Taliban’s cross-border attacks aim to create Pakistani-Afghan tension

By Zia Ur Rehman
For CentralAsiaOnline.com
2011-08-01

KARACHI – Pakistani and Afghan Taliban members have teamed up to attack both countries’ border areas, killing innocent residents and aiming to disrupt security co-operation between Islamabad and Kabul, security analysts say.

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Security forces patrol the rugged terrain on the Pakistani-Afghan border along Bins Shahi in Upper Dir July 20, after cross-border militant attacks in various parts of Upper and Lower Dir and in the Bajaur tribal areas of Pakistan. [Zahir Shah

More than a dozen cross-border terrorist incursions over the past four months in Pakistan’s border region have taken place, killing hundreds of civilians and security personnel, media reported.

Most of the attacks took place in the Dir region, from where Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) militants, defeated by a military operation in Malakand Division, fled to Afghanistan. Other incursions have occurred in Bajaur Agency, Mohmand Agency and South Waziristan Agency.

Media reports from Afghanistan also suggest that the cross-border incursions run both ways, especially in the remote region of eastern Afghanistan. Afghan authorities, including the governors of Kunar and Nuristan, complain regularly about militant incursions from border areas.

The largest attack took place in Kamdish District of Nuristan July 5, where hundreds of militants, most of them alleged to be Pakistanis, crossed the border from an area near Dir, killing scores of people, Pajhwok Afghan News reported.

“Pakistani militant groups and their leaders including Maulana Fazlullah, Faqeer Muhammad, Abdul Wali and Hakeemullah, all have found sanctuaries in bordering region from where they are now conducting cross-border attacks into Pakistani territory,” Pakistani military spokesman Maj. Gen. Athar Abbas said in a recent interview.

A joint commission has been formed in Peshawar that will decide how to deal with the cross-border violence and the militants, he said.

Pakistan has 147,000 troops deployed at 900 posts along the border who have repelled numerous attacks, killing dozens of militants, Abbas said.

A disruptive new Taliban strategy

The violence on both sides of the border is a new Taliban strategy intended to disrupt the relationship between the two countries and create mistrust at the highest levels, Khadim Hussain, a Peshawar-based security analyst, told Central Asia Online.

Though the security forces of both countries have begun operations to repel further attacks, the Islamabad and Kabul governments should deal collectively with the issue of cross-border militancy, Hussain added.

“It is now imperative to establish a co-ordination mechanism among Pakistan, Afghanistan and (international ) forces in Afghanistan with a view to developing a joint strategy to push back the present cross-border terrorism, as an alliance among the leaders of al-Qaeda, the Afghan Taliban, the Pakistani Taliban and other militant organisations has been formed,” he said.

“It could be an al-Qaeda or TTP strategy to sabotage the growing trust between Afghanistan and Pakistan and co-operation,” said Afghan journalist Abbas Daiyar.

Al-Qaeda wants to destroy the friendly relationship between Islamabad and Kabul by creating war hysteria and an atmosphere of mutual distrust, Daiyar told Central Asia Online.

Fazlullah and other TTP leaders are trying to regain a foothold in Malakand Division and tribal areas but will not succeed, said Brig. (ret.) Shoukat Qadir, a security expert based in Islamabad.

Security forces have shattered the basic network of the TTP in Swat, Bajaur and other tribal areas during military operations, forcing them to flee to Afghanistan, Qadir told Central Asia Online.

Residents of the border regions have formed peace committees to protect their areas and help push back militants, Haji Talimand Khan, an elder of Nustrat Darra in Upper Dir, said.

“Taliban militants recently released a graphic video showing (them) barbarously executing 18 innocent policemen, which has created much hatred … among the people of Malakand,” he said. All of the policemen were from Upper Dir and captured in a June 1 cross-border ambush in the Shaltalu area.

“The Taliban are enemies of the Pashtun people, and they have nothing to do with Islam,” Khan said.

Security forces have sealed the Pakistani-Afghan border in Malakand Division to stop militant attacks and cross-border infiltration, said Dr. Fakhr-e-Alam, commissioner of Malakand Division.

“Any militant infiltration of Pakistani territory will be considered a violation of international borders and will be dealt with accordingly,” he said.

Militants Striking Both Sides of the Afghanistan-Pakistan Border to Disrupt Security Cooperation

Publication: Terrorism Monitor Volume: 7 Issue: 29

July 22, 2011

By: Zia Ur Rehman

http://www.jamestown.org/single/?no_cache=1&tx_ttnews%5Btt_news%5D=38213&tx_ttnews%5BbackPid%5D=7&cHash=f21432ca71d0e6d71528309c59769b6d

Eleven cross-border incursions over the last four months in the Pakistan-Afghanistan border region have taken place despite several army operations in Pakistan and the NATO presence across the border in Afghanistan, demonstrating the continued strength of militants in the border region. The incursions, allegedly carried out by Pakistani militants with help from Afghan allies, have killed 56 people, including security personnel and members of anti-Taliban militias (The News [Islamabad], July 9). Most of the attacks were carried out in Dir region where militants of the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) who had dispersed and fled to Afghanistan and adjacent tribal areas during military operations are regrouping and trying to regain a foothold in the region (see Terrorism Monitor, March 3). Other incursions have occurred in Chitral, Bajaur Agency, Momand Agency and South Waziristan Agency.

An account of the largest of these cross border attacks depicts militant groups operating with greater frequency while facing only minimal interference in the frontier region:

• On April 22, a border security post in the Lowere Dir village of Kharkhai came under attack by militants, resulting in the death of more than 16 security personnel (Daily Azadi, April 29).

• On June 1, the deadliest of the cross border raids was carried out in Upper Dir’s Shaltalo village, where hundreds of heavily armed militants targeted a poorly defended security post. They killed 34 people, 26 of them security officials, and captured 16 policemen (Express Tribune [Karachi], June 3). On July 18 the Afghan Taliban released a video showing the bound policemen being executed somewhere inside Afghanistan, allegedly as retribution for the death of six Pakistani children killed during security operations in Swat district (Daily Azadi [Swat], July 19;  BBC Urdu, July 19; www.youtube.com/watch.

• On June 6, over 200 militants crossed the border and raided the homes of local anti-Taliban militia members in the Mamond area of Bajaur, killing roughly 15 people (Daily Azadi [Swat], June 7).

• The latest of the cross-border attacks was launched in the Nusrat Darra area of Upper Dir on July 6. A member of the local anti-Taliban militia was killed, several others injured and three schools destroyed during the attack (The News, July 9). [1]

Residents of Pakistan’s border areas are now requesting the government not install additional security posts in their areas for fear of inciting new attacks while migrations have started abruptly from the border villages.  [2]

Although the Pakistani government blamed the Afghan Taliban for carrying out the cross-border attacks, local security analysts and tribal elders say that the attacks were carried out in Dir region and other tribal areas by Pakistani militants, especially accomplices of Maulana Fazlullah and Maulana Faqir Muhammad, the heads of the TTP in Swat and Bajaur region respectively, with the help of Afghan militants. [3] Media reports claimed that Fazlullah and several high-profile TTP commanders had fled to the Nuristan or Kunar provinces of Afghanistan due to military operations in Swat in 2009. However, it is possible Fazlullah’s group members have started returning and are now targeting their enemies, especially the security forces. This was seemingly confirmed by TTP leaders when they claimed responsibility for the attacks in Dir region. Omar Hassan Ahrabi, a spokesperson for the TTP Malakand Division, said that his organization had carried out the attack “with Afghan allies” (Pak Tribune, July 7). However, Zabihullah Mujahid, a spokesman for the Afghan Taliban, denied involvement in the attack on Pakistani territory, describing it as an internal matter for Pakistan. He further stressed that the Afghan Taliban insurgents limit their operations to Afghanistan and never launch attacks in Pakistan or any other country (The News[Islamabad] July 12).

Current attacks in Dir and adjacent tribal areas might also indicate that Pakistani militants are not only regrouping in these areas, but also adopting a new strategy of large-scale attacks on government targets and security forces. TTP Bajaur leader Faqir Muhammad says their forces have joined with al-Qaeda and the Afghan Taliban in changing their strategy to focus on large-scale attacks on state targets and security agencies, such as Dir attacks (The News, June 3).

The recent cross-border attacks may be precursors of a battle between the security forces and the Taliban for the social and administrative control of Malakand division and the Bajaur and Mohmand Agencies after high-profile militants were targeted by CIA Predator drones in FATA. One Peshawar-based security analyst suggested that the alliance between the leadership of al-Qaeda, the Afghan Taliban, the Pakistani Taliban and other national and transnational militant organizations might be looking for a new but familiar safe haven in the shape of Malakand division prior to starting a military offensive in North Waziristan. [4] Local elders believe the Taliban’s combination of targeted attacks on security forces and indiscriminate assaults on civilians seem designed to create fear amongst the local population so that they do not create armed militias to defend their territory. [5]

Reports from Afghanistan suggest that the cross-border attacks run both ways, especially in the remote regions of eastern Afghanistan. Afghan authorities, including the governors of Kunar and Nuristan, complain regularly about the incursion of militants from Pakistan, especially from the areas of Dir, Chitral and Bajaur. The largest attack took place in Kamdish district in Nuristan, where hundreds of militants, most of them alleged to be Pakistanis, crossed the border from Dir in Pakistan and targeted the district, killing scores of people, including 23 policemen (Pajhwok Afghan News, July 5). Afghan officials also claim that 760 rockets have been fired by Pakistani security forces into eastern Afghan border provinces of Kunar, Nangahar and Khost in the past six weeks, killing at least 60 people and wounding hundreds more (Wakht News Agency [Kabul], June 24).  In the past three months, up to 12,000 civilians in eastern Afghanistan have been displaced by increasingly regular shelling from the Pakistan side of the border.

The attacks on both sides of the border appear to be intended to disrupt the relationship between the two countries and create mistrust at the highest levels. [6] If this is the case, the strategy seems to be a success; instead of tackling the issue of cross-border incursions directly or cooperatively, both countries are busy lodging official protests against each other, both accusing their neighbor of being responsible for harboring militant groups operating along the border. Pakistani army officials have also said that NATO forces were failing to crack down on militants seeking shelter on the Afghan side of border.

The recent cross-border incursions on both sides of the border clearly show that Pakistan, Afghanistan and NATO have all failed badly in clearing the strategically important border areas of militants, permitting previously dispersed extremist organizations to regroup and prepare new, large-scale attacks on the soil of both countries. Though the security forces of both countries have begun operations to repel further attacks, the Islamabad and Kabul governments are unlikely to be successful until they deal collectively with the issue of cross-border militancy.

Notes:

1. Author’s telephone interviews with Upper Dir locals, July 12, 2011.
2. Author’s telephone interviews with tribal elders of Upper Dir and Bajour, July 12, 2011.
3. Author’s telephone interview with Aqeel Yousafzai, a Peshawar-based journalist and security analyst, July 11, 2011.
4. Author’s interview with Khadim Hussain, a Peshawar-based security analyst, July 13, 2011.
5. Author’s telephone interviews with elders of Upper Dir and Bajaur, July 12, 2011.
6. Author’s interview with Khadim Hussain, a Peshawar-based security analyst, July 13, 2011.

Files:

TM_009_Issue29_01.pdf 

From across the border

The border areas of Dir and Bajaur have emerged as a new hub of militancy in Pakistan, and stand to threaten peace efforts. 

http://www.himalmag.com/component/content/article/4515-from-across-the-border.html

Himal SouthAsian, Web Exclusive

28 June 2011

By Zia Ur Rehman

In the past two months, Pakistan’s Bajaur Agency in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA), along with Dir district in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, saw three cross-border incursions, allegedly carried out by Pakistani militants with help from Afghan allies. These attacks, which took place despite several army operations in Pakistan and the NATO presence across the border in Afghanistan, demonstrated the continued strength of militants along the Afghanistan-Pakistan border area. The situation also prompted discussion on cross-border militant movement during the recent meeting of the high-level Afghanistan-Pakistan joint commission in Islamabad.

 

 

The most recent cross-border attack occurred on 16 June, when more than 200 militants crossed the border and raided the houses of local anti-Taliban militia in the Mamond area of Bajaur, killing around nine civilians. Casualties rose to 15 militants and 12 security personnel during subsequent clashes between the Pakistani security forces and the militants. Earlier, on 1 June, a three-day clash resulted in the deaths of dozens of people in Barawal, in Upper Dir, after hundreds of heavily armed militants targeted a poorly defended security post in Shaltalu. Likewise, on 22 April, a border security post in Lower Dir came under attack by militants, resulting in the death of more than 16 security personnel. Residents of Barawal are now requesting the government not to install additional security posts in their areas, for fear of inciting new attacks.

While the Pakistan government blames the Afghan Taliban for this violence, local tribal elders and security experts believe otherwise.

According to the latter, these attacks have probably been carried out by Pakistani militants, especially accomplices of Maulana Fazlullah, head of the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) in Swat, with help from Afghan militants. Reportedly, following the 2009 military operation in Swat, Fazlullah and his commanders fled to nearby provinces in Afghanistan, and some believe that these exiled forces have now been returning and targeting their rivals, including the security forces. The TTP claimed responsibility for the 1 June attacks in Dir, thus seeming corroborate this assertion. Omar Hassan Ahrabi, a spokesperson for the TTP in Malakand Division, said that the group had carried out the attacks together ‘with [its] Afghan allies’, adding that the attackers had managed to seize Pakistani anti-aircraft weapons before returning safely to hideouts in Afghanistan.

Large-scale

Apart from the possibility of Pakistani militants regrouping in Malakand and Bajaur, many security observers suggest that these groups are adopting a new strategy of large-scale attacks against government and security forces. Maulvi Faqir Muhammad, a TTP leader in Bajaur previously thought dead, recently stated that the TTP, in collaboration with al-Qaeda and the Afghan Taliban, plans to target state and security agencies. While the reappearance of Faqir Muhammad is already a major blow to ongoing peace efforts in insurgency-affected areas, such large-scale attacks will make the attempt at debilitating the group even harder.

In the aftermath of the Osama bin Laden operation in Abbottabad, the group has stepped up suicide bombings, attacks on paramilitary cadets, a naval base and a US consulate convoy. This has challenged government assertions that army operations against the militants have succeeded. Indeed, instead of weakening the militants, the army operations seem to have merely translocated the hub of militancy from tribal areas to provincial areas such as Dir. Local people in Upper Dir claim that the militants have begun roaming on their hills. And while nine schools in the area have been reportedly destroyed by the militants, others have remained closed after receiving threatening letters from the TTP. Beginning this year, the TTP militants have also started targeting ‘pro-government’ elders and police personnel – sending not only shockwaves among locals of Dir, but also belying the military’s claims of clearing the area of the militants.

The latest attacks on civilians seem to be the militants’ way of deterring the locals from forming an armed anti-Taliban militia, as they have done in the past. In mid-June 2009, such an armed militia had killed two militant commanders in Dogh Daara, Dir. After the recent militant attack on Dir, the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government has announced stronger support for such village militias. Nonetheless, past experience looms large; previous experimentation with militias has had catastrophic outcomes, as the militants struck back with suicide bombings, killing villagers and tribesmen indiscriminately. In June 2010, for instance, a suicide attack at a local mosque in Dogh Daara killed 30 tribesmen. In addition to indiscriminate suicide bombings, the militants have also tended to kidnap militia personnel and take them to bordering provinces in Afghanistan.

The security and government officials say that the TTP militants will not be able to regain control of the Dir region. Instead, it will likely restrict their fighting to hit-and-run tactics, an ideal guerrilla-warfare approach in the rugged terrain of Dir. More worryingly threat posed by these cross-border attacks has already had a significant impact on neighbouring districts and tribal areas. Because Dir borders Bajaur, districts in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa such as Swat and Chitral, and Afghanistan, it will not only provide a strategic base for attacks in these areas, but will also act as a sanctuary for militants fleeing military operations in neighbouring regions. Afghanistan has already accused the Pakistani militants for attacks on its soil, in particular in Kunar and Nuristan provinces bordering Pakistan. It is therefore imperative that the governments of Islamabad and Kabul collectively tackle the issue of cross-border militant incursions – before the attacks become as ‘large-scale’ as the militants seem to be threatening.

~ Zia Ur Rehman is a freelance journalist and researcher based in Karachi.

Karachi militants split into smaller groups

By Zia Ur Rehman
For CentralAsiaOnline.com
2011-06-24

KARACHI – Security officials have made progress against extremists, forcing such groups as the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) and al-Qaeda to splinter into smaller cells, an indication that their network is shattered, analysts and police say.

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Policemen search vehicles along a road in Karachi May 2. Security forces have forced militant groups in Karachi to split into small, more obscure groups, police say. [REUTERS/Athar Hussain

Having the factions split up is an end result that has been partially achieved by such things as the deaths of extremist leaders and the cultivation of informants among the public.

“The killing of Osama bin Laden, Baitullah Mehsud and other key leaders is the main factor shattering the TTP network across the country,” Brig. Shaukat Qadir, a security analyst, told Central Asia Online. Bin Laden’s May 2 death in Abbottabad was, at the time, predicted to be a test for the militant network.

Different militant outfits collaborating with the TTP and al-Qaeda are splitting up because al-Qaeda funding has dried up, Qadir said.

“This is indeed a success of security forces against the TTP, as a large number of TTP hardcore militants as well as some al-Qaeda operatives have been apprehended in Karachi,” he said.

Hundreds of suspects caught

Police have also been working to get information from citizens.

“We have developed a strong network of … informers in militant groups that help us track down the militant outfits,” Chaudry Aslam, senior superintendent of the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) of Sindh Police, told Central Asia Online.

That has helped with the fight.

“In 2010, we arrested 163 members of the TTP while more than 200 have been arrested from the beginning of this year,” Aslam said.

Law enforcement has hindered the activities of the Karachi TTP network by arresting three consecutive alleged amirs, or TTP heads, and dozens of members, Ikram Mehsud, a TTP leader in Karachi, admitted.

The suspected Karachi TTP chiefs whom police nabbed were Akhter Zaman Mehsud, Bahadur Khan Momand (aka Sadiq) and Maulvi Saeed Anwar, he said.

Such arrests have been “a blessing for the people” as they will slow terrorist activities in Karachi until newly appointed leaders can rebuild the network, Aslam said.

Many small terror cells discovered

But a new challenge has emerged. Every month, law enforcement agencies are uncovering new and little-known militant organisations, said Ahmed Wali, a Karachi-based senior journalist who covers militancy-related issues.

“We have developed a strong network of … informers in militant groups that help us track down the militant outfits,” Chaudry Aslam, senior superintendent of the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) of Sindh Police, told Central Asia Online.

Such groups include Jundullah, the Badar Mansoor group, Kharooj, the Al-Mukhtar group, Punjabi Mujahidin, Al-Furqan, Laskhar-e-Balochistan and Al-Qataal – all discovered within the past year, Wali said. Splinter groups typically arise in one of two ways.

“First, when some leaders form their own outfit, abandoning their jihadi group and forming direct links with the TTP and al-Qaeda,” said Muhammad Amir Rana, director of the Pakistan Institute of Peace Studies.

Second, forming a new and little-known operational cell comprising a few members who are responsible for carrying out activities in a specific geographic location,” he said, adding that this method allows the militants to dodge security officials longer.

Karachi police discovered the Badar Mansoor faction of the TTP May 12. It allegedly consists of students from Karachi academic institutions, including the University of Karachi. Four of its alleged members were planning to attack government installations and intelligence agency offices, Karachi Police Chief Saud Mirza said May 13.

The same group, operating under the name of Punjabi Mujahideen in Karachi’s colleges, was also involved in the December 28 bombing at the University of Karachi that injured four students, he added.

Karachi police discovered the Al-Mukhtar group by arresting one of its suspected key leaders in a raid April 26. Police accuse the Omar Baloch-led group of involvement in bombing a gambling den April 21. They have since learned it is a splinter group of Laskhar-e-Jhangvi (LeJ) whose militants trained in South Waziristan, Fayyaz Khan, a senior CID official, told Central Asia Online.

Sindh Police’s Special Investigation Unit (SIU) also arrested Abdul Qadir Kalmati (aka Rocket) April 4. They accuse of him belonging to Lashkar-e-Balochistan (LeB), a Baloch separatist group involved in attacking police stations and security installations. Kalmati has admitted under questioning that LeB is working with the TTP, said Raja Omar Khitab, the SIU’s senior superintendent of police.

Kharooj is another new and little-known militant organisation operating in Karachi that has been recruiting the young, especially students of academic institutions, the Daily Express reported May 11. The group’s leaders are hardcore militants who separated from the TTP and the LeJ after feuding with their leadership, the report added.

Dispersion may help militants

Jundullah, the Asian Tigers, Lashkar-e-Jhangvi Al-Alami, Jundul Hafsa and the Punjabi Taliban are the main groups that split off from the LeJ and are carrying out its subversive activities from Karachi to Waziristan, a report published last November in the Express Tribune stated.

The article stated that the LeJ is the biggest group operating in Karachi and that of 246 suspected terrorists arrested in the city since 2001, 94 belonged to the LeJ, according to a secret CID report.

However, some say breaking up and scattering the militants may improve their chances of survival.

The small cell strategy makes each cell responsible for carrying out activities in a specific geographic location, said Rana.

“And the main purpose is to divert the attention of security officers,” he said. Indeed, because so few people are in the cells and they are so scattered, their existence comes to light only “when law enforcement agencies arrest their members.”

Militancy grows in South Punjab

By Zia Ur Rehman
For CentralAsiaOnline.com
2011-06-10

MULTAN – The militancy is rapidly growing in South Punjab, where banned militant outfits – with the collaboration of the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) and al-Qaeda – are carrying out subversion and recruiting, local civil society activists and analysts say.

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Mourners carry the body of a suicide bombing victim into a graveyard in Dera Ghazi Khan, Punjab, April 4. Two suicide bombers blew themselves up in quick succession at a Sufi shrine in eastern Pakistan April 3, killing 50 people and wounding more then 100, police said. [REUTERS/Sheikh Asif Raza

After tracing calls from a terrorist cell phone recovered during the May 22-23 battle for Pakistan Naval Station (PNS) Mehran, security forces May 27 arrested suspect Qari Qaiser, Dawn reported. He reportedly belongs to a banned jihadist organisation and runs a madrassa in Dera Ghazi Khan.

Four days later, authorities arrested five alleged militants in Dera Ghazi Khan, including Muhammad Akram (alias Usman), whom they suspect of involvement in the attack on the Sri Lankan cricket team in Lahore March 3, 2009, media reported.

The April 3 Sakhi Sarwar shrine twin suicide attacks in Dera Ghazi Khan, which killed 49 worshippers and wounded hundreds, were the latest and most shocking example of the militant groups’ joint campaign.

Five major militant organisations, the Sipah-e-Sahaba Pakistan (SSP), Lashkar-e-Jhangvi (LeJ), Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM), Harkatul Jihadul Islami (HJI) and Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), are all comfortably established in South Punjab and working with the TTP and al-Qaeda, said Amir Hussaini, an analyst with extensive experience studying militancy issues in South Punjab.

Militants most powerful in Dera Ghazi Khan

South Punjab’s four divisions – Dera Ghazi Khan, Multan, Bahawalpur and Gojranwala – are under the influence of the banned militant organisations, which have gained considerable strength in Dera Ghazi Khan, which is a gateway to Pakistan’s tribal areas and to the heart of Punjab, Hussaini told Central Asia Online.

Militancy has spread through the region, he said, because of the efforts of activists from banned organisations who never gave up fighting in Kashmir and Afghanistan and now have forged links with the TTP and al-Qaeda, while recruiting youth for them.

“There is a great tendency for young men from South Punjab to join jihadi organisations, and thousands of members of these jihadi organisations who have gone through training camps are either active in tribal areas or South Punjab,” he added.

Veteran jihadists in South Punjab help the militants and implement terror plans mainly conceived and funded by al-Qaeda operatives, Hussaini argued, citing two men – Dr. Usman Ghani, the alleged mastermind of the March 8 Faisalabad suicide attack, and Asmatullah Muawia, deputy to TTP central leader Qari Hussain Mehsud in South Waziristan. Both come from Kabirwala, a town in Multan Division. Ghani runs a splinter group of LeJ in South Punjab, while Muawia is a master trainer of suicide bombers, Hussaini said.

Qaiser, an alleged colleague of Ghani’s, was arrested after the March 8 Faisalabad attack but then went free under mysterious circumstances, Hussaini said.

At the time, the police had released him after questioning, while promising to keep him under surveillance, media reported.

The jihadist groups are notorious not only for attacking members of other sects and religions – Sufis, Shias, Ahmadis and Christians – but also for targeting government officials and security installations.

Ominous graffiti

Mysterious graffiti in support of al-Qaeda, the TTP and jihadi militant organisations and attacks on the Sakhi Sarwar shrines, have appeared on various walls in Dera Ghazi Khan, Muhammad Hussain, a local senior journalist, told Central Asia Online.

A government ban on jihadist organisations merely led them to operate under different names. SSP began operating under the names of Millat-e-Islamia and Ahle-e-Sunnat Wal Jammat, JeM as Al-Furqan and Khuddamul Islam, and LeT as Jammatud Dawa and Falah-e-Insaniat Foundation.

These jihadi groups forcibly occupied 62 Sufi mosques in 2010 in South Punjab, said Mujahdi Hussain, author of a book entitled “Punjabi Taliban.”

South Punjab-based militant groups are a crucial source of logistical support for Taliban fighters based in the tribal areas who stage terrorist activities within Punjab, Hussain wrote recently for Karachi’s Daily Aaj Kal newspaper.

The government has banned 29 jihadist organisations so far, including 7 to 11 founded in South Punjab, Interior Minister Rehman Malik said.

The government has defeated the terrorists in Swat and the tribal areas, but now the defeated elements have started launching attacks with the help of banned militants, he added.

South Punjab terrorists team up with radical mosques and madrassas that indoctrinate youth to wage so-called jihad in Afghanistan and Pakistan, Hussaini said.

According to a Pakistan Institute of Peace Studies report, of the 12,000 registered seminaries in Punjab, more than 7,000 are in three of South Punjab’s divisions: Dera Ghazi Khan, Multan and Bahawalpur. Most of them are linked to banned militant organisations.

The main reason for the emergence of a militant mind-set is the explosive growth of religious seminaries in the region, said Arshad Jatoi, a college teacher in Bahawalpur.

“Lack of awareness and resources coupled with the absence of proper educational infrastructure in the region has compelled parents to send their children to these madrassas, where the children after being brainwashed are used as cannon fodder … in order to establish a new state based on an irrational and distorted view of Islam,” he told Central Asia Online.

Inattention to South Punjab

“Everyone has been so focused on tribal areas and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) that they failed to notice the increase in madrassas in South Punjab,” he said.

Such banned groups also circulate hate literature in order to shut off students’ thought processes, he said, adding that media have reported more than 10,000 South Punjab youth are fighting as militants in tribal areas and in Afghanistan.

The district administration has taken notice of the graffiti, which is illegal, and has ordered its immediate removal, said Tahir Khurshid, commissioner of Dera Ghazi Khan Division.

Authorities arrested Adnan Khosa, the key suspect in the Sakhi Sarwar attacks, in a Dera Ghazi Khan suburb May 28, Khurshid said, adding the arrest came after the government announced an Rs. 1m (US $11,700) reward for Khosa’s capture.

Authorities will not tolerate militant graffiti and have ordered an investigation, Khurshid said, adding that police have instructions to wash away graffiti and open cases against the culprits.

Attacks on Saudi Diplomats in Karachi May Be Part of a Saudi-Iranian Proxy War

Publication: Terrorism Monitor Volume: 9 Issue: 23

June 9, 2011 05:50 PM Age: 16 min

By: Zia Ur Rehman

A diplomatic staffer of the Saudi Consulate in Karachi, Hassan al-Qahtani, was killed by unknown gunmen riding two motorcycles in Karachi on May 16 (Dawn [Karachi], May 16). A few days earlier, unidentified assailants had thrown Russian-made HE-36 hand grenades at the Saudi Consulate in Karachi, though there were no injuries in this case (The Nation[Karachi], May 11; Dawn, May 12). In both attacks, the assailants managed to escape. The consulate was defended at the time of the grenade attack by paramilitary Rangers and officers of the Foreign Security Cell (FSC – a police unit assigned to diplomatic security), three of whom were subsequently suspended and detained (The Nation, May 12). Privately-hired security also failed to take any action to prevent the assault or pursue the attackers.  Following the attacks, the Saudi government recalled non-essential staff and families of diplomats stationed at its Karachi office. The U.S. Consulate in Karachi also announced it had detected threats to its facility and urged American citizens in Karachi to keep a low profile and take precautions in their movements around the city (Pakistan Observer, June 3).

While it is believed that the attack on the Saudi Consulate and the murder of its staffer in Karachi might be retribution for the American May 2 Abbottabad operation that killed al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden, there is also speculation that the attacks may have been related to the Saudi troop deployment in Bahrain to suppress Shiite-led protests against the kingdom’s Sunni royal family. As such, one Karachi-based security official suggested they may be intended to reignite long-standing tensions between the Sunni and Shiite communities of Pakistan. [1]

This assertion was seemingly corroborated by Karachi’s Crime Investigation Department (CID) when they claimed the involvement of the Shiite Sipah-e-Muhammad Pakistan (SMP) in the attacks on Saudi interests in Karachi. An official of the CID, which is responsible for operations against banned militant outfits in Karachi, announced the arrest of SMP militant Muntazir Imam, suspecting his involvement in the killing of the Saudi consulate officer as well as twelve other assassinations of rival Islamist leaders (The Nation, May 19; Saudi Gazette, June 8; Express Tribune, May 29). Local authorities said that it was impossible to rule out the diplomat’s assassination was part of a dispute between rival sectarian organizations composed of supporters and opponents of Saudi Arabia (The Nation, May 18). Calling Imam’s arrest a breakthrough, a CID official said that it would be premature to say the SMP was involved in the killing of the Saudi diplomat as the investigation is still underway (Central Asia Online, May 26).

While no group, including the banned Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), claimed responsibility for the attacks, they might also have been related to the Saudi government’s reported refusal to accept Bin Laden’s body. Other reports have emerged in recent days revealing the Saudis have been providing intelligence to the United States (Express Tribune [Karachi], May 12). Saudi Arabia stripped Bin Laden of citizenship in 1994 after he criticized the royal family’s reliance on U.S. troops to protect the Kingdom after the Iraqi invasion of neighboring Kuwait. The Saudi government has also refused to accept the repatriation of the three widows and nine children of Bin Laden currently in protective custody in Pakistan. During his recent visit to Riyadh, Pakistani Interior Minister Rehman Malik made a formal request to Saudi authorities to accept Bin Laden’s family, but the Saudis declined (Express Tribune [Karachi], May 19).

The killing of the Saudi diplomat may not only be a mark of protest by al-Qaeda against the Saudi Kingdom’s indifferent attitude toward Bin Laden’s family, but also a warning to Pakistan against the possible deportation of the family to the United States. [2] One media report quoted an anonymous Pakistan security official who claimed that the murdered Saudi diplomat was an intelligence official who was looking into Saudi dissidents who have found refuge in Karachi and this is most probably why he was targeted (New York Times, May 16). Saudi authorities said al-Qahtani was involved in relief operations and facilitating the travel of Pakistani pilgrims taking part in the Hajj (Pakistan Times, June 4).

Saudi interests in Karachi have been targeted in response to the situation in the Gulf, specifically the Saudi military intervention in Bahrain. Saudi Arabia sent troops into Bahrain in March to help the royal family quell the anti-state protests in the tiny Gulf kingdom. However, the deployment angered Shiite Pakistanis, with nationwide protests condemning the Saudi involvement. [3] Shiites were also angry about local newspaper advertisements seeking to recruit hundreds of former soldiers to work for the Bahrain security forces and help with the crackdown on protestors. The Fauji Foundation, a company which has strong links to the Pakistani Army, announced it was sending 1,000 Pakistanis to join the Bahrain National Guard (Weekly Humshehri [Lahore], March18).

Sunni groups have also jumped into the fray with demonstrations and rallies in support of Saudi Arabia, openly accusing Iran of being behind the unrest in Bahrain and other Gulf states. In a sign of local Shiite-Sunni tensions, walls across Karachi, Lahore and other Pakistani cities are filled with slogans and posters condemning Saudi Arabia and Iran, exacerbating the already tense atmosphere between Sunnis and Shiites. [4] In this campaign, banned sectarian organizations hailing from the both sects, including the Shiite SMP and the Sunni Sipah-e-Sahaba Pakistan (SSP) have become active in marking walls with derisory slogans and organizing sectarian rallies.

The attack on the Saudi Consulate and the killing of its staffer clearly show that the fight for Bahrain has shifted to Pakistan and could ignite the decade-long Sunni-Shiite rivalry in the country, especially in Karachi. Saudi Arabia and other Gulf countries have funded hard-line Sunni militants groups in Pakistan for years, angering the minority Shi’a community, while Iran has channeled money to Shiite militant groups.  In the 1980s and 1990s, Pakistan was the scene of an effective proxy war between Iran and Saudi Arabia, with Karachi being a particularly bloody battleground in the struggle. The involvement of hard-line religious groups from Afghanistan in Pakistan’s internal affairs has further complicated the sectarian conflict. Since 1989, sectarian fighting has engulfed the entire country, claiming nearly 7636 lives, mostly from the Shi’a community. [5] Sectarian violence is an unpredictable menace in Pakistan, but the recent activities of Sunni and Shiite religious groups could develop into yet another phase of proxy warfare on Pakistani soil.

Notes:

1. Interview with a Karachi-based security official who requested anonymity, May 26, 2011. See also Terrorism Monitor Brief, January 7, 2010.
2. Interview with Islamabad-based political analyst Zakir Hussain, May 26, 2011.
3. Interview with Karachi-based senior journalist and researcher Ahmed Wali, May 27, 2011.
4. Ibid.
5. Sectarian violence in Pakistan 1989-2011, South Asian Terrorist Portal,www.satp.org/satporgtp/countries/pakistan/database/sect-killing.htm. 

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Kashmiri’s death termed a blow to al-Qaeda

By Zia Ur Rehman and Javed Aziz Khan
For CentralAsiaOnline.com
2011-06-07

ISLAMABAD – Security commentators and political analysts believe the death of Ilyas Kashmiri will be a major organisational setback for al-Qaeda, the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) and other extremist groups in the region.

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Ilyas Kashmiri, leader of Harkat-ul-Jehad Islami and operational commander of al-Qaeda, shown in an undated Indian TV9/YouTube video grab, was killed in an air strike in South Waziristan June 4. [Indian TV9/YouTube

Among those sharing this view is security analyst Brig. (Ret.) Shaukat Qadir, who said Kashmiri was considered one of al-Qaeda’s most dangerous military commanders and was the suspected mastermind behind some of the worst attacks in Pakistan of late.

Kashmiri was accused of involvement in high-profile attacks and bombings inside Pakistan, including assassination attempts against former president, Gen. Pervez Musharraf, Qadir said. Kashmiri also allegedly co-ordinated a 2009 attack on Pakistan Army Headquarters and the assault on Mehran naval base in Karachi last month.

Pakistani Interior Minister Rehman Malik confirmed the June 4 death of Kashmiri, leader of Harkat-ul-Jehad Islami (HuJI) and al-Qaeda’s chief strategist, in a missile attack in South Waziristan.

“I can confirm that Ilyas Kashmiri has been killed,” SAMAA News reported Malik as saying June 6. The confirmation from Pakistani officials came one day after Malik said that despite lack of physical evidence he was “98%” sure Kashmiri was dead.

Media outlets have reported that Kashmiri, 47, was killed along with eight other militants in a missile attack on an apple orchard in Ghwakhwa town, not far from Wana, the headquarters of South Waziristan Agency.

Others killed were identified as Ameer Hamza, Mohammad Ibrahim, Mohammad Usman, Mohammad Nauman, Farooq Ahmad, Qari Abdul Qudoos and Mohammad Imran. Authorities have not identified one of the dead.

Qari Idrees, a leader of the HuJI, confirmed the killing of Kashmiri and 12 other people, The News reported. Qari said the other slain militants were buried in a graveyard in Gundai village, near Wana, but he didn’t mention the location of Kashmiri’s grave.

Kashmiri’s rise in al-Qaeda

Central Asia Online exclusively reported Kashmiri’s rise within al-Qaeda ranks in November, noting the United Nations labelled him a “Specially Designated Global Terrorist” in August. That put him in the same league with Osama bin Laden. Western sources have connected him to planning attacks in Europe, which was part of the reason the United Nations upgraded his terrorist status.

Kashmiri took control of al-Qaeda’s military forces in Pakistan after its prior leader, Abdullah Sa’ad al Libi, was killed in an air strike in late 2008, Qadir said, and Kashmiri was among the top five most-wanted terrorists.

Al-Qaeda and the Pakistani Taliban have suffered two serious blows in about a month; the May 2 death of bin Laden and now that of Kashmiri, he added.

The death of al-Qaeda leader bin Laden in Abbottabad May 2 and now the death of Kashmiri are good omens for peace in Pakistan, Senior Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Minister Bashir Ahmad Bilour said.

“They were killing innocent people, and their deaths will be a turning point,” Bilour said.

The importance of Kashmiri within al-Qaeda is evident because he was the only South Asian and non-Arab attending high-profile meetings of the al-Qaeda leadership, said Ahmed Wali, a senior journalist who covers militancy-related issues. Some observers had mentioned Kashmir as a possible successor to bin Laden, he said.

Kashmiri’s activities scattered

Kashmiri’s subversive activities were not limited to Pakistan as he had reportedly played a major role in plotting suicide terrorist attacks against the Afghan government and security installations in Afghanistan, Wali said.

Kashmiri also led Lashkar-e-Zil (Shadow Army), a major offshoot of al-Qaeda, The Herald reported in its June issue. The Herald, a monthly magazine published by Dawn News, said the Lashkar-e-Zil consists of recruits from different nationalities. The group is believed to be scattered in the North and South Waziristan, and is thought to have conducted attacks against Afghan and coalition forces in Kuner, Nuristan, Kabul, Wardak and other provinces of Afghanistan.

“The killing of Kashmiri is a major success in the ongoing war against the militancy in the region, and his killing is also a major setback for Punjabi militant groups operating in the tribal regions,” said Idress Kamal, a leader of Aman Tehreek, a regional civil society alliance formed against the militancy.

After the killing of bin Laden, al-Qaeda lost its leadership while Pakistani militants also lost their leader after Kashmiri’s killing,” Kamal told Central Asia Online. Kamal described the HuJI as an alliance of several Punjabi militant outfits that have carried out terrorist attacks against the government and killed hundreds of innocent people not only in Pakistan but also in Afghanistan and other neighbouring countries. Most of the HuJI’s recruits are from Punjab, Karachi and Kashmir, he added.

Death is good news for Pakistan

“The killing of Osama Bin Laden and Ilyas Kashmiri is welcome and good (news) for the region,” said Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Information Minister Mian Iftikhar Hussain.

He said the terrorists have suffered significant damage recently and said that is why they are on the run now. “But security forces and the government will chase them until end,” Iftikar said, adding that those killing innocent people have no religion, nation or ideology.

“The blood of the martyred people will not go in vain,” Iftikhar said. “We will eliminate the already fleeing militants and will restore durable peace in the region.”

He urged upon the public to show unity as a nation to better fight the terrorists and eliminate their network.

End

Al-Qaeda behind PNS attack, News reports

By Zia Ur Rehman and Qasim Yousafzai
For CentralAsiaOnline.com
2011-05-25

KARACHI – Al-Qaeda’s Waziristan-based interim chief, Saif Al Adal, masterminded the May 22-23 Mehran naval base attack in Karachi, while chief al-Qaeda strategist Ilyas Kashmiri – with support from elements of the Pakistani Taliban – put final touches on its operational planning, the News International reported May 25.

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Rescue workers and journalists take cover outside Mehran naval aviation base in Karachi during a firefight early May 23. New al-Qaeda chief Saif Al Adal and Ilyas Kashmiri were behind the attack, The News International reported. [REUTERS/Athar Hussain

Analysts consider the Egyptian-born Al Adal al-Qaeda’s interim leader since the death of al-Qaeda leader Osama Bin Laden in Abbottabad May 2.

Al Adal’s reputed second-in-command is Kashmiri, one of the highest-profile al-Qaeda leaders operating from North Waziristan. He has a Pakistani bounty of Rs 50m (US $5.8m) on his head, the News reported. Central Asia Online exclusively reported on his rise in terrorist ranks in November.

Kashmiri was labelled a “Specially Designated Global Terrorist” August 6, and the UN added him and his Harkat-ul-Jihad-al-Islami (HuJI) organisation to its blacklist under UNSC Resolution 1267.

However, the preliminary investigation report says that the banned outfit Lashkar-e-Jhangvi (LeJ) carried out the attack, Pakistan Today reported.

Terrorists armed with automatic weapons, rockets and explosives stormed the Mehran base late May 22, triggering gun battles that killed at least 11 Navy personnel and two Rangers and wounded 14 security officials.

Many militant groups, especially the banned Tehreek-e-Taliban (TTP) and al-Qaeda, have vowed to avenge bin Laden’s death.

The TTP, through spokesman Ihsanullah Ihsan, has claimed responsibility. “We warned after the killing of Osama bin Laden that we will carry out even bigger attacks,” he said.

Taliban militants also have targeted Pakistan navy personnel in Karachi in the recent past. Three bombings of Navy buses killed nine in Karachi April 26 and 27.

A special inquiry committee led by Rear Adm. Tehseenullah Khan will investigate the Mehran attack, navy spokesman Commodore Irfanul Haq said. The committee includes officials from different intelligence agencies of Pakistan, including the Federal Investigation Bureau, Pakistan Air Force, Rangers and police, Haq said.

Navy sacks base commander

Naval leaders have suspended Mehran Base Commander Commodore Raja Tahir and replaced him with Commodore Khalid Pervez, media reported.

Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani visited hospitals at PNS Shifa and PNS Rahat where injured sailors are receiving treatment. He ordered concerned authorities to revisit and upgrade security at all defence and security installations.

“There is a need to upgrade security, keeping in view the intentions of terrorists,” Gilani said. “Whatever possible action is required should be taken and the government will extend its full support.”

Al-Qaeda has long reach

The Mehran attack “has underscored the extended tentacles of al-Qaeda and its supporters from Waziristan to Karachi,” said Islamabad-based security analyst Imtiaz Gul. “Commando strikes at chosen targets indicate that al-Qaeda or its local allied forces – such as Jaish-e-Mohammad, HuJI, and Jundullah – enjoy a strong support base in Karachi,” he said.

The capture of senior al-Qaeda leader Muhammad Ali Qasim Yakub, alias Abu Shoaib al Makki, May 17, also demonstrates al-Qaeda’s strong presence in Karachi, Gul wrote in the Express Tribune.

Taliban killed 1,165 worshippers in past 10 years

By Zia Ur Rehman
For CentralAsiaOnline.com
2011-01-31

KARACHI – Lethal attacks by Taliban militants hit 54 Pakistani places of worship of various faiths in the past 10 years, killing 1,165 worshippers and injuring about 2,900, a recent report revealed.

The defiled holy places included mosques, churches, Sufi shrines, Shia processions and Imam Barghas, Ahmadi worship centres and missionary schools, a report compiled by Muhammad Nafees, a Karachi-based independent security analyst and researcher, shows.

The Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) and affiliated banned sectarian organisations like Jaish-e-Muhammad and Jundullah claimed responsibility in almost all cases. Most of the victims were women and children. Holy books of various faiths were burnt in many attacks.

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Police and rescue officials examine the site of a suicide bombing in Lahore January 25. A teenage suicide bomber blew himself up near a procession of Shia Muslims, killing at least 13 people and wounding more than 50, officials said. [REUTERS/Mohsin Raza

The most recent bombing occurred January 25 at a police check post in Lahore, killing 13 people and injuring 70 others. The suicide bomber may have been trying to hit either the shrine of Sufi Data Darbar or a Muharram procession, as the explosion occurred between the two, media reported.

Toll compiled to showcase Taliban atrocities

The rationale behind compiling the death toll is to illustrate the atrocities of the Taliban, which the Pakistani mainstream media generally ignore, Nafees told Central Asia Online.

“The terrifying data on attacking holy places illustrate the breadth and depth of violent puritan blasphemies committed by Taliban militants,” he said.

“The al-Qaeda-linked Taliban have ruthlessly attacked mosques and other holy places in the country in an effort not only to kill their opponents but also to target minorities,” William Sadiq, a human rights activist in Karachi, told Central Asia Online.

Militants are lashing out against military defeats and public rejection, he said.

Al-Qaeda-linked militants similarly have bombed holy places in Iraq too, killing thousands of Shia Muslims, he added.

 

The Taliban are demonstrating their disregard for human life and for the sanctity of places of worship in Pakistan, Sadiq said, adding they want to splinter Pakistan by fuelling sectarian hatred.

Mosques bear brunt of attack

The Taliban attacked 17 mosques in the past 10 years, killed 457 worshippers and injured 808. One of the most brazen attacks occurred March 27, 2009, when a suicide bomber stormed a mosque at Peshawar-Torkham Highway in Jamrud, Khyber Agency. The attack killed 83 people, including 16 security personnel, and injured more than 100.

Another deadly suicide bombing killed at least 72 and injured more than 100 at the Wali Muhammad Mosque in Dara Adamkhel, 35km south of Peshawar, November 5, 2010.

“Islam is the religion of love, peace and harmony. True Muslims don’t attack such holy places, and those miscreants who did this are not Muslims,” said Sahibzada Fazal Karim, a religious leader and head of Markazi Jamiat-e-Ulema Pakistan.

“This is the time that all the political parties including religious groups should join hands against the terrorist activities of Taliban; otherwise, the acts will continue,” Karim told Central Asia Online. “God will never forgive them for these atrocities.”

Sufi shrines, other religious places attacked, too

In the past 10 years, terrorists attacked seven Sufi shrines, which arouse the ire of militants who take a hard-line interpretation of Islam, killing 130 people.

The deadliest attack was March 19, 2005, when a suicide bomber killed 36 at the shrine of Pir Rakhel Shah in Jhal Magsi, Balochistan.

Shia Imam Barghas and Muharram processions were also key targets. Militants attacked 16 Imam Barghas in the past 10 years, killing 260 worshippers and injuring more than 900. Similarly they targeted five Muharram processions, killing 160.

The most lethal attack on Shia Muslims occurred September 3 in Quetta, when a suicide bombing killed 73. Militants also attacked other minorities – the Ahmadis and Christians. In the past 10 years, they killed 104 Ahmadi and 24 Christian worshippers. Two simultaneous suicide attacks on Ahmadi mosques in Lahore May 28 killed 95 worshippers.

“Even when the TPP admitted their involvement in such cases, the media (would say) that until an investigation is complete, we can’t say for sure who committed this crime,” Nafees said, adding that religious and political parties that fall to condemn the Taliban’s atrocities either feared them or were working hand-in-glove with them.

“Over the years, Pakistan has seen a radical ideology attacking holy places,” said Prof. Zakaullah Sheikh, a teacher of Islamic studies at a governmental college in Hyderabad.

Wahhabi interpretation of Islamic scriptures holds that all symbols (holy places) of opposing ideologies represent shrik (infidelity). Through desecrating these holy places, the Taliban want to ultimately bring about a shift in the interpretation of religious authority, Sheikh said.