War against terrorism

Ian Boyne, Contributor

The war against terrorism, if not conducted judiciously, precisely and dispassionately, could prove costly for world peace and stability. Last spring, the United States' State Department reported that South Asia had dislodged the Middle East as the prime locus of terrorism in the world.

But while the world's attention for the past few years has been focused on the Afghanistan threat in that part of the world, many are unaware of the fact that the major training ground for the export of jihad (holy war), is Pakistan. While it is true that Pakistan's military rulers are moderate and pro-American, the fact is that Pakistan boasts more of what some call the Islamic "schools of hate," than perhaps anywhere else.

Pakistani support for the Bush administration's war plans against a Muslim state and a Muslim brother regarded as a hero in Pakistani religious schools, could lead to the overthrow of the current regime and the establishment of an Islamic state. This is the goal of the Islamic fundamentalists in Pakistan.

ANTI-AMERICAN PROTESTS

The sight of protesting Muslims in the streets of Islamabad burning American flags could become familiar all over the country and could further upset the balance of power in South Asia. Complex, historically intractable problems cannot be successfully dealt with emotionally and angrily. The quest for justice over the abominable, monstrous and dastardly killing of thousands of defenceless people in the United States, should not be pursued at the expense of the lives of thousands more of the innocent. Nuclear weapons falling into the hands of people supportive of terrorism is a frightening prospect.

The Pakistani leadership has so far enjoyed a good relationship with the Islamic fundamentalists because of the latter's support for Pakistan's struggle for the "liberation" of Indian-controlled Kashmir. The US Government has estimated that India has about 400,000 troops in Kashmir - which is two-thirds as large as Pakistan's entire army. By supporting the Islamic extremists who carry out terror tactics in Kashmir, Pakistan helps to keep Indian troops tied down.

What began as secular movement for independence in Kashmir has now become a largely Islamist crusade to bring Kashmir under Pakistani rule- which eventually, it is strategised, will be Islamic rule.

In the I980s, then Pakistani leader Mohammad Zia-ul-Haq, promoted the madrasahs (seminaries) as a means of generating Islamic support for his leadership and in his war against the Soviets in Afghanistan. Pakistan's own Interior Minister Moinuddin, says of the madrasahs: "The brand of Islam they are teaching is not good for Pakistan. Some, in the garb of religious training, are busy fanning sectarian violence and poisoning people's minds". There are an estimated 50,000 such schools of hate in Pakistan. Their anger is directed at the Hindus in Kashmir but they are also training camps for Muslims from many countries.

Interestingly, US money helped to fund these seminaries during the time the Soviets controlled Afghanistan. According to the CIA station chief in Pakistan from I986 to I989, Milt Bearden, the United States and Saudi Arabia funnelled some US$3.5 billion into Afghanistan and Pakistan during the Afghan War.

ORIGINS OF THE TALIBAN

It was in the madrashas of Pakistan that the Taliban (which means students) was created. Osama Bin Laden was trained and prepared for his terrorism in Pakistan; but then his terrorism was supposed to be used against the communists in the Cold War struggle, not to be turned against the United States, as it now has. '"Many of the militant groups associated with radical madrasahs regularly proclaim their plans to bring jihad to India proper as well as to the West, which they believe is run by the Jews," says Harvard University's Jessica Stern in her article "Pakistan's Jihad Culture" in the November-December 2000 issue of Foreign Affairs.

Pakistan, where only 40 per cent of the people are literate, provides one of the most stark cases of economic growth with underdevelopment, and is a feeding ground for fanaticism. Says Jessica Stern: "Families in poor, rural areas are likely to send their sons to Jihad under the belief that doing so is the only way to fulfil their spiritual duty. When a boy becomes a martyr thousands of people attend his funeral. Poor families become celebrities.

"Everyone treats them with more respect after they lose a son." Stern quotes a mother whose son had died in the Kashmir civil war, as saying she would be happy if her six remaining sons were martyred, too. "They will help me in the next life, which is the real life", she said. "In poor families with large numbers of children, a mother can assume that some of her children will die of disease if not in war this apparently makes it easier to donate a son to what she feels is a just and holy cause".

In a sense, the events of September 11 in the United States represent the long shadow of the Cold War. The modern Islamic fundamentalist movement began with the rise of the Ayatollah Khomeini in I979 after the overthrow of the brutal dictator Shah Reza Pahlavi. The Shah of Iran was installed after the CIA had overthrown his predecessor Mossadeq, and it was he who carried out a process of Westernisation which angered Muslims, including Khomeini.

The US support for the dictatorial Shah, who boasted of his torture chambers, incited the revulsion of the Islamic fundamentalists. In 1980, the first modern religious terrorist groups began to appear. Then during the 10-year Soviet occupation of Afghanistan ­ which incidentally claimed one million lives ­ the US supported "freedom fighters" like Osama Bin Laden and the Mujahideen to help expel the enemy of the United States, the Soviet Union.

But as Stern quotes one Mujahid as saying in that Foreign Affairs article: "A person addicted to heroin can get off if he really tries, but a Mujahid cannot leave the jihad." Another Muslim said the aim was to have a Taliban-style Government in Pakistan as Taliban represents "the real Islam".

Says the Harvard scholar Stern: "The United States has asked Pakistan to crack down on the militant groups and to close certain madrasahs, but America must do more than scold. After all, the United States along with Saudi Arabia helped create the first international 'jihad' to fight the Soviet Union during the Afghan War". Stern quotes one Pakistani official as saying that what the US created cannot be destroyed overnight. "Jihad is a mindset. It developed over many years during the Afghan War. You can't change a mindset in 24 hours". Now that mindset will be turned against both the Pakistani Government and the United States, creating cause for panic in South Asia. If the delicate balance of power in that volatile region of the world is disturbed the implications for international security could be unthinkable and pale into insignificance the events of September 11.

PROPHETIC ARTICLE

An article written by David Makovsky, senior fellow at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy and former executive editor of the Jerusalem Post (Foreign Affairs, March/April 2001), has proved prophetic, though on second thought, common sense reflection should have made the insight clear. In the article "Middle East Through Partition" Makovsky scolds the Bush Administration for its hands-off policy toward the Middle East. "Above all, the Bush administration must understand it cannot walk away from this volcanic situation.

"The stakes for Washington are high and benign neglect of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict will occur at America's peril". The degree of the peril Makovsky could not have imagined. How accurate would the following statement prove to be: "If Clinton was drawn to Middle East peacemaking by rising hopes, Bush will be dragged by rising fears"!

The tragedy is that the Bush administration's action, though propelled by terrorism, has the potential for bringing further catastrophes and sacrifice of innocent lives ­ each of which is precious, irrespective of which territory it inhabits.

Back to In Focus