“The assembly line of international terrorism” – Extracts

Below are extracts from an article by Wilson John published in the latest issue of Pragati on “why the threat from Jamaat-ud-Dawa is set to rise“. It makes for some thought-provoking and disturbing reading.

*** Excerpts from “The assembly line of international terrorism” (emphasis mine) ***

…The motive for the Pakistani army to follow a multifaceted policy towards terrorist entities is to retain the option of using terrorist groups as instruments of state policy, particularly in India and Afghanistan. The policy has yielded visible gains for the army on both fronts.

A telling example of this strategy is LeT and its parent organisation, Markaz Dawa wal Irshad (MDI). With the blessings of Sheikh Abdullah Azzam, a radical Palestinian ideologue (and onetime mentor of Osama bin Laden), Hafiz Mohammad Saeed, a religious teacher from a Lahore college, established MDI in the late 80s to support the Afghan mujahideen against Soviet forces. The MDI’s armed wing, LeT, was set up by Mr Saeed’s maternal uncle Maulana Hafiz Abdullah, an associate of Muhammad Ali Jinnah. The two are bound by another stronger, familial knot—Mr Abdullah’s sons Abdur Rehman Makki and Abdul Mannan are married to Mr Saeed’s sisters. Mr Makki is today Mr Saeed’s deputy in LeT, and surprisingly, has remained untouched by the UN Security Council’s sanctions on the LeT leadership following the Mumbai attacks.

…Pakistan banned MDI and LeT on January 13, 2002, but nevertheless allowed the group to function as a charitable organisation named Jamaat-ud Dawa (JuD). In 2001, Mr Saeed declared that he was disbanding the LeT and beginning charity work through the JuD. There is little evidence of this supposed reformation.

The Pakistani government argued it had no evidence of JuD’s terror links, but there is convincing evidence of the role of LeT recruits in terror attacks in Kashmir and other parts of India…

While LeT presents a clear and present danger, it is JuD that needs attention from policy makers.  The group has deftly and successfully, with a benevolent nod from the Army, made rapid inroads into the charity and educational sectors while projecting a benign and acceptable face to the world.  What makes Mr Saeed’s group more dangerous than other jihadi or extremist groups is the farsighted and insidious strategy of capturing the minds of the young and the gullible through an elaborate network of schools and colleges “for training the new generation on Islamic lines.” The educational curriculum of these institutions is guided by Mr Saeed’s philosophy that to achieve jihad, his students must not only imbibe Islamic principles, but also be adept in science and technology.

…The first course organised (by MDI) was a one-year course for teachers and former madrassa students in 1992. This preliminary course focused on the teachings of the Quran and Hadith. In 1993, the course was expanded to six-years.

…In 1992, the group established the Ja’miah-ad-Da’wah-al-Islamiah or the Ad-Da’wah Islamic University in Markaz-e-Tayyibah, Muridke, in order to co-ordinate its educational activities. By 2004, the number of students studying in the university had risen to 2,900 and it boasted 14 affiliate madrasas or mahads (Arabic for schools). These ‘schools’ were located in all major Pakistani cities.  The backbone of Mr Saeed’s educational system, however, are the English-medium Ad-Da’wah model schools that draw students from middle class families who are reluctant to send their children to dysfunctional government schools, but cannot afford the few elite and expensive private schools. Mr Saeed had set up these schools on the theory that “Children are like clean blackboards—whatever you write will mark them for ever.”

…The group today runs 173 educational institutions with approximately 20,000 students and 987 teachers. Five of these schools cater exclusively to girls, with 5,000 students on the rolls. Villayat Ullah, the first director of the department of education, believed that the schools should promote “the idea of touhid (monotheism).”

…The group (JuD) subsidises the school to the tune of several million rupees every year. The group has a full-fledged education wing under Mr Iqbal. It prepares its own syllabi and publishes its own textbooks which it claims are prepared by “a special panel of education experts”.  By 2007, the panel had approved and published more than 500 books…The government of Pakistan administered Kashmir has approved some of the textbooks for its schools. JuD claims that at least a thousand private schools in Punjab and elsewhere have adopted its syllabus.

These textbooks reveal the ideological moorings of the group that claims to be a charitable organisation.  For Class I students, a recommended textbook is Ad-Da’wah Way to English Rauza (nursery prep) Step 1. It is a textbook for learning the alphabet and in its preface says that, “at Ad-Da’wah system of schools[,] we aim at inculcating a true Islamic spirit among our students. We earnestly desire to enable our students to view Islam as a complete way of life rather than a mere set of rituals.” Thus, in this book, A is not for Apple but Allah, K is for Ka’bah, P is for Pistol, M is for Mosque, Q is for Quran and R is for Rocket. The Urdu primary reader takes it a step further; here, it is Alif for Allah, Bay for Banduq (gun), Tay for Talwar (Sword), Tay for Tank, Jeem for Jahaz (fighter plane) and Khay for Khanjar (dagger). The textbooks instruct Class I teachers to “Ask two questions—How do mujahideen make homes in jungles? How do mujahideen communicate with us?”

The teacher has to narrate examples of jihad and make children shoot balloons in response…Further, Kashmir is projected as part of Pakistan forcibly occupied by Hindus. ..According to Mr Iqbal, “In an Al-Dawa school, it is necessary for each teacher to go to jihad once, or at least he should have jihadi training… The teachers carry out all their religious duties with utmost sincerity. They also have a preservice training that goes a long way in predisposing them for jihad. So, when they enter our school they are perfect in all aspects.”

…Another instrument the group uses to infiltrate civilised society is its student union, Tulaba Jamatud Dawah (TJD), active in Lahore’s Punjab University (PU). Set up in 2003, TJD is currently using street power to create space for itself in the PU Campus. But TJD is the harbinger of an armed militia, camouflaged as a student organisation.

…The TJD’s initial attempts to pursue its agenda by carrying out violent demonstrations met with failure as the police came down heavily on them. The group has decided to concentrate, at least in public, on charitable causes and on encouraging people to adopt Islamic ways. Mr Saeed seeks to involve students of all ages in the TJD and to promote dawa (the mission of Islam) across Punjab.

…Those who have studied the birth and growth of the TJD believe that it is likely to prove to be a serious rival to IJT in the coming years. The TJD lays great stress on imparting an Islamic education to its members. It holds two annual training courses and student seminars for its members aimed “…at taking their dawa to the community of students at large.”

…The primary impetus for the rise of the JuD is the failure of the government (public) school system to cater to the rise of a young Pakistan desperately in need of educational infrastructure. The Pakistani state has placed itself in jeopardy by abdicating its responsibility to invest in the education system while simultaneously allowing extremist groups like the JuD and JI to set up schools and colleges.

Over the next 10 years the population of Pakistan will become younger, with more than half the population below 18 years of age. It is clear that a large number of students from the middle class would be forced to school in JuD-run institutions, and many of them will inevitably find employment in the Pakistani army. Increasingly, a sizeable number of men and officers are being recruited from central and south Punjab where groups like JuD have considerable presence in the form of educational institutions, radicalising not only a society under severe stress but also the country’s security forces, creating an abyss of extremism in an unstable region.

Wilson John is a senior fellow with Observer Research Foundation, New Delhi. His latest book, Pakistan: The Struggle Within, published by Longman Pearson, is due for release in December.

*** Excerpts End ***

Read the full article here 

Related Posts:

Pakistan: A State-sponsor of Terrorism? 

All roads lead to Pakistan (once again) 

All roads lead to Islamabad…