Compiled by Narayanan Komerath
General Pervez Musharraf is praised by Secretary of State General Colin Powell and his State Department for his "courage" and "co-operation" in fighting the Islamic Fundamentalist terrorists trained, armed, funded and operating from Pakistan. Recently, western "experts" have come out with increasingly desperate "analyses" trying to show using Musharraf's actions that he is indeed sincere in supporting the War Against Terrorism.
People who have been following General Musharraf's career with more interest, appear to disagree strongly with the above characterization.They seem him as a "pro-western front" set up by the so-called "fundamentalists" of Pakistan - the very same people who set up and comprised the Al Queda and the rest of Pakistan's primary export - Global Terrorism. Even Musharraf's shrillest promoters have to admit that prior to September 12, 2001, General Musharraf was more aligned with the Al Queda than the US. September 12 is when U.S. official Richard Armitage is reported to have told Musharraf to choose between the 21st century or being bombed back to the Stone Age. Musharraf then went on national TV looking rather pale, and told the people of Pakistan that he had to choose the "lesser evil" - United States forces as a "Frontline Ally" rather than United States bombs and cruise missiles, as target.
Our purpose here is to present some history and facts, and let the reader judge independently, just where General Musharraf stands in the war between civilization and terrorism. These articles often pre-date the events which have brought Musharraf to the western limelight. The author submits that it is indeed necessary to go at least that deeply to form an accurate judgement. Note the central issues:
1. Was Musharraf a promoter of the fundamentalist terrorist enterprise?
2. Has Musharraf really supported the war against terrorism - or has he been using his position in the middle to try to save the terrorists?
3. How culpable are Musharraf and his junta for the terrorist acts directed against the United States and India?
A few points:
1. He was born in northern India and was taken by his parents to the new Pakistan when Pakistan was formed.
2. He was an artillery officer in 1965 when Pakistani Dictator #1, Field Marshal Ayub Khan, tried to invade India. Ayub's surprise weapon - the concealed Strike Corps led by his state-of-the-art Patton tanks. At the Battle of Shakargarh, this force was stopped and destroyed - with Indian Infantry Havildar Abdul Hamid being one of those who were awarded the Param Vir Chakra (postthumous), highest honor for courage in the face of the enemy, for destroying three Pakistani tanks. Musharraf's artillery units presumably packed up and ran for their lives as Pakistan's tank forces were destroyed by technically inferior World War 2- vintage Centurion tanks of the Indian Army.
3. In 1971, Musharraf was in charge of a "Commando" or "Special Services Group" unit in Kashmir - specializing in sabotage and terrorism. The Pakistani Dictator # 2 (Field Marshal Yahya Khan) attacked Kashmir to prevent India from stopping the Pakistani forces who were committing genocide in East Pakistan (now Bangladesh) - collapsed within the first week of the war. Musharraf's unit presumably ran for their lives as 93,00 Pakistani soldiers surrendered, Bangladesh declared freedom, and Pakistan teetered on the verge of collapse, saved only by Richard Nixon's threat to attack India with nuclear weapons.
4. In the 1980s, Musharraf's forces attempted to occupy the no-man's land of the Siachen Glacier. The attempt ended with India holding all of the Siachen Glacier. Musharraf tried to impress his boss, Pakistan Dictator #3, General Zia ul Haq, by ordering a suicidal counter-attack - his men did not return.
5. In 1997-99, Musharraf organized the surprise invasion of the high peaks upto 10 km inside the Line of Control - in an attempt to cut off the Indian National Highway 1, and Indian divisions in Siachen and Leh, opening the way for a total invasion of Kashmir. The entire Pakistani Northern Light Infantry Regiment was decimated, among other losses - over 2700 men confirmed killed. The Pakistani forces had to withdraw in humiliation. Musharraf pre-empted court-martial by organizing a coup d'etat and becoming Pakistan Dictator #4.
6. Afghanistan was the Pakistan military's "strategic depth" - in the early 1990s, after the Soviet withdrawal from Afghanistan, Pakistan-trained Taliban forces, commanded by Pakistani officers with Pakistani armor and artillery, took over Afghanistan. It is estimated that 30% of the Taliban's soldiers, and 40% of their officers, were Pakistani regular army personnel. On Sep. 12, 2001, Islamabad airport was closed to civilian and international traffic for over 6 hours, while there was "intense movement of military personnel and equipment" through there - this was speculated to be the evacuation of senior officers and some equipment from Afghanistan before the expected American reprisals. The night airlift of Pakistani forces from the beseiged city of Kunduz in November 2001 is now confirmed.
Please consider the above as you study the weight of evidence regarding General Musharraf's actions - the rage and frustration over his unbroken record of military failures is clearly a major factor in his thinking. This comes through loud and clear even today - see his own comments made in America, February 12, 2002, below.
"The threat was out there as early as 1993. Weed out the military intelligence operatives backing holy war in Kashmir, Washington told Islamabad - or risk being declared a state that aides and abets terrorists. Now, in the wake of the Indian Airlines hijacking drama, the U.S. is again telling Islamabad to crack down -and the nudge-nudge diplomacy of 1993 has given way to a war of words..."
"...Implicated in the 1995 abductions of Western backpackers in Kashmir and the killings of American diplomats in Karachi the same year, HuA appeared on Washington's blacklist of terrorist groups in 1997 and switched its name back to HuM. Given Harkat's role in Afghanistan and Kashmir - key cockpits of Islamabad's foreign policy in the 1990s - few analysts doubt operational links between the group and Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI). As late as last year, Harkat volunteers fought in the ranks of the ISI-backed Taliban and trained at a camp on the southern edge of Kabul that is well known to Pakistani intelligence. In Kashmir, Harkat helped to spearhead Islamabad's policy of using guerrilla war to push India into serious negotiations. "
"The doctrine of jihad as practised in Pakistan, may have political motives. Gen. Musharraf seems to use this to ensure his survival. There are a number of schools in Pakistan that teach fundamentalism. Further, recruitment of jihadis is done from the lower economic strata with promises of monetary benefits for their families. In fact ,the action of the jihadis especially there involvement in suicide missions cannot be explained rationally. As for export of jihad by Pakistan to different parts of South Asia, it is a particularly murderous brand of fundamentalism that caters to the campaigns of revenge and vendetta as well as an anti West propaganda."
India
Security problems associated with various insurgencies, particularly in Kashmir,
persisted through 2000 in India. Massacres of civilians in Kashmir during March
and August were attributed to Lashkar-e-Tayyiba (LT) and other militant groups.
India also faced continued violence associated with several separatist
movements based in the northeast of the country.
The Indian Government continued cooperative efforts with the United States against terrorism. During the year, the US-India Joint Counterterrorism Working Group--founded in November 1999--met twice and agreed to increased cooperation on mutual counterterrorism interests.
Pakistan
Pakistan's military government, headed by Gen.
Pervez Musharraf, continued previous Pakistani Government support of
the Kashmir insurgency, and Kashmiri militant groups continued to operate in
Pakistan, raising funds and recruiting new cadre. Several of these groups were
responsible for attacks against civilians in Indian-held Kashmir, and the largest
of the groups, the Lashkar-e-Tayyiba, claimed responsibility for a suicide car-bomb
attack against an Indian garrison in Srinagar in April. In addition, the Harakat
ul-Mujahidin (HUM), a designated Foreign Terrorist Organization, continues to
be active in Pakistan without discouragement by the Government of Pakistan.
Members of the group were associated with the hijacking in December 1999 of
an Air India flight that resulted in the release from an Indian jail of former
HUM leader Maulana Masood Azhar. Azhar since has founded his own Kashmiri
militant group, Jaish-e-Mohammed, and publicly has threatened the United States.
The United States remains concerned about reports of continued Pakistani support
for the Taliban's military operations in Afghanistan. Credible reporting indicates
that Pakistan is providing the Taliban with materiel, fuel, funding, technical
assistance, and military advisers. Pakistan has not prevented large numbers
of Pakistani nationals from moving into Afghanistan to fight for the Taliban.
Islamabad also failed to take effective steps to curb the activities of certain
madrassas, or religious schools, that serve as recruiting grounds for
terrorism”
London: "There is still far too much evidence, certainly over the past year to 18 months since the Kargil incident, which was inspired by Pakistan, that cross-border terrorism is actively encouraged, and, indeed, at times sponsored by agencies and elements closely aligned with the pakistani authorities,'' said Mr. Peter Hain, Minister of State, Foreign and Commonwealth office"
http://www.smh.com.au/news/0105/28/features/features7.html
"However, he (General Pervez Musharraf) has let the Islamic extremists campaign
freely. He and many of his close associates have publicly confirmed Pakistan's
support in the name of "national security" for the Taliban and Kashmiri militants
fighting for independence from India. (General Pervez Musharraf) allowed the
Islamic extremists to hold their biggest public gathering ever in April in Peshawar
on the border with Afghanistan where Taliban leader Mullah Omer and his protected
"guest", Saudi dissident and America's most wanted man, Osama Bin Laden, urged
the world's Muslims to unite behind the Taliban for a wider Jihad (holy war).
Meanwhile, he has done little to reduce tension with India. (General Pervez
Musharraf) has allowed to go on unabated the ISI tutelage of Kashmiri Islamic
militants and the Taliban in reinforcing one another. He has responded positively
to the invitation for peace talks, but only on the proviso that India meet the
independence demand of the Pakistan-backed Kashmiri combatants."
"The military regime, facing international criticism over its status as a host to numerous Islamic extremist elements, has, from time to time, sought to take steps to deflect growing internal and international criticism of the activities of fundamentalist elements within Pakistan. But inner contradictions within the regime are bound to hamper these efforts. Remarks by Chief Executive General Pervez Musharraf in the New York Times in June justified jihad and claimed that it was ‘a tolerant concept’. In contrast, speaking at a seminar in Karachi on October 6 about the possible future role of Jihadi outfits in the context of Pakistan's internal security, Pakistan’s Interior Minister Moinuddin Haider is reported to have asked the participants of the seminar to just imagine what could happen to Pakistan when terrorists of the LeT would start trekking back home from Indian-controlled Kashmir once the their objectives there had been achieved.
Instead of closing down the cross-border terrorist apparatus, Pakistan merely moved many of the Kashmir-bound terrorists to Afghanistan, changed the ISI chief and "privatised" the cross-border terrorism with continued ISI help, ex-US Ambassador Dennis Kux has revealed in his new book on US-Pakistani relations.The operation was aborted
on Oct. 12, 1999, however, when Sharif was overthrown in a military coup led
by Gen. Pervez Musharraf, who refused to continue the operation
despite substantial efforts by the Clinton administration to revive it.
"Not only Americans suffer horrific deaths in such attacks. The State Department estimates that India suffered the largest number of terrorist incidents in 1999, for example. Indians were also the victims in the terrorist attack that caused the the highest death toll before today's...."
FBI, CIA benefit from RAW's inputs. B L Kak, Daily Excelsior,
Srinagar, India, October 18, 2001.
"..set of reports, all accusing Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI)
of having played its role while facilitating the September 11 terrorist attacks
in New York and Washington.
... Pakistan President and military ruler,
Gen. Parvez Musharraf, has tried to divert Washington's attention by sacking
the ISI chief, Gen. Mehmood Ahmed, America's FBI (Federal Bureau
of Investigation) and CIA (Central Intelligence Agency) seem determined to investigate
the allegations against the ISI.
.. "most damaging evidence".. ISI chief's connection with Omar Sheikh, the Pakistan-born British national, who was released by the Government of India along with Masood Azhar and Mushtaq Zargar towards the end of 1999 to seek the freedom of passengers of the hijacked plane of India Airlines at Kandahar in Afghanistan.
... Omar Sheikh's cellphone number-0300 94587772... FBI's examination of the hard disk of the cellphone company... "link" between him and the Gen. Mehmood Ahmed...sensational information surfaced with regard to the transfer of 100,000 dollars to Mohammed Atta... Gen. Mehmood Ahmed, the FBI investigators found, fully knew about the transfer of money to Atta.
..Omar Sheikh and Masood Azhar launched Jaish-e-Mohammed after the Kandahar
hijacking episode... contact the two... developed with Osama bin Laden...
....Omar was seen in Karachi a fortnight before the September 11 strikes.
.. "crucial link".. into the September 11 attacks. He has gone underground
since the terrorist attack on the World Trade Centre and the Pentagon..."
"............. But Musharraf bristled visibly at the suggestion that he might not enjoy total control of the army or Pakistan's powerful intelligence services, which have enjoyed close relations with armed Islamic groups. Several weeks ago, Musharraf replaced three top generals, including the director of the major military intelligence service.
He said it was an "absolute misperception" that the intelligence services operate autonomously. "The army chief is never out of the loop. I appoint the [intelligence director] and I can remove him," Musharraf said. He also said his support within the army is "very strong. There is no possibility at all of any kind of threat developing within our institution."....."
http://www.saag.org/papers/paper66.html
"B. Raman, South Asia Analysis Group Papers
SAAG Paper 66, July 1, 1999
GEN.PERVEZ MUSHARRAF: HIS PAST & PRESENT
In an article (the "International Herald Tribune" of June 16) on Pakistan's proxy invasion of Indian territory in the Kargil sector of Jammu & Kashmir, Mr.Selig Harrison, the well-known American analyst, says:" Recent information makes clear that the newly-installed Army Chief of Staff (COAS), Gen. Pervez Musharraf, has long-standing links with several Islamic fundamentalist groups." Gen. Musharraf's past background has not received, from Indian and Western analysts, the attention it deserves, if one has to have a clearer understanding of his role in the proxy invasion.
Gen. Musharraf, a Mohajir of Azamgarh/Karachi origin, had subsequently settled down in Gujranwala in Punjab and prefers to project himself more as a Punjabi than as a Mohajir. He was commissioned in the Pakistan Army Artillery in 1964. He had an undistinguished career till the 1980s, when he caught the eye of Gen.Zia-ul-Haq and Gen. Mirza Aslam Beg, another Mohajir COAS. Gen. Zia, who preferred devoutly Muslim officers in important positions, chose Gen. Musharraf for advancement as he was, like Gen. Zia himself, a devout Deobandi and was strongly recommended by the Jamaat-e-Islami.
The first assignment given by Zia to him was in the training of the mercenaries recruited by various Islamic extremist groups for fighting against the Soviet troops in Afghanistan. It was during those days that Gen. Musharaff came into contact with Osama bin Laden, then a reputed civil engineer of Saudi Arabia, who had been recruited by the USA's Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) and brought to Pakistan for constructing bunkers for the Afghan Mujahideen in difficult terrain. bin Laden initially made his reputation in Afghanistan not as a mujahideen or terrorist, but as a civil engineer who could construct bunkers in any terrain. He also developed the technique of constructing long tunnels to isolated Soviet and Afghan military posts. The Mujahideen used to suddenly emerge from these tunnels and surprise the Soviet and Afghan troops. The links, which Gen. Musharraf developed with bin Laden in those days, have subsequently remained strong.
It was alleged that Gen. Musharraf also developed a nexus with the narcotics smugglers of the North-West Frontier Province (NWFP). Even though the CIA valued his services in Afghanistan, the Narcotics Control officials of the US had reservations about him because of suspicions of his contacts with the narcotics smugglers. That is one of the reasons why of all the senior Pakistani Army officers of today, Gen. Musharraf has had the least interactions with the US military establishment-- in the form of nomination for higher training in the US, participation in seminars and exercises and visits to US military establishments. His bio-data issued by the Pakistan Army HQ. in October last at the time of his appointment as the COAS show that he has done two training courses in the UK. There was no mention of any course in the US.
Gen. Zia chose Gen. Musharraf (then a Brigadier) in 1987 to command a newly-raised Special Services Group (SSG) base at Khapalu in the Siachen area. To please Gen. Zia, Gen. Musharraf with his SSG commandos launched an attack on an Indian post at Bilfond La in September, 1987,and was beaten back. Despite this, he continued to enjoy the confidence of Zia. Gen. Musharraf has since then spent seven years in two tenures with the SSG and prides himself on being an SSG commando and projects himself as the greatest expert of the Pakistan Army in mountain warfare. When he recently received Gen. Anthony Zinni, the Commanding Officer of the US Central Command, he was dressed as an SSG Commando.
In May,1988, the Shias, who are in a majority in Gilgit, rose in revolt against the Sunni-dominated administration. Zia put an SSG group commanded by Gen. Musharraf in charge of suppressing the revolt. Gen. Musharraf transported a large number of Wahabi Pakhtoon tribesmen from the NWFP and Afghanistan, commanded by bin Laden, to Gilgit to teach the Shias a lesson. These tribesmen under bin Laden massacred hundreds of Shias. In its issue of May,1990, "Herald", the monthly journal of the "Dawn" group of publications of Karachi, wrote as follows: " In May,1988, low-intensity political rivalry and sectarian tension ignited into full-scale carnage as thousands of armed tribesmen from outside Gilgit district invaded Gilgit along the Karakoram Highway. Nobody stopped them. They destroyed crops and houses, lynched and burnt people to death in the villages around Gilgit town. The number of dead and injured was put in the hundreds. But numbers alone tell nothing of the savagery of the invading hordes and the chilling impact it has left on these peaceful valleys."
Gen. Musharraf started a policy of bringing in Punjabis and Pakhtoons from outside and settling them down in Gilgit and Baltistan in order to reduce the Kashmiri Shias to a minority in their traditional land and this is continuing till today. The "Friday Times" of October 15-21, 1992, quoted Mr. Muhammad Yahya Shah, a local Shia leader, as saying: " We were ruled by the Whites during the British days. We are now being ruled by the Browns from the plains. The rapid settling-in of Punjabis and Pakhtoons from outside, particularly the trading classes, has created a sense of acute insecurity among the local Shias."
Zia became the first victim of the carnage unleashed by Gen. Musharraf on the Shias of Gilgit. Though the Pakistani authorities have not released the report of the committee, which enquired into the crash of Zia's plane in August,1988, it is widely believed in Pakistan that a Shia airman from Gilgit, wanting to take revenge for the May,1988, carnage, was responsible for the crash.
During his days with the SSG in the Siachen area and in the Northern Areas (Gilgit and Baltistan), Gen. Musharraf developed a close personal friendship with Lt.Gen. (now retd) Javed Nasir, Director-General of the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), during Mr.Nawaz Sharif's first tenure as the Prime Minister and now his Adviser on intelligence matters, Maj.Gen. Zaheer-ul-Islam Abbasi, then a Brigadier, Lt.Gen. Mohd.Aziz, former No. 2 in the ISI till February this year and now the Chief of the General Staff (CGS), and Mr.Mohd Rafique Tarar, then a Judge and now the President of Pakistan. All the four of them were devout Deobandis with strong links with Islamic fundamentalist parties and particularly with the Harkat-ul-Mujahideen (HUM, also known for some years as the Harkat-ul-Ansar ), which was declared by the US as an international terrorist organisation in 1997. Along with the Lashkar-e-Toiba,the HUM is a member of bin Laden's International Islamic Front for Jihad against the US and Israel. Lt.Gen. Nasir was also an office-bearer of the Tablighi Jamaat, even while in service.
In the late 1980s, Brig. Abbasi was posted as the Military Attache in the Pakistani High Commission in New Delhi. He was expelled by the Government of India in 1989 after he was caught by the New Delhi police while receiving classified papers from a Government employee. On his return to Pakistan, Brig. Abbasi was posted to the Siachen. Like Gen. Musharraf, he had a reputation of taking rash and irresponsible actions without the clearance of his superiors. He launched an attack on an Indian army post, which was repulsed with heavy Pakistani casualties. The late Gen.Asif Nawaz Janjua, the then COAS, recalled him to Rawalpindi and wanted to dismiss him for launching the attack without his orders, but Lt.Gen. Nasir saved him from any punishment.
On September 8,1995, the Pakistani Customs stopped a car carrying heavy arms and ammunition near Kohat in the NWFP and arrested its driver and Saifullah Akhtar, the then patron of the HUM. On interrogation, they reportedly told the Customs authorities that the weapons had been procured by Brig. Mustansar Billa of the Pakistan Army at Darra Adamkhel for supply to the Kashmiri extremist groups. The Pakistani army then took over the investigation and arrested a group of 40 army officers and 10 civilians headed by Maj.Gen.Abbasi. Mrs. Benazir Bhutto, then Prime Minister, alleged that this group had conspired to kill her and senior military officers, stage a coup and proclaim an Islamic state. They were secretly tried by a military court and sentenced to various terms of imprisonment. Sections of the Pakistani press had alleged that the plotters had wanted to instal Gen. Musharraf as the head of the Islamic State, and that Gen. Aziz was also involved in the plot, but no action was taken against them for want of adequate evidence. Mr.M.H.Askari, a well-known columnist, wrote in the "Dawn" (October 18,1995) as follows: "It is said that the plotters had close links with the Hizbul Mujahideen and the Harkat-ul-Ansar, which are known for their involvement in international terrorism. It is also said that the arrested officers wanted Pakistan to become militarily involved in the Kashmir freedom struggle." "The Nation" (October 20,1995) reported that Maj.Gen.Abbasi had close contacts with the Harkat-ul-Ansar.
The "Khabrain" alleged that two of the arrested officers belonged to the ISI and that one of them had worked as the staff officer to Lt.Gen. Nasir, when he was DG, ISI. "The Nation" of November 15,1995, reported: "Almost all the arrested officers are followers of the Tablighi Jamaat based in Raiwind." Raiwind, which is in the Punjab, is the hometown of the Prime Minister, Mr.Nawaz Sharif. It is also the headquarters of the HUM.
Pakistani analysts were surprised when Mr.Sharif appointed Gen.Musharraf as the COAS on October 8,1998, superseding Lt.Gen. Ali Kuli Khan, a Pakhtoon, who was the CGS, and Lt. Gen. Khalid Nawaz, a Punjabi, who was the Quarter-Master General. Mr.Sharif's choice of Gen. Musharraf was attributed to the following: ---- He was strongly recommended by President Tarar and Lt.Gen. Nasir. ---- He had ingratiated himself with Mr.Sharif by keeping the latter informed of the criticism of the Government's functioning by Lt.Gen.Ali Kuli Khan and Khalid Nawaz at theCorps Commanders' conferences when Gen.Jehangir Karamat was the COAS. ---- Though a Mohajir, Gen. Musharraf disliked Mr. Altaf Hussain and his Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM). Mr. Sharif, therefore, wanted to use him to crush the MQM in Karachi. Mr.Sharif and Gen. Musharraf got along very well till March.
As desired by Mr.Sharif, the new COAS set up special military courts in Karachi to try the MQM cadres on charges of terrorism. Several of them were sentenced to death and two executed before the Pakistan Supreme Court, acting on a petition, declared these courts unconstitutional. It was alleged that Mr.Sharif was also planning to have Mr.Asif Zirdari, the husband of Mrs. Bhutto, tried as a terrorist by the military courts and sentenced to death for allegedly killing Murtaza Bhutto, her brother, in September, 1996. Mr. Sharif also made the Army in charge of the Water and Power Development Authority (WAPDA) to put an end to corruption and labour trouble and to improve efficiency.
After the visit of Mr.Strobe Talbott, US Deputy Secretary of State, to Pakistan in the first week of February, Mr.Sharif also approved a plan submitted by Gen. Musharraf for shifting bin Laden's terrorist brigade from the Jalalabad area of Afghanistan to the Kargil area of India by taking advantage of the absence of the Indian army from this area during winter. It is reported that while Lt.Gen. Nasir strongly backed the plan, Lt.Gen, Ziauddin, the Director-General of the ISI, expressed strong reservations over it and pointed out that it could create problems for Pakistan with the US. Gen. Musharraf transferred Lt.Gen. Aziz from the ISI to the Army HQ. as his CGS and made him responsible for its implementation through the Directorate of Military Intelligence. Lt.Gen. Nasir was kept in the picture about the implementation, but not Lt.Gen.Ziauddin.
While outwardly supporting the Lahore Declaration, Gen. Musharraf, with the backing of Lt.Gen. Nasir, went ahead implementing the plan. Bin Laden's terrorist brigade was transported to Skardu in the Northern Areas and from there infiltrated into the Kargil area along with a large number of Pakistani army regulars. Mr.Sharif was allegedly not kept in the picture about sending the army regulars into Indian territory along with the terrorist brigade. In the February-March,1999, issue of the Pakistan "Defence Journal", Lt.Gen Nasir had written an article titled "Calling the Indian Army Chief's Bluff". While ostensibly supporting the Lahore initiative, Lt.Gen. Nasir wrote in the most contemptuous manner of the capabilities of the Indian army and said: "The Indian army is incapable of undertaking any conventional operations at present, what to talk of enlarging conventional conflict."
A perusal of the writings in the Pakistani media and professional journals since January,1999, shows that these irrational religious elements in the Pakistan army headed by Gen. Musharraf and senior retired officers who have been supporting Gen. Musharraf have embarked on this adventure in the Kargil area on the basis of the following assumptions:
----The morale in the Indian armed forces is low due to the "bad leadership" of Mr.George Fernandes, our Defence Minister. Lt.Gen.Assad Durrani, former DG of the ISI, has sarcastically referred to Mr.Fernandes as the "best Indian Defence Minister that Pakistan can hope to have."
---- The BJP is a party of paper tigers, known more for their "verbosity" than for their actions.
---- Pakistan's nuclear and missile capability has ensured that India would not retaliate against Pakistan for occupying the ridges in the Kargil area.
----The fear of the possible use of nuclear weapons would bring in Western intervention, thereby internationalising the Kashmir issue.
----Pakistan should agree to a ceasefire only if it was allowed to remain in occupation of the Indian territory. There should be no question of the restoration of the status quo ante.
The interviews and speeches of Gen. Musharraf since October, 1998, show his thinking to be as follows:
----The acquisition of Kashmir by Pakistan can wait. What is more important is to keep the Indian army bleeding in Kashmir just as the Afghan Mujahideen kept the Soviet troops bleeding in Afghanistan.
--- -Even if the Kashmir issue is resolved, there cannot be normal relations between India and Pakistan because Pakistan, by frustrating India's ambition of emerging as a major Asian power on par with China and Japan, would continue to be a thorn on India's flesh. And, so long as it does so, Pakistan would continue to enjoy the backing of China and Japan.
From March, Gen. Musharraf, to the discomfiture of Mr.Sharif, started coming out in his true colours. He issued an order that the army, as the supervisory authority, would conduct all future negotiations with the independent power producers, thereby denying any role in the matter to the politicians and civilian bureaucrats. When Mr.Sharif objected to this order, he declined to cancel it. The COAS made out a list of all payment defaulters of the WAPDA and leaked to the press that Mrs.Abida Hussain, a Shia Minister of Mr.Sharif's Cabinet, was one of the major defaulters, thereby forcing her to resign. He has also been hinting to the press that the business enterprises of Mr.Sharif's family top the list of defaulters. He then insisted that he should be given concurrent charge of the post of the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee, even though it was the turn of Admiral Fasih Bokhari, the Chief of the Naval staff, to hold this charge. His argument was that since the army was the most important component of the armed forces, the Chairman should always be from the army. While not accepting this argument, Mr.Sharif gave him concurrent charge for one year only, as against the normal three years. He also got himself nominated as the Strategic Commander of Pakistan's nuclear force.
By May, Gen. Musharraf found to his surprise that the BJP-led Government was reacting vigorously to the invasion and had ordered the Indian Air Force to go into action against the invaders. It was only then that he reportedly told a shocked Mr.Sharif that he had sent in a large number of Pakistan army regulars with bin Laden's terrorist brigade and that the regulars were likely to incur heavy casualties. The demand of the US and other Western powers for the withdrawal of the invaders and for the restoration of the status quo ante came as another surprise to him. Despite this, he seems to be insisting that Pakistan should not agree to any unconditional withdrawal.
B.RAMAN 1.7.99 (The writer is Additional Secretary (Retd), Cabinet Secretariat,
Govt. of India, and presently, Director, Institute For Topical Studies, Chennai.
E-Mail address: [email protected]) "
THE HIJACKING: THE TALIBAN ANGLE
B. Raman, SAAG Paper, Jan. 2000.
Since September, 1996, Afghanistan has two capitals --Kabul, the administrative capital, from where the Council of Ministers headed by Mullah Mohammad Rabbani functions, and Kandahar, the spiritual capital, from where the 35-year-old Mullah Mohammad Omer, the Amir of the Taliban and reportedly one of the three fathers-in-law of Osama bin Laden, his 30-member shoora (a consultative council of Mullahs), the newly-created intelligence agency and the Ministry for the Promotion of Islamic Virtue and Prevention of Vice function. All appointments in the Kabul-based administration and all policy decisions are made by the Amir in consultation with the shoora. The four founding fathers of the Taliban in 1994---Mullah Omer himself, Mullah Rabbani, Mullah Abdullah and Mullah Biradar, who is also concurrently the Vice Chief of the Taliban Militia and the security-in-charge of the Kandahar and other airports--constitute the shoora's hard-core. The Amir is also concurrently the militia and intelligence chief.
The most important members of the Council of Ministers are Mullah Rabbani himself, Mullah Mohammad Hasan Akhund, his No.2, Mullah Abdur Razzaq, Interior Minister, Mullah Qudratullah Akhund, Minister for Information and Culture, and Mullah Wakil Ahmad Mutawwakil, the Foreign Minister, who was before October 27,1999, the media spokesman of the Amir. The Amir hails from village Nodeh and grew up in village Singesar in the Mewand District near Kandahar. Mewand is as holy and historic a place for the Pakhtuns of Afghanistan as Kosovo is for the Serbs. According to Afghan historians, it was at Mewand that the Pakhtuns stopped the advancing British troops and trounced them.
The fact that the one-eyed Amir (he lost the other eye while fighting the Soviet troops) hailed from the legendary Mewand District gives him a halo in the eyes of the simple, God-fearing and proud Pakhtuns, who follow his commands implicitly. The Amir is a man with practically no exposure to the world outside Kandahar and its neighbourhood. He has never traveled in the non-Pakhtun areas of Afghanistan, never been to Kabul since it became the administrative capital and, it is said, hardly knows Pakistan outside Quetta and Peshawar. The Amir and the other members of the shoora look upon themselves as on a divine mission with the benefit of divine guidance and do not, therefore, feel the need for human guidance and advice. The non-clerical civilian bureaucracy has consequently been reduced to merely an instrument for carrying out the decisions of the clerics, without any voice in policy and decision making.
There are two important Pakistani influences--that of the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) and the army, which is very strong on Mullah Rabbani and his Kabul-based Council of Ministers and of Maulana Fazlur Rahman, the Amir of the Balochistan-based Jamiat Ulema Islam (JUI), which is strong on Amir Omer and his shoora. The Maulana is, in fact, the godfather of the Taliban and the Harkat-ul-Mujahideen (HUM) and is greatly attached to the Bahawalpur-born Maulana Masood Azhar, of the HUM, whose release was initially the only demand of the Indian Airlines (IA). hijackers.
The two previous attempts of the HUM to secure the release of Maulana Azhar by kidnapping foreign tourists were both suspected to have been blessed, if not orchestrated, by Maulana Fazlur Rahman. In fact, when the HUM, under the name Al Faran, kidnapped five Western tourists in Kashmir in 1995, Mrs.Benazir Bhutto, the then Prime Minister, sent him to New Delhi as she felt he was the only man who could persuade the HUM to release the hostages. The Govt. of India cold-shouldered him and he returned to Pakistan.
In Afghanistan, the Tadjiks had traditionally a larger presence in the civil adminstration because of their better education than the Pakhtuns, whose presence was more important in the military. As a result, when the Taliban over-ran large parts of Afghanistan and drove out the Tadjik-dominated Burhanuddin Rabbani Government with its Tadjik civil servants, it had to depend on the large-scale deputation of Pakhtun officers from the North-West Frontier Province (NWFP) and Balochistan to run the administration. Thus, there is a substantial presence of Pakhtun civil servants of Pakistan in the various Government departments, including the intelligence agency, airport security and the Kandahar airport control tower.
The only Ministry to which Islamabad has refrained from deputing its civil servants is that for the Promotion of Islamic Virtue and Prevention of Vice because of the controversy associated with its suppression of women's rights. From this account, it would be reasonable to draw the following conclusions: * Once the Govt. of India, through its perceived mishandling at Amritsar and and Dubai, let the aircraft reach Kandahar, it had no other option but to seek the good offices of the Taliban and its shoora for saving the hostages. * It is very likely that the ISI and the JUI played, either separately of each other or in tandem, an active role in influencing the events at Kandahar and had easy access to the aircraft and the hijackers. In fact, most probably, some of the Taliban officials--barring well-known Taliban figures like their Foreign Minister--with whom the Indian delegation and our Foreign Minister, Mr.Jaswant singh, were interacting must have been ISI officers and JUI members masquerading as from the Taliban. *In view of this, it might be difficult to establish conclusively whether the new arms and ammunition, which the hijackers reportedly received in Kandahar, came from the Taliban, the ISI or the JUI, or from all of them acting in concert together..
Does the benign face projected by the Taliban to India through its Foreign Minister and his officials at Kandahar indicate a change of attitude towards India? It is difficult to answer this question, but it needs to be recalled that since October, 1998, the Taliban leadership has been periodically sending signals to India about its interest in a "non-adversarial" relationship with India. It had been claimimg that despite its support for the Kashmiris' right of self-determination, it had not sent any Afghans to Kashmir and that the Afghans fighting in Kashmir were from the Hizbe Islami of Gulbuddin Heckmatyar, sent by Pakistan's Jamaat-e-Islami, who had been masquerading as from the Taliban.
In this connection, this writer had written on September 29,1999 (http://www.saag.org/papers/paper83.html): " India should test out the sincerity of the Taliban's interest in a non-adversarial relationship with India by maintaining a line of communication with the Taliban leadership through their office in New York. Its professions of innocence should be tested out and not dismissed out of hand…. We should not put all our eggs in the Burhanuddin Rabbani-Masood basket. It would be unwise to assume that the Taliban leadership is a Pakistani puppet and hence beyond redemption. After all, many Pakhtuns--of Pakistan as well as Afghanistan-- had been the traditional supporters of India and one should not rule out the possibility of there being many elements in the Taliban leadership, which feel suffocated by the present too close an embrace with Pakistan."
Shri Jaswant Singh's visit to Kandahar, which has been criticised by the opposition and sections of the media, would have served a useful purpose if it had enabled him to assess the sincerity of their past claims. At the same time, it would be unwise to nurse illusions of our being able to create a quick divide between Pakistan and the Taliban. The Taliban is too dependent on Pakistan for money, food and other essential articles, arms and ammunition and manpower for running the administration and for recovering the remaining 10 per cent of the territory from the Northern Alliance of Rabbani--Ahmed Shah Masood for it to be able to take a markedly independent line. Similarly, its shoora is too strongly under the ideological influence of the anti-India and anti-US JUI for it to be able to shed its hardline fundamentalist image of compulsive jihadists. This should not, however, inhibit us from maintaining, through their New York office, the line of communication with the Taliban leadership, which was established during the Kandahar crisis. Even China has been doing so to wean the Taliban away from the Muslim extremists of Xinjiang.
B.RAMAN (5-1-00) (The writer is Additional Secretary (retd), Cabinet Secretariat,
Govt. of India, and presently, Director, Institute For Topical Studies, Chennai.
E-Mail:[email protected])
JAISH-E-MOHAMMED (JEM) ---A BACKGROUNDER
B.RAMAN
A backgrounder on the Jaish-e-Mohammed (JEM), which has claimed responsibility
for the explosion on October 1,2001, outside
the State Legislative Assembly building in Srinagar in the Jammu & Kashmir
State of India and the subsequent exchange of fire
with the Security Forces in which 35 innocent civilians have been killed, are
given in the following paragraphs.
In 1979, a committee set up by General Zia-ul-Haq estimated the total number
of madrasas in Punjab as being over 1000. Today,
in Punjab alone, the number exceeds 2,500. There are an equal number in the
rest of the country. Of these, about 200 are
controlled by the Ahl-e-Hadith sect and about 100 by the Shias. The remaining
are equally divided between the Barelvi and
Deobandi sects.
In 1979-80, after the entry of the Soviet troops into Afghanistan, the US Government
sought Zia-ul-Haq's assistance for training
the Afghan Mujahideen groups and Arab mercenaries and for raising a clandestine
Army of Islam to fight against the Soviet
troops with arms and ammunition to be provided by the US out of stocks seized
during the Vietnam war. Zia gladly accepted this
role in return for US military and economic assistance to Pakistan.
A special US team flew to Islamabad and finalised this package---military and
economic assistance to Pakistan in return for its
help in making the Soviet troops bleed in Afghanistan. Included in this team
was an officer of the CIA, under the cover of a State
Department diplomat----named Mrs.Wendy Chamberlain.
She has now returned to her old turf as the present US Ambassador to Pakistan
and is busy negotiating with the present
military junta led by Gen.Pervez Musharraf, Pakistan's self-reinstated Chief
of the Army Staff (COAS), self-styled Chief Executive
and self-promoted President, a similar package of assistance in return for its
help in destroying the remnants of the Islamic
warriors trained in the 1980s, who have, after spreading their jehad to India,
China, the Philippines, Uzbekistan, Egypt, Saudi
Arabia, Algeria and Russia, have taken it to the heart of the US.
When Zia accepted this job of contract killing of the Soviet troops for the
Americans, he chose for the task Musharraf and the
present Lt.Gen.Mohammad Aziz, now a Corps Commander at Lahore. They worked out
a plan, which provided for a clear division
of responsibilities---the Afghan Mujahideen and the Arab mercenaries including
Osama bin Laden to be trained by the Pakistani
military-intelligence establishment with American-British-French assistance,and
the clandestine Pakistani Army of Islam to be
raised and trained by the Pakistani military-intelligence establishment without
any external assistance, but to be equipped by
the CIA.
For training this Army of Islam, Musharraf and Aziz, assisted by Maj.Gen.(retd)Mahmud
Durrani,selected 100 of the then existing
madrasas, almost all Deobandi, and introduced military training by serving and
retired officers of the Pakistan Army attached to
them.
The most important and the most active of these madrasas chosen by them were
the Jamiya Uloom-e-Islami in the Binori
mosque, Karachi, set up by
Maulana Yusuf Binori soon after independence in 1947;the Darul Uloom Akora Khattak
in NWFP, and the Jamiya Ashrafiya in
Lahore. Most of the Mulla leading-lights of the clandestine Army of Islam, including
Maulana Masood Azhar, graduated in
terrorism from these three madrasas, with Maulana Azhar himself passing out
of the Binori mosque madrasa.In the 1990s, many
of the Taliban leaders also passed out of this madrasa.
Musharraf and Aziz included in this Army of Islam as many mutually conflicting
groups as possible so that while they kept the
Soviet troops bleeding, none of them would subsequently emerge as a threat to
the primacy of the Pakistan Army in the local
power structure. Keep them fighting the Soviet troops when they can and fighting
among themselves when they should so that
no single group became too big for its shoes inside Pakistan itself--that was
the objective of Musharraf and Aziz.
The result: Blood flew not only inside Afghanistan, but also inside Pakistan
itself due to sectarian and other quarrels amongst
the various components of the Army of Islam. Since the Army of Islam drew all
its recruits from the Sunnis, mainly Deobandis,
the blood which flew in Pakistan and continues to flow is largely that of the
Shias.
Amongst the active initial members of this Army of Islam was the Harkat-ul-Mujahideen,
subsequently re-named as
Harkat-ul-Ansar (HUA) and again as HUM when the US declared the HUA a foreign
terrorist organisation in October,1997. Other
organisations such as the Lashkar-e-Toiba (LET), the militant wing of the Markaz
Dawa Al Irshad (MDI), and the Al Badr joined it
subsequently.
After the collapse of the Najibullah Government in Kabul in April, 1992, the
Pakistani military-intelligence establishment shifted
this Army of Islam to J & K. The HUM often did not claim responsibility
for its successful operations for which it let the
indigenous Hizbul Mujahideen (HM) claim credit to create the impression that
it was the indigenous groups, which were fighting
the Indian Security Forces.
However, the LET and the Al Badr resisted pressure from Pakistan's Inter-Services
Intelligence (ISI) to follow a similar policy of
letting the HM claim credit for their successful operations and insisted on
claiming responsibility in their own name.
After Osama bin Laden returned to Afghanistan from Sudan in the beginning of
1996, his Al Qaeda was also incorporated into
this Army of Islam by Aziz, who used to act and continues to act as the Chief
of Staff of this clandestine army.
This Army of Islam was used by Musharraf and Aziz to occupy the Kargil heights
in April 1999 and thus pave the way for the
induction of regular Pakistani Army troops into the heights.
In the famous intercepted telephone conversation between Musharraf, then in
Beijing, and Aziz, then Chief of the General Staff
(CGS) in the GHQ in Rawalpindi, released by New Delhi in June,1999, Aziz could
be heard reassuring Musharraf:" Sir, the scruff of
their (Army of Islam's) neck is in our hands," thus indicating that this Army
was totally under the control of Pakistan's Army of
State.
During the 1980s, many ostensibly humanitarian relief organisations came into
being in Pakistan through which Western and
Saudi intelligence agencies could funnel money to this Army of Islam and others
fighting the Soviet troops. One such
organisation got floated in Karachi by the ISI and registered as a charitable
trust under the Pakistan Income Tax Act was called
the Al Rashid Trust, which runs, inter alia, the weekly and online journal of
the Taliban called "Zarb-e-Momin". Its founder was
Mufti Rashid Ahmed.
In 1994, Maulana Masood Azhar, a leader of the HUM,who had fought along with
bin Laden's Al Qaeda against the US troops in
Somalia and had participated in the training of Al Qaeda's supporters in Yemen,
was arrested by the Indian authorities and
detained in a Jammu jail till December,1999, when he had to be released as demanded
by the HUM cadres, including Azhar's
brother, who had hijacked an Indian Airlines' plane to Kandahar.
During his detention, Azhar used to send articles clandestinely to the Al Rashid
Trust and these used to be published in the
"Zarb-e-Momin".In one of these articles published on October 31,1999, Azhar
praised the services of Mufti Rashid Ahmed as
follows:
Due to his services, "the Taliban gained strength and the long porous border
of Pakistan became so safe that not a single
army guard is needed there. If instead of the Taliban, Ahmad Shah Masood who
is the enemy of Pakistan and ally of India
had been the ruler of Afghanistan, Pakistan would have been surrounded by enemies
on all four sides."
"Thousands of his students are fighting in Kashmir. Students, who are as dear
to him as his own sons, putting their lives in
danger are battling the Indian troops."
When some renowned sons of Islam and Pakistan attained martyrdom in the prisons
of India, he announced a reward of
Rs. two million for those who would kill the murderers.
One Mohammed Saleh, son of Rashid Ahmed, native of Karachi, captured in July,
1998, by the Northern Alliance of Afghanistan
stated as follows during his interrogation: "His parents came to Pakistan in
1973 as refugees. He was born in 1975 in the city of
Karachi in Pakistan and studied up to the eighth grade. He then began attending
the Abuzar Islami Kawrangi madrassah. During
his studies, he joined the Mahaz-e Islami of Burma party through Noor Alem,
who was the leader of Mahaz-e Islami and Abdul
Hamid, his deputy. This party has links with Harkat ul Mujahideen and Harkat
ul Ansar and Edara ul Rashid. Mufti Rashid Ahmed
is the chief of these three parties and Mufti Abdul Rahim is his deputy. These
parties have direct links with ISI and the Taliban
inside Afghanistan and are supporters of the Taliban. They always send their
members inside Afghanistan to fight alongside the
Taliban. The Zarb-e Momin newsletter explains about their links with ISI and
the Taliban. Its daily publication supports the
Taliban. "
After the HUA was declared by the US as a foreign terrorist organisation in
October, 1997, after its suspected involvement in
the kidnapping of five Western tourists in J & K in 1995 under the name
Al Faran, it changed its name as HUM and joined bin
Laden's International Islamic Front for Jehad against the US and Israel in May,1998,
and signed his fatwa against the US and
Israel.
Following his release from jail by the Govt. of India in December, 1999, Azhar
went to the Binori mosque and announced the
formation of the JEM to fight against India and the US. This caused a split
in the HUM and a majority of its members joined the
JEM, which was inducted by Aziz as a member of the Army of Islam. Despite the
JEM and the HUM being both members of the
Army of Islam, there were frequent clashes between the two over property, fund
collection etc.
The JEM cadres, after training, were inducted into J & K by Aziz and it
has now become the principal terrorist organisation after
the LET.
On May 18,2000, Maulana Mohammad Yousuf Ludhianvi of the Binori mosque and his
driver were killed in Karachi by unknown
elements. Their murders have not been solved so far. In the tributes paid to
him in Karachi's religious press. the Maulana was
described as "the supreme leader of the JEM", of which, it was said, Azhar was
the Chief Commander.The Maulana was also
described as the Chief Commander of the Sipah-e-Sahaba, a member of bin Laden's
International Islamic Front. The Sahaba has
been carrying on a campaign against the Shias of Pakistan and had participated
in the massacre of the Shias of Afghanistan.
The open leader of the Sahaba is Maulana Azam Tariq, who is described by some
Pakistani analysts as the most powerful cleric
in Pakistan today.It was also said by observers that it was the slain Maulana,
who had organised the hijacking of the IAC plane
to Kandahar to secure the release of Azhar.
The Shia media in Pakistan reported that in addition to being an office-bearer
of the HUM till December, 1999, Azhar was also an
office-bearer of the Siph-e-Sahaba and was known for his strong anti-Shia views.
In its annual report on the Patterns of Global Terrorism during 2000 released
in April, 2001, the Counter-Terrorism Division of the
US State Department has described the JEM as follows:
Description
"The Jaish-e-Mohammed (JEM) is an Islamist group based in Pakistan that has
rapidly expanded in size and capability since
Maulana Masood Azhar, a former ultrafundamentalist Harkat ul-Ansar (HUA) leader,
announced its formation in February. The
group's aim is to unite Kashmir with Pakistan. It is politically aligned with
the radical, pro-Taliban, political party, Jamiat-i
Ulema-i Islam (JUI-F).
Activities
"The JEM's leader, Masood Azhar, was released from Indian imprisonment in
December 1999 in exchange for 155 hijacked Indian Airlines hostages in
Afghanistan. The 1994 HUA kidnappings of US and British nationals in New Delhi
and the July 1995 HUA/Al Faran kidnappings of
Westerners in Kashmir were two of several previous HUA efforts to free Azhar.
Azhar organized large rallies and recruitment
drives across Pakistan throughout 2000. In July, a JEM rocket-grenade attack
failed to injure the Chief Minister at his office in
Srinagar, India, but wounded four other persons. In December, JEM militants
launched grenade attacks at a bus stop in Kupwara, India, injuring 24 persons,
and at a marketplace in Chadoura, India, injuring
16 persons. JEM militants also planted two bombs that killed 21 persons in Qamarwari
and Srinagar.
Strength
"Has several hundred armed supporters located in Azad Kashmir, Pakistan, and
in India's southern Kashmir and Doda regions.
Following Maulana Masood Azhar's release from detention in India, a reported
three quarters of Harkat
ul-Mujahedin (HUM) members defected to the new organization, which has managed
to attract a large number of urban Kashmiri
youth. Supporters are mostly Pakistanis and Kashmiris and also include Afghans
and Arab veterans of the Afghan war. Uses
light and heavy machineguns, assault rifles, mortars,
improvised explosive devices, and rocket grenades.
Location/Area of Operation
"Based in Peshawar and Muzaffarabad, but members conduct terrorist activities
primarily in Kashmir. The JEM maintains
training camps in Afghanistan.
External Aid
"Most of the JEM's cadre and material resources have been drawn from the militant
groups Harkat ul-Jihad al-Islami (HUJI) and
the Harkat ul-Mujahedin (HUM). The JEM has close ties to Afghan Arabs and the
Taliban. Osama Bin Ladin is suspected of giving
funding to the JEM. "
Last week, President Bush ordered the freezing of the accounts of a number of
organisations suspected to be linked to Al
Qaeda of bin Laden. The HUM and the Al Rashid Trust figure in the list. Following
this, the Government of Pakistan has also
frozen their accounts.
Is the JEM's attack in Srinagar on October 1 in retaliation for the freezing
of the accounts of the Al Rashid Trust for which it
blames India? Most probably.
The JEM and the LET do not figure in Mr.Bush's list. Unless they too are declared
foreign terrorist organisations and their
accounts frozen, Mr.Bush's "war" against terrorism would not produce decisive
results. (3-10-01)
(The writer is Director, Institute For Topical Studies, Chennai.)
http://www.saag.org/papers4/paper333.html
October 4, 2001
B.RAMAN
(To be read in continuation of earlier article titled " Musharraf & Terrorism" at www.saag.org/papers3/paper283.html )
Since the middle of the 1990s, national security and counter-terrorism experts
of the world have been discussing about the
dangers of what has come to be known as the new or catastrophic terrorism, how
to prevent it and how to deal with it if the
preventive measures fail.
Since 1995, there have been about 300 seminars on this subject organised by
different think tanks, an equal number of
Congressional committee hearings in the US and parliamentary debates in other
countries, nearly a dozen blue ribbon
commissions or study groups, governmental or non-governmental, in different
countries----at least three in the US alone-----
which had studied this subject either partly or exclusively, about 15,400 articles/papers
written by eminent experts, any
number of exercises to identify terrorist attack indicators, at least two counter
catastrophic terrorism "war" games per annum,
the last of them in the US under the code name "Dark Winter" in June,2001 etc.
All these seminars,hearings,commissions, study groups, articles, papers and
"war" games were of no avail in preventing about
50 determined terrorists from getting together and blowing up the World Trade
Centre in New York and part of the Pentagon in
Washington DC.
Thousands of innocent people have died at the hands of terrorists all over the
world, not because there has been a lack of
thinking or ideas as to how to deal with them, but because of lack of action
on the part of the States---action which is as
determined and ruthless as that of the terrorists.
Thousands of innocent people will continue to die at the hands of terrorists
unless and until the international community draws
the right lessons from the tragedy of September 11 and acts on those lessons
without ambivalence or mental reservations.
LESSON NO.1: Terrorism is an absolute evil and should be fought absolutely,
whatever be the objectives of the terrorists,
their nationality, the nationality of the victims, etc.One cannot have
one kind of language to deplore acts of terrorism in
New York or Washington DC and another to deplore terrorist attacks in Srinagar,
Jerusalem or elsewhere.
LESSON No.2:A State-sponsor of terrorism is an equally absolute evil and should
be ostracised and punished absolutely
whatever be the so-called strategic importance of the State and its actual or
potential role as a strategic ally.
LESSON No.3: It is high time to discard cliches of the past such as "one nation's
terrorist is another nation's
freedom-fighter" and "one nation's terrorist State is another nation's strategic
ally " and so on.
When the debates on catastrophic terrorism began in the middle of the 1990s,
it was viewed principally as likely acts of
terrorism involving the use of weapons of mass destruction (WMD). The definition
was subsequently expanded to include
catastrophic acts of cyber terrorism, which may cause serious damage to the
economy and acts designed to create mass
panic such as seizing control of nuclear reactors/power stations and threatening
to blow them up or actually blowing them up.
Of late, the definition has been further expanded to include even acts involving
use of conventional weapons, if they are
designed to cause large casualties or serious damage to the economy and vital
infrastructures.
Experts are now veering round to the definition that catastrophic terrorism
is any act, whatever be the weapon used, that
causes or is likely to cause fatal human casualties of more than 1,000 and/or
serious damage of a medium or long-term nature
to the national, regional or global economy and vital infrastructures.
During these discussions of the 1990s, five States of the world had been cited
by many experts as worrisome, from which acts
of catastrophic terrorism were most likely to emanate, either because they were
harbouring or soft in dealing with terrorist
groups which would have no qualms in using catastrophic terrorism or because
were consciously using such groups as a
weapon to achieve their strategic objectives.
These countries were Iran, Syria, Afghanistan, Pakistan and Greece. Greece was
cited not because of any complicity with the
terrorists, but because of its weak counter-terrorism apparatus.
The report of the bipartisan US National Commission on Terrorism, headed by
Mr.Paul Bremer, former head of the
Counter-Terrorism Division of the State Department, submitted to the Congress
on June 5,2000, specifically cited these
countries and stated as follows: "U.S. policies must firmly target all states
that support terrorists.Iran and Syria should be kept
on the list of state sponsors until they stop supporting terrorists. Afghanistan
should be designated a sponsor of terrorism and
subjected to all the sanctions applicable to state sponsors.The President should
impose sanctions on countries that, while not
direct sponsors of terrorism, are nevertheless not cooperating fully on counterterrorism.
Candidates for consideration include
Pakistan and Greece."
A report of the Heritage Foundation of Washington DC, which is ideologically
close to the Republican Party, prepared in the
middle of last year, had also recommended that the Taliban Government of Afghanistan
should be declared a State-sponsor of
international terrorism and a warning should be issued to Pakistan that if it
did not co-operate in dealing with
Afghanistan-based terrorist groups, it also stood the danger of similarly being
declared.
In fact, since 1992, the annual reports of the State Department on the Patterns
of Global Terrorism have been citing in
increasingly stronger language the activities of Pakistan-based terrorist groups.
President Clinton, after coming to office in
January, 1993, had placed Pakistan in a so-called watch list of suspected State-sponsors
of international terrorism, but
removed it after six months on the ground that the Nawaz Sharif Government had
satisfied US demands for the removal of
Lt.Gen.Javed Nasir, the then Director-General of the Inter-Services Intelligence
(ISI), and some other senior officers.
There were three or four instances in which the military-intelligence
establishment in Pakistan had co-operated in arresting
and deporting terrorists threatening or who had acted against US interests such
as Mir Aimal Kansi, Ramzi Yousef etc. Apart
from this, it had avoided co-operating in respect of other terrorists and their
organisations, which were being used by it against
India.
It resisted US pressure to ban the Harkat-ul-Mujahideen (HUM--formerly known
as the Harkat-ul-Ansar) and to co-operate in the
arrest and deportation of Osama bin Laden and other members of the brain trust
of the International Islamic Front For Jehad
against the US and Israel.
This Front and bin Laden had been repeatedly talking of their religious duty
to acquire and use weapons of mass destruction,
particularly chemical weapons, to protect their religion. The Afghanistan-Pakistan
based components of this Front were the
only terrorist organisations of the world which were openly advocating resort
to catastrophic terrorism.
The State Department's annual report on Patterns of Global Terrorism during
2000 released by Gen. Colin Powell, US Secretary
of State, on April 30,2001, gave the following detailed account of Pakistani
involvement with the terrorist groups in J & K and
Afghanistan:
"The Government of Pakistan increased its support to the Taliban and continued
its support to militant groups active in
Indian-held Kashmir, such as the Harakat ul-Mujahidin (HUM), some of which engaged
in terrorism.
"Islamic extremists from around the world--including North America, Europe,
Africa, the Middle East, and Central, South,
and Southeast Asia--continued to use Afghanistan as a training ground and base
of operations for their worldwide terrorist
activities in 2000. The Taliban, which controlled most Afghan territory,
permitted the operation of training and
indoctrination facilities for non-Afghans and provided logistics support to
members of various terrorist organizations and
mujahidin, including those waging jihads (holy wars) in Central Asia, Chechnya,
and Kashmir.
"Throughout 2000 the Taliban continued to host Usama Bin Ladin despite UN sanctions
and international pressure to
hand him over to stand trial in the United States or a third country.
In a serious and ongoing dialogue with the Taliban, the
United States repeatedly made clear to the Taliban that it would be held responsible
for any terrorist attacks undertaken
by Bin Ladin while he is in its territory.
"Massacres of civilians in Kashmir during March and August were attributed to
Lashkar-e-Tayyiba (LT) and other militant
groups.
"Pakistan's military government, headed by Gen. Pervez Musharraf, continued
previous Pakistani Government support of
the Kashmir insurgency, and Kashmiri militant groups continued to operate in
Pakistan, raising funds and recruiting new
cadre. Several of these groups were responsible for attacks against civilians
in Indian-held Kashmir, and the largest of
the groups, the Lashkar-e-Tayyiba, claimed responsibility for a suicide car-bomb
attack against an Indian garrison in
Srinagar in April.
"In addition, the Harakat- ul-Mujahidin (HUM), a designated Foreign Terrorist
Organization, continues to be active in
Pakistan without discouragement by the Government of Pakistan. Members
of the group were associated with the
hijacking in December 1999 of an Air India (author's comment: it was actually
the Indian Airlines) flight that resulted in the
release from an Indian jail of former HUM leader Maulana Masood Azhar.
Azhar since has founded his own Kashmiri
militant group,Jaish-e-Mohammed, and publicly has threatened the United States.
"The United States remains concerned about reports of continued Pakistani support
for the Taliban's military operations
in Afghanistan. Credible reporting indicates that Pakistan is providing the
Taliban with materiel, fuel, funding, technical
assistance, and military advisers. Pakistan has not prevented large numbers
of Pakistani nationals from moving into
Afghanistan to fight for the Taliban. Islamabad also failed to take effective
steps to curb the activities of certain
madrassas, or religious schools, that serve as recruiting grounds for terrorism.
Pakistan publicly and privately said it
intends to comply fully with UNSCR 1333, which imposes an arms embargo on the
Taliban.
"In South Asia, the United States has been increasingly concerned about reports
of Pakistani support to terrorist groups
and elements active in Kashmir, as well as Pakistani support, especially military
support, to the Taliban, which continues
to harbor terrorist groups, including al-Qaida, the Egyptian Islamic Jihad,
al-Gama'a al-Islamiyya, and the Islamic
Movement of Uzbekistan."
Even on the basis of the assessment of its own experts in the State Department,
the Pakistani military junta is as responsible as
the Taliban for harbouring and assisting international terrorist organisations,
which caused the horrendous acts of catastrophic
terrorism in the US on September 11,2001.
Instead of acting firmly against the junta and insisting on its dismantling
the terrorist infrastructure on its territory, the USA has
chosen to reward it by removing even the existing sanctions and projecting the
junta as the USA's strategic ally in the "war"
against terrorism.
Instead of controlling terrorism, this unwise policy would only further aggravate
the threats from Pakistan and
Afghanistan-based terrorists to the rest of the world.
Despite his pretense of co-operation with the international community in its
fight against terrorism, Musharraf follows his
double-faced policy of covertly supporting terrorism to achieve Pakistan's strategic
objective. This is evident from the
horrendous act of terrorism by the Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammad outside
the building of the Legislative Assembly in
Srinagar on October 1,2001, which resulted in the deaths of 40 innocent civilians.
His modus operandi has been exactly the
same as before: first, to describe the terrorists as freedom-fighters; then,
when he finds the rest of the world condemning it as
an act of terrorism, to allege that the Indian Security Forces committed
the act in order to discredit the "freedom-fighters".
So long as he and his junta feel confident that the international community
would not act against them, they would continue to
use terrorism to achieve their objectives and New York--September 11 would not
be the end, but only the beginning of the
depredations which the terrorists from this epicentre would repeatedly cause
in the heart of the US.(4-10-01)
(The writer is Director, Institute For Topical Studies, Chennai, India)
Other articles about the terrorists
Enjoy (sorry about the poor formatting. This is straight from "Google", the
first few out of 136 hits.
Terrorist Groups: J&K - Jaish-e-Mohammad Muahideen E-Tanzeem
Indian Defence Review (IDR): Ceasefire in J&K --
"... as the Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT), the Harkat-ul-Mujahideen (HuM), and the Jaish-e-Mohammed
(JeM) formed by Maulana Masood Azhar, formerly of the HuM,"..
http://www.satp.org/idr/Jan-Mar%2001/BRamanIII.htm
Jaish-e-Mohammed (JEM) (Army of Mohammed) Dudley Knox Library, Terrorist
Group Profiles. Dudley Knox Library Naval Postgraduate School. ... Jaish-e-Mohammed
(JEM) (Army of Mohammed). ...
http://web.nps.navy.mil/~library/tgp/jem.htm
Terrorist Groups Profiles Index of Groups
(D) Asia Overview
... HUM leader Maulana Masood Azhar. Azhar since has founded his own Kashmiri
militant group, Jaish-e-Mohammed, and publicly has threatened the United States.
...
http://www.state.gov/s/ct/rls/pgtrpt/2000/index.cfm?docid=2432
The Tribune, Chandigarh, India - Main News ... reports of a threat by a new
Jammu and Kashmir based terrorist group, Jaish-e-Mohammed to hijack aircraft
within the next 48 hours, senior officials of Nataji ...
http://www.tribuneindia.com/20011001/main6.htm
SAPRA India: Internal Issues: Ceasefire in J&K: Questions & ...
... as the Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT), the Harkat-ul-Mujahideen (HUM), and the Jaish-e-Mohammed
(JeM) formed by Maulana Masood Azhar, formerly of the HuM, and of the ...
http://www.subcontinent.com/sapra/internal/internal20010117a.html
Bingkisan London - Media Barat kekalkan sentimen anti-Islam ...
Birmingham yang dikenali sebagai Bilal Ahmet, 24, menurut satu pergerakan
Jaish-e-Mohammed. Apa kena mengena serangan itu dengan sambutan Hari Krismas
tidak ...
http://www.emedia.com.my/Rencana/RencanaKhas/rencana/Bingkisan/20010103114942...
Group (IG): see Al-Gama'at al-Islamiyya. Jaish-e-Mohammed (JEM) (Army of Mohammed).
Islamic Jihad: see ...
http://web.nps.navy.mil/~library/tgp/tgpndx.htm
Musharraf and Terrorism ... Al Qaeda, the Lashkar-e-Toiba (LET), the Harkat-ul-Mujahideen
(HUM) and the Jaish-e-Mohammed
(JEM), terrorist organisations active in Jammu & Kashmir (J&K). ...
http://www.saag.org/papers3/paper283.html
RESPONSIBILITY FOR THE TERRORIST ATROCITIES IN THE UNITED STATES, 11 SEPTEMBER 2001
INTRODUCTION
1. The clear conclusions reached by the government are:
Usama Bin Laden and Al Qaida, the terrorist network which he heads, planned and carried out the atrocities on 11 September 2001;
Usama Bin Laden and Al Qaida retain the will and resources to carry out further atrocities;
the United Kingdom, and United Kingdom nationals are potential targets; and
Usama Bin Laden and Al Qaida were able to commit these
atrocities because of their close alliance with the Taleban régime, which
allowed them to operate with impunity in
pursuing their terrorist activity.
2. The material in respect of 1998 and the USS Cole comes from indictments
and intelligence sources. The material in respect of 11 September comes from
intelligence and the criminal
investigation to date. The details of some aspects cannot be given, but the
facts are clear from the intelligence.
3. The document does not contain the totality of the material known to HMG, given the continuing and absolute need to protect intelligence sources.
SUMMARY
4. The relevant facts show:
Background
Al Qaida is a terrorist organisation with ties to a global network, which has been in existence for over 10 years. It was founded, and has been led at all times, by Usama Bin Laden.
Usama Bin Laden and Al Qaida have been engaged in a jihad against the United States, and its allies. One of their stated aims is the murder of US citizens, and attacks on America’s allies.
Usama Bin Laden and Al Qaida have been based in Afghanistan since 1996, but have a network of operations throughout the world. The network includes training camps, warehouses, communication facilities and commercial operations able to raise significant sums of money to support its activity. That activity includes substantial exploitation of the illegal drugs trade from Afghanistan.
Usama Bin Laden’s Al Qaida and the Taleban régime have a close and mutually dependent alliance. Usama Bin Laden and Al Qaida provide the Taleban régime with material, financial and military support. They jointly exploit the drugs trade. The Taleban régime allows Bin Laden to operate his terrorist training camps and activities from Afghanistan, protects him from attacks from outside, and protects the drugs stockpiles. Usama Bin Laden could not operate his terrorist activities without the alliance and support of the Taleban régime. The Taleban’s strength would be seriously weakened without Usama Bin Laden’s military and financial support.
Usama Bin Laden and Al Qaida have the capability to execute major terrorist attacks.
Usama Bin Laden has claimed credit for the attack on US soldiers in Somalia in October 1993, which killed 18; for the attack on the US Embassies in Kenya and Tanzania in August 1998 which killed 224 and injured nearly 5000; and were linked to the attack on the USS Cole on 12 October 2000, in which 17 crew members were killed and 40 others injured.
They have sought to acquire nuclear and chemical materials for use as terrorist weapons.
In relation to the terrorist attacks on 11 September
5. After 11 September we learned that, not long before, Bin Laden had indicated he was about to launch a major attack on America. The detailed planning for the terrorist attacks of 11 September was carried out by one of UBL’s close associates. Of the 19 hijackers involved in 11 September 2001, it has already been established that at least three had links with Al Qaida. The attacks on 11 September 2001 were similar in both their ambition and intended impact to previous attacks undertaken by Usama Bin laden and Al Qaida, and also had features in common. In particular:
6. Al Qaida retains the capability and the will to make further attacks on the US and its allies, including the United Kingdom.
7. Al Qaida gives no warning of terrorist attack.
THE FACTS
Usama Bin Laden and Al Qaida
8. In 1989 Usama Bin Laden, and others, founded an international terrorist group known as “Al Qaida” (the Base). At all times he has been the leader of Al Qaida.
9. From 1989 until 1991 Usama Bin Laden was based in Afghanistan and Peshawar, Pakistan. In 1991 he moved to Sudan, where he stayed until 1996. In that year he returned to Afghanistan, where he remains.
The Taleban Regime
10. The Taleban emerged from the Afghan refugee camps in Pakistan in the early 1990s. By 1996 they had captured Kabul. They are still engaged in a bloody civil war to control the whole of Afghanistan. They are led by Mullah Omar.
11. In 1996 Usama Bin Laden moved back to Afghanistan. He established a close relationship with Mullah Omar, and threw his support behind the Taleban. Usama Bin Laden and the Taleban régime have a close alliance on which both depend for their continued existence. They also share the same religious values and vision.
12. Usama Bin Laden has provided the Taleban régime with troops, arms, and money to fight the Northern Alliance. He is closely involved with Taleban military training, planning and operations. He has representatives in the Taleban military command structure. He has also given infrastruture assistance and humanitarian aid. Forces under the control of Usama Bin Laden have fought alongside the Taleban in the civil war in Afghanistan.
13. Omar has provided Bin Laden with a safe haven in which to operate, and has allowed him to establish terrorist training camps in Afghanistan. They jointly exploit the Afghan drugs trade. In return for active Al Qaida support, the Taleban allow Al Qaida to operate freely, including planning, training and preparing for terrorist activity. In addition the Taleban provide security for the stockpiles of drugs.
14. Since 1996, when the Taleban captured Kabul, the United States government has consistently raised with them a whole range of issues, including humanitarian aid and terrorism. Well before 11 September 2001 they had provided evidence to the Taleban of the responsibility of Al Qaida for the terrorist attacks in East Africa. This evidence had been provided to senior leaders of the Taleban at their request.
15. The United States government had made it clear to the Taleban regime that Al Qaida had murdered US citizens, and planned to murder more. The US offered to work with the Taleban to expel the terrorists from Afghanistan. These talks, which have been continuing since 1996, have failed to produce any results.
16. In June 2001, in the face of mounting evidence of the Al Qaida threat, the United States warned the Taleban that it had the right to defend itself and that it would hold the régime responsible for attacks against US citizens by terrorists sheltered in Afghanistan.
17. In this, the United States had the support of the United Nations. The Security Council, in Resolution 1267, condemned Usama Bin Laden for sponsoring international terrorism and operating a network of terrorist camps, and demanded that the Taleban surrender Usama Bin Laden without further delay so that he could be brought to justice.
18. Despite the evidence provided by the US of the responsibility of Usama Bin Laden and Al Qaida for the 1998 East Africa bombings, despite the accurately perceived threats of further atrocities, and despite the demands of the United Nations, the Taleban régime responded by saying no evidence existed against Usama Bin Laden, and that neither he nor his network would be expelled.
19. A former Government official in Afghanistan has described the Taleban and Usama Bin Laden as “two sides of the same coin: Usama cannot exist in Afghanistan without the Taleban and the Taleban cannot exist without Usama.”
Al Qaida
20. Al Qaida is dedicated to opposing ‘un-Islamic’ governments in Muslim countries with force and violence.
21. Al Qaida virulently opposes the United States. Usama Bin Laden has urged and incited his followers to kill American citizens, in the most unequivocal terms.
22. On 12 October 1996 he issued a declaration of jihad as follows:
“The people of Islam have suffered from aggression, iniquity and injustice imposed by the Zionist-Crusader alliance and their collaborators . . .
It is the duty now on every tribe in the Arabian peninsula to fight jihad and cleanse the land from these Crusader occupiers. Their wealth is booty to those who kill them.
My Muslim brothers: your brothers in Palestine and in the land of the two Holy Places (i.e. Saudi Arabia) are calling upon your help and asking you to take part in fighting against the enemy – the Americans and the Israelis. They are asking you to do whatever you can to expel the enemies out of the sanctities of Islam.”
Later in the same year he said that “terrorising the American occupiers (of Islamic Holy Places) is a religious and logical obligation.”
In February 1998 he issued and signed a ‘fatwa’ which included a decree to all Muslims:
“. . . the killing of Americans and their civilian and military allies is a religious duty for each and every Muslim to be carried out in whichever country they are until Al Aqsa mosque has been liberated from their grasp and until their armies have left Muslim lands.”
In the same ‘fatwa’ he called on Muslim scholars and their leaders and their youths to “launch an attack on the American soldiers of Satan.”
and concluded:
“We – with God’s help – call on every Muslim who believes in God and wishes to be rewarded to comply with God’s order to kill Americans and plunder their money whenever and wherever they find it. We also call on Muslims . . . to launch the raid on Satan’s US troops and the devil’s supporters allying with them, and to displace those who are behind them.”
When asked, in 1998, about obtaining chemical or nuclear weapons he said:
“acquiring such weapons for the defence of Muslims (was) a religious duty.”
In an interview aired on Al Jazira (Doha, Qatar) television he stated:
“Our enemy is every American male, whether he is directly fighting us or paying taxes.”
In two interviews broadcast on US television in 1997 and 1998 he referred to the terrorists who carried out the earlier attack on the World Trade Center in 1993 as “role models”. He went on to exhort his followers “to take the fighting to America.”
23. From the early 1990s Usama Bin Laden has sought to obtain nuclear and chemical materials for use as weapons of terror.
24. Although US targets are Al Qaida’s priority, it also explicitly threatens the United States’ allies. References to “Zionist-Crusader alliance and their collaborators,” and to “Satan’s US troops and the devil’s supporters allying with them” are references which unquestionably include the United Kingdom.
25. There is a continuing threat. Based on our experience of the way the network has operated in the past, other cells, like those that carried out the terrorist attacks on 11 September, must be assumed to exist.
26. Al Qaida functions both on its own and through a network of other terrorist organisations. These include Egyptian Islamic Jihad and other north African Islamic extremist terrorist groups, and a number of other jihadi groups in other countries including the Sudan, Yemen, Somalia, Pakistan and India. Al Qaida also maintains cells and personnel in a number of other countries to facilitate its activities.
27. Usama Bin Laden heads the Al Qaida network. Below him is a body known as the Shura, which includes representatives of other terrorist groups, such as Egyptian Islamic Jihad leader Ayman Zawahiri and prominent lieutenants of Bin Laden such as Abu Hafs Al-Masri. Egyptian Islamic Jihad has, in effect, merged with Al Qaida.
28. In addition to the Shura, Al Qaida has several groups dealing with military, media, financial and Islamic issues.
29. Mohamed Atef is a member of the group that deals with military and terrorist operations. His duties include principal responsibility for training Al Qaida members.
30. Members of Al Qaida must make a pledge of allegiance to follow the orders of Usama Bin Laden.
31. A great deal of evidence about Usama Bin Laden and Al Qaida has been made available in the US indictment for earlier crimes.
32. Since 1989, Usama Bin Laden has conducted substantial financial and business transactions on behalf of Al Qaida and in pursuit of its goals. These include purchasing land for training camps, purchasing warehouses for the storage of items, including explosives, purchasing communications and electronics equipment, and transporting currency and weapons to members of Al Qaida and associated terrorist groups in countries throughout the world.
33. Since 1989 Usama Bin Laden has provided training camps and guest houses in Afghanistan, Pakistan, the Sudan, Somalia and Kenya for the use of Al Qaida and associated terrorist groups. We know from intelligence that there are currently at least a dozen camps across Afghanistan, of which at least four are used for training terrorists.
34. Since 1989, Usama Bin Laden has established a series of businesses to provide income for Al Qaida, and to provide cover for the procurement of explosives, weapons and chemicals, and for the travel of Al Qaida operatives. The businesses have included a holding company known as ‘Wadi Al Aqiq’, a construction business known as ‘Al Hijra’, an agricultural business known as ‘Al Themar Al Mubaraka’, and investment companies known as ‘Ladin International’ and ‘Taba Investments’.
Usama Bin Laden and previous attacks
35. In 1992 and 1993 Mohamed Atef travelled to Somalia on several occasions for the purpose of organising violence against United States and United Nations troops then stationed in Somalia. On each occasion he reported back to Usama Bin Laden, at his base in the Riyadh district of Khartoum.
36. In the spring of 1993 Atef, Saif al Adel, another senior member of Al Qaida, and other members began to provide military training to Somali tribes for the purpose of fighting the United Nations forces.
37. On 3 and 4 October 1993 operatives of Al Qaida participated in the attack on US military personnel serving in Somalia as part of the operation ‘Restore Hope.’ Eighteen US military personnel were killed in the attack.
38. From 1993 members of Al Qaida began to live in Nairobi and set up businesses there, including Asma Ltd, and Tanzanite King. They were regularly visited there by senior members of Al Qaida, in particular by Atef and Abu Ubadiah al Banshiri.
39. Beginning in the latter part of 1993, members of Al Qaida in Kenya began to discuss the possibility of attacking the US Embassy in Nairobi in retaliation for US participation in Operation Restore Hope in Somalia. Ali Mohamed, a US citizen and admitted member of Al Qaida, surveyed the US Embassy as a possible target for a terrorist attack. He took photographs and made sketches, which he presented to Usama Bin Laden while Bin Laden was in Sudan. He also admitted that he had trained terrorists for Al Qaida in Afghanistan in the early 1990s, and that those whom he trained included many involved in the East African bombings in August 1998.
40. In June or July 1998, two Al Qaida operatives, Fahid Mohammed Ali Msalam and Sheik Ahmed Salim Swedan, purchased a Toyota truck and made various alterations to the back of the truck.
41. In early August 1998, operatives of Al Qaida gathered in 43, New Runda Estates, Nairobi to execute the bombing of the US Embassy in Nairobi.
42. On 7 August 1998, Assam, a Saudi national and Al Qaida operative, drove the Toyota truck to the US embassy. There was a large bomb in the back of the truck.
43. Also in the truck was Mohamed Rashed Daoud Al ‘Owali, another Saudi. He, by his own confession, was an Al Qaida operative, who from about 1996 had been trained in Al Qaida camps in Afghanistan in explosives, hijacking, kidnapping, assassination and intelligence techniques. With Usama Bin Laden’s express permission, he fought alongside the Taleban in Afghanistan. He had met Usama Bin Laden personally in 1996 and asked for another ‘mission.’ Usama Bin Laden sent him to East Africa after extensive specialised training at camps in Afghanistan.
44. As the truck approached the Embassy, Al ’Owali got out and threw a stun grenade at a security guard. Assam drove the truck up to the rear of the embassy. He got out and then detonated the bomb, which demolished a multi-storey secretarial college and severely damaged the US embassy, and the Co-operative bank building. The bomb killed 213 people and injured 4500. Assam was killed in the explosion.
45. Al ‘Owali expected the mission to end in his death. He had been willing to die for Al Qaida. But at the last minute he ran away from the bomb truck and survived. He had no money, passport or plan to escape after the mission, because he had expected to die.
46. After a few days, he called a telephone number in Yemen to have money transferred to him in Kenya. The number he rang in Yemen was contacted by Usama Bin Laden’s phone on the same day as Al ‘Owali was arranging to get the money.
47. Another person arrested in connection with the Nairobi bombing was Mohamed Sadeek Odeh. He admitted to his involvement. He identified the principal participants in the bombing. He named three other persons, all of whom were Al Qaida or Egyptian Islamic Jihad members.
48. In Dar es Salaam the same day, at about the same time, operatives of Al Qaida detonated a bomb at the US embassy, killing 11 people. The Al Qaida operatives involved included Mustafa Mohamed Fadhil and Khaflan Khamis Mohamed. The bomb was carried in a Nissan Atlas truck, which Ahmed Khfaklan Ghailani and Sheikh Ahmed Salim Swedan, two Al Qaida operatives, had purchased in July 1998, in Dar es Salaam.
49. Khaflan Khamis Mohamed was arrested for the bombing. He admitted membership of Al Qaida, and implicated other members of Al Qaida in the bombing.
50. On 7 and 8 August 1998, two other members of Al Qaida disseminated claims of responsibility for the two bombings by sending faxes to media organisations in Paris, Doha in Qatar, and Dubai in the United Arab Emirates.
51. Additional evidence of the involvement of Al Qaida in the East African bombings came from a search conducted in London of several residences and businesses belonging to Al Qaida and Egyptian Islamic Jihad members. In those searches a number of documents were found including claims of responsibility for the East African bombings in the name of a fictitious group, ‘the Islamic Army for the liberation of the Holy Places.’
52. Al ‘Owali, the would-be suicide bomber, admitted he was told to make a videotape of himself using the name of the same fictitious group.
53. The faxed claims of responsibility were traced to a telephone number, which had been in contact with Usama Bin Laden’s cell phone. The claims disseminated to the press were clearly written by someone familiar with the conspiracy. They stated that the bombings had been carried out by two Saudis in Kenya, and one Egyptian in Dar es Salaam. They were probably sent before the bombings had even taken place. They referred to two Saudis dying in the Nairobi attack. In fact, because Al ‘Owali fled at the last minute, only one Saudi died.
54. On 22 December 1998 Usama Bin Laden was asked by Time magazine whether he was responsible for the August 1998 attacks. He replied:
“The International Islamic Jihad Front for the jihad against the US and Israel has, by the grace of God, issued a crystal clear fatwa calling on the Islamic nation to carry on Jihad aimed at liberating the holy sites. The nation of Mohammed has responded to this appeal. If instigation for jihad against the Jews and the Americans . . . is considered to be a crime, then let history be a witness that I am a criminal. Our job is to instigate and, by the grace of God, we did that, and certain people responded to this instigation.”
He was asked if he knew the attackers:
“. . . those who risked their lives to earn the pleasure of God are real men. They managed to rid the Islamic nation of disgrace. We hold them in the highest esteem.”
And what the US could expect of him:
“. . . any thief or criminal who enters another country to steal should expect to be exposed to murder at any time . . . The US knows that I have attacked it, by the grace of God, for more than ten years now . . . God knows that we have been pleased by the killing of American soldiers (in Somalia in 1993). This was achieved by the grace of God and the efforts of the mujahideen . . . Hostility towards America is a religious duty and we hope to be rewarded for it by God. I am confident that Muslims will be able to end the legend of the so-called superpower that is America.”
55. In December 1999 a terrorist cell linked to Al Qaida was discovered trying to carry out attacks inside the United States. An Algerian, Ahmed Ressam, was stopped at the US-Canadian border and over 100 lbs of bomb making material was found in his car. Ressam admitted he was planning to set off a large bomb at Los Angeles International airport on New Year’s Day. He said that he had received terrorist training at Al Qaida camps in Afghanistan and then been instructed to go abroad and kill US civilians and military personnel.
56. On 3 January 2000, a group of Al Qaida members, and other terrorists who had trained in Al Qaida camps in Afghanistan, attempted to attack a US destroyer with a small boat loaded with explosives. Their boat sank, aborting the attack.
57. On 12 October 2000, however, the USS Cole was struck by an explosive-laden boat while refuelling in Aden harbour. Seventeen crew were killed, and 40 injured.
58. Several of the perpetrators of the Cole attack (mostly Yemenis and Saudis) were trained at Usama Bin Laden’s camps in Afghanistan. Al ‘Owali has identified the two commanders of the attack on the USS Cole as having participated in the planning and preparation for the East African embassy bombings.
59. In the months before the September 11 attacks, propaganda videos were distributed throughout the Middle East and Muslim world by Al Qaida, in which Usama Bin Laden and others were shown encouraging Muslims to attack American and Jewish targets.
60. Similar videos, extolling violence against the United States and other targets, were distributed before the East African embassy attacks in August 1998.
Usama Bin Laden and the 11 September attacks
61. Nineteen men have been identified as the hijackers from the passenger lists of the four planes hijacked on 11 September 2001. At least three of them have already been positively identified as associates of Al Qaida. One has been identified as playing key roles in both the East African embassy attacks and the USS Cole attack. Investigations continue into the backgrounds of all the hijackers.
62. From intelligence sources, the following facts have been established subsequent to 11 September; for intelligence reasons, the names of associates, though known, are not given.
In the run-up to 11 September, bin Laden was mounting a concerted propaganda campaign amongst like-minded groups of people – including videos and documentation – justifying attacks on Jewish and American targets; and claiming that those who died in the course of them were carrying out God’s work.
We have learned, subsequent to 11 September, that Bin Laden himself asserted shortly before 11 September that he was preparing a major attack on America.
63. Usama Bin Laden remains in charge, and the mastermind, of Al Qaida. In Al Qaida, an operation on the scale of the 11 September attacks would have been approved by Usama Bin Laden himself.
64. The modus operandi of 11 September was entirely consistent with previous attacks. Al Qaida’s record of atrocities is characterised by meticulous long term planning, a desire to inflict mass casualties, suicide bombers, and multiple simultaneous attacks.
65. The attacks of 11 September 2001 are entirely consistent with the scale and sophistication of the planning which went into the attacks on the East African Embassies and the USS Cole. No warnings were given for these three attacks, just as there was none on 11 September.
66. Al Qaida operatives, in evidence given in the East African Embassy bomb trials, have described how the group spends years preparing for an attack. They conduct repeated surveillance, patiently gather materials, and identify and vet operatives, who have the skills to participate in the attack and the willingness to die for their cause.
67. The operatives involved in the 11 September atrocities attended flight schools, used flight simulators to study the controls of larger aircraft and placed potential airports and routes under surveillance.
68. Al Qaida’s attacks are characterised by total disregard for innocent lives, including Muslims. In an interview after the East African bombings, Usama Bin Laden insisted that the need to attack the United States excused the killing of other innocent civilians, Muslim and non-Muslim alike.
69. No other organisation has both the motivation and the capability to carry out attacks like those of the 11 September – only the Al Qaida network under Usama Bin Laden.
Conclusion
70. The attacks of the 11 September 2001 were planned and carried out by Al Qaida, an organisation whose head is Usama Bin Laden. That organisation has the will, and the resources, to execute further attacks of similar scale. Both the United States and its close allies are targets for such attacks. The attack could not have occurred without the alliance between the Taleban and Usama Bin Laden, which allowed Bin Laden to operate freely in Afghanistan, promoting, planning and executing terrorist activity.
Other References/ Links