The fountainhead

South Punjab has it in it to become the epicenter of militancy

AOUN SAHI

South Punjab, which otherwise is considered economically among the most backward areas of Pakistan, outclasses rest of the country with its huge and relatively newly-built buildings of mosques and madrassas. One can easily find such newly-built sophisticated structures after every few kilometers, especially in Bahawalpur, Bahawalnagr and Rahim Yar Khan districts.

Overwhelming majority of these mosques belong to Deobandi or Wahabi school of thought while majority of population in the area belongs to Brelvi school of Islam. It is also a fact that more than 40 percent of population of this region is living below poverty line. Then how have these costly huge buildings been built in the area? A cable sent to the State Department in November 2008 by Bryan Hunt, the then Principal Officer at the US Consulate in Lahore revealed the phenomenon to a greater extent. ?Financial support estimated at nearly 100 million USD annually was making its way to Deobandi and Ahl-i-Hadith clerics in south Punjab from organizations in Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, ostensibly with the direct support of those governments?, read the cable.

The southern Punjab has always been a favorite recruiting area of both Deobandi and Wahabi militant organizations. It has hosted some of Pakistan?s most radical militant Islamist groups, namely Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM), Lashkar-e-Jhangvi (LeJ), Sipah-i-Sahaba Pakistan (SSP), Lashkar-e-Tayyaba (LeT), Harkat-ul-Ansar, Jammat-u-Dawa (JuD) and Harkat-ul-Mujahideen. Leadership of most of these organizations came closer to Pakistani establishment in the late 1970s and early ?80s during Zia regime to fight Afghan jihad. They were given a free hand to expand their philosophy as well as infrastructure in this area during the 1980s. They received millions of dollars and training facilities in Pakistani part of Kashmir and Federally Administrated Tribal Area (FATA). They recruited thousands of young people from the area and sent them first to Afghanistan and later to Kashmir to fight jihad against the infidels and occupied forces.

These southern Punjab-based jihadi groups, in fact, introduced terrorism to this country in the late 1980s, in the guise of sectarianism. Later, they raised the specter of suicide attacks. In March 2002, two ?fidayeen? (the term introduced by Lashkar-i-Jhangvi for suicide bombers) bombed the International Protestant Church in Islamabad. It was believed to be the first suicide attack by a jihadi outfit in Pakistan.

The US cable also tried to explain ?the sophisticated jihadi recruitment network? of south Punjab. ?Families with multiple children and severe financial difficulties were generally being exploited for recruitment purposes. Families first approached by ostensibly charitable organizations would later be introduced to a local Deobandi or Ahl-i-Hadith maulana who would offer to educate the children at his madrassah and find them employment in the service of Islam. Children thus recruited would be given age-specific indoctrination and would eventually be trained according to the madrassah teachers? assessment of their inclination to engage in violence and acceptance of jihadi culture versus their value as promoters of Deobandi or Ahl-i-Hadith sects or recruiters,? stated the cable. ?Recruits chosen for jihad would then be taken to more sophisticated indoctrination camps. Locals identified three centers reportedly used for this purpose. Two of the centers were stated to be in the Bahawalpur district, whereas one was reported as situated on the outskirts of Dera Ghazi Khan city. These centers were primarily used for indoctrination, after which youths were generally sent on to more established training camps in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas and then on to jihad either in FATA, NWFP (now KP), or as suicide bombers in settled areas?, it read.

A tribal journalist who visited Islamabad a few months back said that he had seen many young kids hailing from south Punjab getting training in suicide camps of TTP in North Waziristan. ?Even some of the trainers also come from this region. They have a very strong presence among the ranks of TTP and Al-Qaeda?, he said.

Khaled Ahmed, a leading journalist and an authority on jihadi groups of south Punjab, recently wrote in one of his articles that Bahawalpur division has supplied nearly 5,000 warriors to the Taliban?s war in Afghanistan, Waziristan and Swat. ?Leader of Jaish-e-Muhammad, Masood Azhar, was running a training camp of warriors in Cholistan, receiving financial aid from Al-Qaeda, also protected by the deep state. Thousands of Jaish militants were living in Bahawalpur where Masood Azhar also secretly resided. He frequently visited the Taliban and Al-Qaeda leaders on the Afghan border. Malik Ishaq, once in jail for killing dozens of people, belongs to Rahim Yar Khan and is a leader of LeJ. He used to rule the territory from jail, even talking from prison to the political leaders of Punjab. The case against him was wrecked after witnesses against him got killed and the living ones resiled?, he stated and added that the mastermind of the Mumbai attack Hamid Amin belonged to Rahim Yar Khan. ?In Bahawalpur, thousands have gone to join the war in the Tribal Areas from Madrassah Usman-o-Ali established by Masood Azhar.?

Dr Musavir Hussain Bukhari, associate professor in political science department of Islamia University, Bahawalpur, said that militancy was promoted in south Punjab along with other areas of Pakistan by General Zia-ul-Haq with the help of US money in early 1980s to recruit mujahideens to fight against the USSR in Afghanistan. ?Zia gave special attention to the Deobandi mullahs of south Punjab. They were not only given money but some of them were also allotted land in Islamabad, like Lal Masjid, to operate freely and promote the jihadi culture in the country?, he said and added that Syed Attaullah Shah Bukhari, a renowned Deobandi scholar from Darul Uloom Deoband, was the first person before partition who worked to spread Deobandi Islam in south Punjab. ?Ahrar Tehreek was also strong in this region. After him people like Mufti Mahmood, Maulana Maudodi and Shah Alam Noorani spent time in these areas spreading their version of Islam. While on the other hand, different governments in Pakistan have deliberately or unconsciously ignored the area. With the absence of basic human facilities like education, drinking water and employment here, the ground was and still is ripe for jihadis?, he said and further added that some madrassahs played a very important role in spreading jihadi philosophy in the area.

Madrassahs have always been accused of having links with militant organizations. While they number around 20,000 in Pakistan, 13,000 are registered with the ITMD (Ittehad Tanzeemat Madaris Deenia) Federal Board, which liaises between the madrassahs and the government. More than two million students currently study at these religious seminaries, and the alumni network is about five million strong. The overwhelming majority of these madrassahs ? around 12,000 registered madrassahs ? belong to the Deobandi school of thought with almost 45 percent of them based in south Punjab alone. In Taunsa Sharif, a small tehsil of Dera Ghazi Khan District, there are more than 70 registered Deobandi madrassahs. The situation in other districts of southern Punjab is no different.

A police official who has worked in the area said that there were many madrassahs in the region which were known for recruiting young people for jihad. ?They are still doing so and many of these young people are being used to attack security installations in settled areas. They have been taking revenge of military operations in Fata and Swat here. Arrest of Muhammad Riaz, a Mian Channu based TTP Punjab coordinator, when suicide jackets stored at his home accidently blew up in July 2009, helped a lot to curb the terrorists network in south Punjab but still there are some very dangerous madrassahs and it is not easy to even touch them as they have thousands of followers?, he said. According to an ex-jihadi of district Bahawalpur, there is hardly a village in the area where one will not find graves of martyrs of Afghan or Kashmir jihad. ?Many of these jihadi organiztaions are still pretty much active in our area. They have been recruiting young people openly. Hundreds of them are being brainwashed as the first step of the training in a madrassah in Bahawalpur city. They spent 14 days there, they have only been taught jihadi verses and sayings of the Prophet during this period. They have been coming as far from Karachi and Malakand?, he said while explaining that during the last few years both Wahabi and Deobandi jihadi organizations had made a kind of an agreement and helped each other to expand their area of influence in southern Punjab. ?It is a new trend, it was not that way in the past and even Deobandi organizations are having problems with each other regarding recruiting maximum number of young people in their ranks?, he said. He also pointed out that according to an announcement of JeM it collected Rs 4.27 million in the shape of fitrana (an Islamic tax on Eid-ul-Fitter) against a target of Rs 4 million from Bahawalpur and Bahwalnagar districts in 2011.

JeM has been building a huge facility outside the city on the main road that connects Bahawalpur with the rest of the country. The facility has a mosque that can accommodate 10,000 people while a huge madrassah, a stable, fish farm and agricultural land for cattle are also part of it. It has also been focusing a lot on women these days. ?Every Friday, special lectures for women are arranged at a marriage hall situated opposite to the JeM headquarter in Model Town in Bahawalpur city by sisters and wife of Mulana Masood Azhar, chief of JeM. He also regularly issues sermons directed at women?, said a source.

Federal Interior Minister Rehman Malik said in May 2010, after the attack on Ahmedi place of worship in Lahore, that following the successful military operations in Swat and FATA, the government was now chalking out a strategy to dismantle the terror network in south Punjab. ?Out of 1,764 persons associated with the two banned religious outfits, LeJ and JeM, 726 belonged to south Punjab,? he told media persons. But after almost two years the situation has almost reversed and banned jihadi organiztaions have not only been consolidating their base in south Punjab but have also been openly recruiting a new breed of jihadis. ?

The writer is a reporter working with The News on Sunday, Islamabad and 2010 Daniel Pearl fellow. He can be reached at [email protected]

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