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Paper no. 154
ISLAMIC JEHAD & THE US
by B.Raman
'The New York Times" reported on October 20,2000, that Ali Mohammed, 48, an ex-US
Army Sergeant of Egyptian origin pleaded guilty before an US District Judge to a charge of
plotting with Osama bin Laden to kill Americans anywhere in the world.
He reportedly admitted that he had conspired with bin Laden and
others to murder Americans anywhere they could be found, to attack the U.S. military in
Somalia and Saudi Arabia, to kill Americans at unspecified embassies, and to conceal the
conspiracy. He said that the object of the conspiracy, which he joined in the late 1980s,
was to force the US out of West Asia.
According to the "New York Times", Mohammed left the
U.S. Army in 1989 after three years of service. During his military service, he earned a
Parachute Badge and an M-16 Expert Badge, teaching soldiers in the Special Forces about
Muslim culture.
He also admitted that he had helped secretly move bin Laden from
Pakistan to Sudan and trained members of his terrorist organization, al Qaeda.
In his plea, he described bin Laden as central in a massive
conspiracy by members of an Islamic holy war (jehad) movement to target U.S. military
installations and embassies worldwide. ``The objective of all of this was to attack any
Western target in the Middle East,'' Mohammed said.
Mohammed's plea of guilty has focussed attention on the efforts
of Pakistan and Afghanistan-based jehadi extremists to recruit members from the Muslim
communities in North America and the Caribbean Islands to use them initially for
operations against US interests in West Asia and then subsequently for promoting jehad in
the US territory itself.
While the role of Ramzi Ahmed Yousef, of Pakistani origin, and
other US-based Muslim mercenaries of bin Laden in causing the explosion at the New York
World Trade Centre in February, 1993, is well known and has been well-documented, adequate
attention has not been paid to the activities of certain Pakistan-based organisations in
this regard.
The earliest of such organisations was the highly secretive
Jamaat-ul-Fuqra, which started its clandestine activities in the Muslim communities of
North America and the Caribbean in the 1980s. Founded in Pakistan during the USA's proxy
war against the Soviet troops in Afghanistan by one Sheikh Mubarik Ali Gilani, it not only
organised religious teachings for the members of the Muslim communities of these
countries, but also converted a large number of Afro-Americans to Islam and brought some
of them to Pakistan for training in the use of firearms and explosives.
It was strongly against the US, Israel and India and its members
in the US and Canada were suspected in a number of instances of arson attacks on
properties owned by the Jewish people and the Hindus.
The annual report on the Patterns of Global Terrorism during 1998
issued by the Counter-Terrorism Division of the US State Department stated as follows on
the Jamaat-ul-Fuqra: "Seeks to purify Islam through violence. Members have purchased
isolated rural compounds in North America to live communally, practise their faith and
insulate themselves from Western culture. Fuqra members have attacked a variety of targets
that they view as enemies of Islam, including Muslims they regard as heretics and Hindus.
Attacks during the 1980s included assassinations and fire bombings across the US. Fuqra
members in the US have been convicted of criminal actions, including murder and
fraud."
In an investigative report carried by the "News"
(February 13,1995) of Pakistan, Mr. Kamran Khan, the well-known Pakistani investigative
journalist, brought to light for the first time the nexus between the Tablighi Jamaat (TJ)
of Pakistan, headed by Lt.Gen. (retd) Javed Nasir, former Director-General of the
Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) of Pakistan, and the Harkat-ul-Mujahideen (HUM), which
was declared by the US as an international terrorist organisation in October, 1997, and
their role in supporting Islamic extremist movements in different countries, including
amongst the members of the Muslim community in the US.
He quoted unidentified office-bearers of the HUM as saying as
follows: "Ours is basically a Sunni organisation close to the Deobandi school of
thought. Our people are mostly impressed by the TJ. Most of our workers do come from the
TJ. We regularly go to its annual meeting at Raiwind. Ours is a truly international
network of genuine jehadi Muslims. We believe frontiers can never divide Muslims. They are
one nation. They will remain a single entity.
"We try to go wherever our Muslim brothers are terrorised,
without any monetary consideration. Our colleagues went and fought against oppressors in
Bosnia, Chechnya, Tajikistan, Burma, the Philippines and, of course, India.
"Although Pakistani members are not participating directly
in anti-Government armed resistance in Egypt, Algeria, Tunisia and Jordan, many of the
fighters in those Arab States had remained our colleagues during the Afghan war and we
know one another very well. We are doing whatever we can to help them install Islamic
governments in those States."
The report also quoted the HUM office-bearers as claiming that
among foreign volunteers trained by them in their training camps in Pakistan and
Afghanistan were 16 African-American Muslims from various cities of the US and that funds
for their activities mostly came from Muslim businessmen of Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Egypt
and the UK.
The February 1998, issue of the "Newsline", a monthly
of Pakistan, quoted workers of the TJ as saying that the TJ had many offices in the US,
Russia, the Central Asian Republics, South Africa, Australia and France and that many
members of the Chechen Cabinet, including the Deputy Prime Minister of Chechnya, were
workers of the TJ and had participated in its proselytising activities. One of them,
merely identified as Khalil, said: " It is possible that France may become a Muslim
state within my lifetime, due to the great momentum of Tablighi activity there. "
According to the "Newsline", the TJ was started in the
1880s to revive and spread Islam. Its annual convention held at Raiwind in Pakistani
Punjab in November every year is attended by over one million Muslims from all over the
world. This was described by the "Newsline" as the second largest gathering of
the Muslims anywhere in the world after the Haj in Saudi Arabia.
Dr.Jassim Taqui, an Islamic scholar, wrote in the "Frontier
Post" of Peshawar of January 15,1999, as follows:
* "The TJ has been able to establish contacts
and centres throughout the Muslim world. (Comment: By "Muslim world" he not only
meant Islamic countries, but all countries where there is a sizable Muslim community)
* It has thousands of dedicated and disciplined workers who
never question any order from the high-ups. What has helped the TJ to expand (without
creating alarm in the security agencies) is its policy of a deliberate black-out of its
activities. It does not interact with the media and does not issue any statements or
communiqués. It believes in human communication through word of mouth. (Comment: It does
not bring out any journals or other propaganda organs to explain its policies and
objectives. All explanations to its workers and potential recruits are given orally).
* During its training classes, it claims to have frustrated
the efforts of the US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) to penetrate it and succeeded in
converting the CIA agents to Islam."
Amongst the organisations in the USA with which
the TJ is believed to be closely associated are the Islamic Society of North America
(ISNA) and the Muslim Youth of North America (MYNA). The President of the ISNA used to be
one Sheikh Abdullah Idris Ali, an American immigrant of Sudanese origin, who was also the
Pesh Imam and Khatib of a mosque in New York.
The annual convention of the ISNA held at Columbus, Ohio, from
September 11,1995, was addressed, amongst others, by Mr.Hamza Yusuf, an American citizen
of Greek origin, who, after embracing Islam, had lived for six years in Mauritania to
study Islam and then work as a TJ preacher, Mr. Yusuf Islam, formerly known as Cat
Stevens, the famous pop singer, who embraced Islam after coming into contact with the TJ
in Pakistan, Dr.Saghir of Algeria, and Dr.Israr Ahmed, the Amir of the Tanzeem Islami of
Pakistan and a worker of the TJ.
Addressing the convention, Dr. Israr Ahmed said: "The
process of the revival of Islam in different parts of the world is real. A final show-down
between the Muslim world and the non-Muslim world, which has been captured by the Jews,
would soon take place. The Gulf war was just a rehearsal for the coming conflict." He
appealed to the Muslims of the world, including those in the USA, to prepare themselves
for the coming conflict.
The convention was told that the ISNA had a US $ 100 million
budget for spreading Islamic education in the US through the publication of text-books,
setting-up of week-end Islamic schools and a weekly cable TV programme called
"Onsight" which would be available in all the States of the US.
Amongst the alleged members of the TJ in the Muslim community in
the US is Mr.Louis Fara Khan, the Afro-American Muslim leader. The TJ operates in the US
and the Caribbean directly through its own preachers deputed from Pakistan and also
recruited from the Pakistani immigrant community in the US as well as through front
organisations such as the Jamaat-ul-Fuqra.
In its preachings to the Pakistani immigrants in the US, the TJ
has been stressing the importance of cultivating the Afro-American Muslims in order to
counter the lobbying power of the Hindus and the Jewish people. The HUM, which works in
tandem with the TJ, has been training Afro-American Muslims from the US in its training
camps in Pakistan and Afghanistan.
Writing in the "Dawn" of January 12,1996, Mr. Ghani
Eirabie said: " The Ummah must remember that winning over the black Muslims is not
only a religious obligation, but also a selfish necessity. The votes of the black Muslims
can give the immigrant Muslims the political clout they need at every stage to protect
their vital interests. Likewise, outside Muslim states like Saudi Arabia, Malaysia and
Pakistan need to mobilise their effort, money and missionary skills to expand and
consolidate the black Muslim community in the USA, not only for religious reasons, but
also as a far-sighted investment in the black Muslims' immense potential as a credible
lobby for Muslim causes, such as Palestine, Bosnia or Kashmir--offsetting, at least
partially, the venal influence of the powerful India-Israel lobby."
Mr.Eirabie wanted the US Muslim community to prepare itself for
the day in the second decade of the new millennium when, according to him, the Muslims
would emerge as the second largest religious group in the US after the Christians.
In July-August this year, Qazi Hussain Ahmed, the Amir of the
Jamaat-e-Islami (JEI) of Pakistan, had toured the US and appealed to the members of the
Pakistani community and Afro-Asian Muslims to mobilise the Muslim voters in support of
Mr.George Bush Jr in the US Presidential elections and to ensure the defeat of Mr.Al Gore.
He described the Clinton Administration as anti-Pakistan and criticised it for allegedly
deviating from the traditional US policy of supporting Pakistan on the Kashmir issue.
In recent weeks, there have been reports that many organisations
in the US of Pakistani origin have been canvassing support for Mr.Bush Jr from amongst the
Muslim voters. They have been pointing out the USA's close relations with Pakistan during
the Reagan and the previous Bush Administrations from 1981 to 1993. They also claim that
though Mr.Bush invoked the Pressler Amendment against Pakistan in October, 1990, and acted
energetically against the Chinese supply of missiles to Pakistan, he refrained from acting
on a report from the Counter-Terrorism Division of the State Department in
1992,recommending that Pakistan be declared a State-sponsor of international terrorism.
Politically active members of the Pakistani community in the US
describe the so-called pro-India tilt of the Clinton Administration as a temporary
aberration brought about by the machinations of some officials in the State Department
such as Mr.Strobe Talbot, Mr.Thomas Pickering and Mr.Karl Inderfurth and claim that senior
officers of the Pentagon and the US Armed Forces have been unhappy over this tilt.
They also claim that there are many supporters of Pakistan in the
entourage of Mr.Bush Jr such as Mr.Dick Cheney, his Vice-Presidential running mate, who
was the Defence Secretary in the Bush Administration, Gen. (retd) Colin Powell and
Mr.Robert McFarlane, who was the National Security Adviser of Mr.Reagan in 1983-85 and
express their confidence that if Mr.Bush Jr is elected, he would, on the advice of such
elements, restore what they describe as the traditional Republican policy of friendship
towards Pakistan. They project Mr.Al Gore as pro-India and pro-Israel and, in this
connection, refer to his selection of a Jewish leader as his running mate.
As part of their efforts to mobilise Muslim voter support for
Mr.Bush Jr, they have been disseminating copies of an article written by Mr.McFarlane in
the "Washington Post" of September 18,2000, after a meeting with Gen.Pervez
Musharraf, the self-styled Chief Executive of Pakistan, in New York. Mr.McFarlane wrote in
the article as follows:
"For those who have followed events in South
Asia over the past 50 years it is painful to see a long-time friend and ally being
unfairly demonized……To blame Pakistan for turmoil in that region and to call for
its designation as a "terrorist state" is perverse and unjustified under any
rational analysis of the facts. Worse, it contributes to polarization at a time when our
country needs to engage both India and Pakistan in a sustained trialogue founded on
goodwill and objectivity.
"Recently I met with Pakistan’s chief executive,
General Pervez Musharraf, in New York. Having met with each of his elected predecessors on
many occasions in the past 15 years, I can say that he stands well above them in terms of
honesty and integrity and a devotion to seeking peace and elevating the welfare of the
Pakistani people.
"In our meeting he reaffirmed his wish to conclude a
negotiated peace with India in Kashmir and talked in detail about his strategy for
achieving political and economic reform in Pakistan. Indeed, much already has been
achieved toward these ends and much more can be done under his stewardship with
encouragement and modest support from the United States and others.
"Our discussion of Kashmir focused on the presence of a
half- million Indian troops in the valley and the decade-long struggle by the Kashmiris,
who face humiliation and oppression on a daily basis. Musharraf assured me that Pakistan
wants a peaceful solution to this desperate situation, one that respects the wishes of the
Kashmiri people. If India truly respects international norms and democratic principles and
acts on its earlier commitment to uphold the 1949 United Nations Security Council
resolution prescribing a plebiscite for the Kashmiris to decide on accession to India or
Pakistan, Musharraf surely will endorse the outcome.
"Six weeks ago, a leading guerrilla group in Kashmir, the
Hizbul Mujaheddin, proposed a three-month cease-fire in a genuine effort to move the
struggle from the battlefield to negotiations. To his credit, the response of Indian Prime
Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee was encouraging and offered a dialogue based on insaniyat
(humanity). Regrettably, at the insistence of his hard-line partisans, the terms for talks
escalated to include the precondition that any negotiations be held within the framework
of the Indian constitution. To ask Kashmiris to accept the Indian constitution is to
preempt the purpose of talks: to achieve a solution that meets the aspirations of the
Kashmiri people in accordance with the U.N. resolution.
"The United States has important interests in South Asia.
With respect to Pakistan, our interests go beyond support for a staunch ally in the Cold
War—an ally who made enormous sacrifices measured in lives, the displacement of more
than 3 million refugees, and the spawning of a ruinous drug trade from Afghanistan. Since
that victory, we have essentially dismissed that sacrifice.
"Both Pakistan and India could someday benefit enormously as
the avenue of commerce for bringing the wealth of central Asia to market in Europe and
Japan. As for our interests in India, nurturing the successful development of the
world’s largest democracy needs no further elaboration.
"For these interests to be advanced, however, the United
States must be—and be seen to be—a firm and objective friend to both countries.
The so-called new economy is passing these countries by. Without our help they both risk
becoming failed states. Sanctions and shrill rhetoric get us nowhere. It is time for the
United States to lead on this matter."
(29-10-00)
(The writer is Additional Secretary
(retd), Cabinet Secretariat, Govt. of India, and, presently, Director, Institute for
Topical Studies, Chennai. E-mail: corde@vsnl.com )
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