The writer is a journalist based in Islamabad.
“We are like those women who scream after seeing a mere lizard. These infidels are just like lizards to us who can be destroyed with the power of faith. Rise, O warriors of Islam,” proclaimed Masood Azhar, a fiery orator in a gathering to inaugurate a mosque. The powerful words from Azhar left a huge crowd in frenzy, as most of them vowed to wage jihad.
Having completed his studies in Islamic theology from Jamia Uloom-ul-Islamia Banuri Town, he started teaching there. When Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan, Harkat-ul-Ansar, a Deobandi organisation, started recruiting students from the madrasas to be a part of their jihad in Afghanistan.
Masood Azhar volunteered to join the training camps in Afghanistan but failed to finish his training. Bent on fighting the infidels, he fought alongside the Mujahedeen and was sent back home, injured. Unable to continue fighting, he was chosen to be the head of Harkat’s motivation department. He travelled to various countries to collect funds, spread the message of jihad and recruit more fighters.
He was arrested in 1994 by India upon his arrival in Kashmir. He remained in jail until 1999 when Indian authorities released him, along with two other terrorists – Mushtaq Zargar and Sheikh Omar. They were released after an India airline plane was hijacked and landed in Kandahar, headquarter of Pakistan-backed Taliban.
Zahid Hussain, a prominent writer and journalist, says in the book ‘Frontline Pakistan’ that he was present in Kandahar when Azhar was released and led back to Pakistan, along with the hijackers.
“A week later, I happened to see Azhar resurfacing in Karachi and delivering a vitriolic speech from the pulpit of a mosque. The nexus between the militants and Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence was only too obvious,” he writes.
US had warned Pakistan of Azhar’s threats in the strongest words, Dawn reported on 7th January, 2000.
“We find his speech deplorable and unacceptable — his reported remarks about destroying America and India. Such language feeds a climate of hostility against both countries and incites (people to) violence,” US State Department Spokesperson, Jamie Robin, said.
The news reported on 8th January, 2008, that the government had asked Azhar to `refrain’ from making public statements and holding press conferences after international embarrassment caused by his earlier statements.
Breaking away from Harkat, he formed his own organisation, Jaish-e-Muhammad – carrying out some of the deadliest attacks in Kashmir. Jaish is said to have introduced suicide bombing in Kashmir.
“Azhar’s Jaish went a step ahead of Lashkar-e-Taiba, the group that introduced fidayeen missions in the Valley, by having human bombs play a role in their operations,” writes Kashmir Herald.
Jaish, in coordination with LeT, is said to have carried out the 2001 attack on the Indian parliament – almost starting a war between Pakistan and India.
Frustrated by their actions, Musharraf, the military dictator and president, announced a ban on five organisations, including JeM and LeT.
Thus starts the long story of inaction of the state against these groups.
Dawn reported on 31st July, 2000, that Musharraf had called for a ‘no-war pact’ between India and Pakistan.
The Indian parliament was attacked in 2001, leading to Pakistan arresting Masood Azhar. He was freed later by a Lahore High Court order, Daily Times reported on 15th December, 2002.
“I have not done anything wrong and I promise I will never do anything which is against Pakistan or the Court. I am a Muslim scholar and have nothing to do with sectarianism,” he said in the Court.
Upon his release, members of MMA, a political front of religious organisations met Azhar at his residence to discuss the prevailing situation in the country, AFP reported on December 31st, 2002.
Earlier in 1999, when the Kargil war was at its peak, top Deobandi clerics, Mufti Nizamuddin Shamzai, Mufti Jameel Khan and Dr Abdur Razzaq Iskandar, had issued a fatwa of jihad against India, calling Lt-Gen (r) Hamid Gul and Lt-Gen (r) Javed Nasir, both ex DGs of the ISI, and Musharraf the ‘gifts from Allah”.
Shamzai was later declared the patron-in-chief of Jaish-e-Muhammad. He was also one of the clerics who were sent by the government of Pakistan to negotiate with the Taliban.
Masood had strong ties with sectarian Sipah-e-Sahaba and with Azam Tariq, then president of SSP, he took part in a ‘Crush India’ rally, announcing, “One hundred thousand Sipah-e- Sahaba workers will join Jaish-e-Muhammad to fight the infidels,” Amir Rana reported in his A to Z of Jihadi Organisations in Pakistan.
Musharraf escaped two assassination attempts in 2003; both were suspected to be the handiwork of Jaish-e-Muhammad. The attacks happened a year after courts ordered Masood to be set free.
In an interesting development, ten hardline commanders of Tehreek-e-Khuddam-ul-Islam, Jaish’s new name after the ban, were expelled by Azhar. Daily Times reported on 21st June, 2003, “agencies had enough of Azhar, they told him he had to expel the Tehreek-e-Khuddam-ul-Islam (TKI) men they had on their list, or else he would be ‘shut down’ altogether.”
After the 2008 Mumbai attacks, when international pressure mounted, the government placed Masood Azhar under house arrest. The move came a day after Zakiur Rehman Lakhvi, the suspected mastermind of Mumbai attacks, was held by the authorities.
Newsweek Pakistan reported on March 23rd, 2014, that Masood had resurfaced after six years of laying low. In an anti-India rally held at Muzaffarabad, his pre-recorded speech was aired amid loud cries for jihad.
A Jaish spokesman confirmed that Azhar was released from house arrest in Bahawalpur in 2010, Newsweek reported.
Azhar is once again in limelight after the Pathankot attack, which is suspected to have been carried out by his Jaish-e-Muhammad. After provision of evidence from India and a meeting with the national leadership, the prime minister’s office announced closing down of Jaish’s offices all over the country, arresting its leadership.
Azhar was taken into ‘protective custody’, following the raids.
Ex-President of Pakistan, Pervez Musharraf, in an interview with CNN-IBN said that the Pathankot attack was carried out by non-state actors.
“Masood Azhar should not be roaming free after trying to assassinate me,” he said.
The question here arises: why wait for 15 years to close the offices and arrest the leadership of Jaish? Does it not point towards an ugly reality that Pakistan has not yet given up its ‘strategic assets’?
Although Pakistan has announced full cooperation with India to investigate the Pathankot attacks, many in Pakistan are sceptical.
“How come a banned militant outfit was allowed to operate its offices across Punjab that the security agencies now claimed to have closed down? Has the province been in a state of denial, or is there something more sinister?” asks Zahid Hussain in his Dawn column on January 20.
Arif Jamal, an author and journalist, is unconvinced by the latest action. “The current half-hearted action against the JeM appears to be a replay of what Pakistan had already done in the past. It appears Pakistan will release JeM terrorists like Maulana Masood Azhar when the dust settles down as it was done on several occasions in the past,” he says.
“The paradigm shift in the current policies of Pakistan is not across the board. The state is reluctant to take action against non-state actors who do not pose any threat to Pakistan. Groups like LeT still operating freely in Pakistan are good enough a proof of state’s reluctance,” says Ayesha Siddiqa, an author and a civilian military scientist. www.pakistantoday.com.pk/2016/01/23/comment/masood-azhar-the-telling-tale-of-states-inaction/
Comments are closed.