themselves into account. Their opinions are diverse and divided. Some want an independent Muslim state (which India would perceive as a blow to its pluralism), some want an independent secular state on good terms with India while others want to formally join India or Pakistan. Kashmir is not about the pride of politicians in Delhi or Islamabad nor the working class of Punjab or UP. It is about the Kashmiris. I compare it to Palestine because I believe it to be a larger and more intractable dispute. And like Palestine, much of J&K is under the world's largest military occupation.

[Shrinath]

Derek, all your points are duly noted. I agree with you on most counts. But consider this into account. If the Kashmiri problem does goes resolved, then the Pakistani politicians have lost a major arsenal in their political weaponry. The Pakistani economy is crumbling, the dis-enfranchised are in large numbers and a fraction of them are pliable enough that they are recruited for Jihad. I am sure none of this new to you as you have experienced it first hand. A solution to Kashmir will not happen until the political overlords of the region take into cognizance the wishes of the ethnic population. I also found this article to be quite enlightening. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/johann-hari/how-to-understand-kashmir_b_149443.html

Also O Jerusalem! by Dominique Lapierre and Larry Collins has thrown much light into the happenings in that region.

Both places are indeed heavily militarized zones. The normal life could he shattered in the blink of an eye. By the way it was Pt. Nehru who took the issue of Kashmir to the U.N. I really wonder if peace will be achieved during our lifetimes at least. I have lost faith in the politicians but still hold some regard for the unity of the people in this region.

[criticinnyc]

Wow! Insightful, in depth and impressively thoughtful commentary from someone who writes expertise, on the ground experience and cool analytical assessment. So very interesting and compelling.