Will Pakistan shut down all the Jihadi terror camps?

Society Pakistan & World Affairs
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Will Pakistan shut down all the Jihadi terror camps?

http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=story_16-7-2005_pg3_1

Jihadi camps: what is the truth?

The war of words between Pakistan and India is growing. It started with the statement by India’s foreign minister, Kanwar Natwar Singh, that Pakistan had not entirely dismantled the “terrorist infrastructure” and that this could be the snag on which the peace process could stumble. Mr Singh also said that India had proof of training camps in Pakistan. The Pakistan Foreign Office hit back by saying that the allegations were baseless and that no infiltration was going on from the Pakistani territory.

On July 14, India’s High Commissioner to Pakistan, Shiv Shankar Menon, said that infiltration into India was continuing. The same day, the FO spokesperson, Jalil Abbas Jillani, denied the charge again and said the false charges could vitiate the peace process. As a matter of fact, while Mr Singh’s statement stands out in this regard in terms of its vehemence and its linkage with the peace process, India had started airing allegations last month that Pakistan may have allowed some training camps to resume activities. What should we make of this?

It would have been easy to dismiss India’s allegations but for a few other developments. A comprehensive report in a Pakistani magazine confirms the existence of some camps and the training being imparted there. These camps, according to the story, are being run by Hizb ul Mujahideen, Al Badr Mujahideen and the Harkat ul Mujahideen. These groups, according to the Pakistani magazine, have started reorganising and among them are running at least 13 camps in the Mansehra region of the North West Frontier Province.

Then there is the blowback of the London bombings which have been traced back to young men of Pakistani origin, at least two of whom, Shahzad Tanveer (22) and Haseeb Hussain (18) were in Pakistan for some length of time not long ago and took “religious training”, a euphemism for a combination of indoctrination and some basic combat training. But that’s not all.

Last month, two Pakistanis, father and son, were arrested in California and charged by the US Federal Bureau of Investigations with having links with Al Qaeda. The affidavit said that the son, Hamid Hayat, had admitted undergoing “training at an Al Qaeda training camp in Pakistan near Rawalpindi”. While many US experts remain sceptical about the contents of the first affidavit and point out that the second affidavit eschews the claims made in the first document, there is still cause for worry for the Pakistan government.

The plot thickens when we recall a story last week by the BBC. The BBC correspondent said that the Pakistani authorities had freed some leaders of banned religious groups in order to monitor them and reach the big Al Qaeda fish through them. The story claimed that some of them had set up training camps again, though they were being watched by the Pakistani intelligence agencies. If this is correct it is not surprising that Pakistani security agencies might have resorted to this high-risk tactic. It is an old trick in the book to use someone as bait to catch the big fish. However, there is always the risk that the subject could develop means to deceive the agents or that some rogue elements in the agencies might help them do so. We now know that some suspects of the London bombings had been detained for questioning by British security agencies but allowed to go in order to monitor them for a bigger catch. But these suspects managed to execute their plan.

The point really is that it is difficult to dismiss India’s allegations outright, especially if the government is in fact embarked upon a strategy to allow some rope to some groups as part of a plan to flush out the big fish and ultimately put them down. Presumably, Pakistan has not told India that it is following such a script. So if Mr Singh says that he has evidence of the existence of some camps, he might be referring to the camps that are now being run by the activists of those groups which the Pakistan government is monitoring as part of a grand plan. The FO spokesperson says Pakistan has told the UK that it will fully cooperate with London in the ongoing investigations into the London bombings. Is it possible for Islamabad to also take New Delhi into confidence, especially if it is accepted that the two sides are serious about peace and, as principals on both sides said not so long ago, the process has become irreversible?

Of course, if the camps have been reopened with some other purpose as part of some political-military geo-strategy, then we need to seriously question such a strategy in light of two salient facts: it failed in the past, forcing Pakistan to pay a high price; and it will fail again in view of the current international alignment of forces and compel Pakistan to pay an even higher price than before. *

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Re: Will Pakistan shut down all the Jihadi terror camps?

Pakistan’s Islamic schools in the spotlight

The ‘university of holy war’

Nahin Samjhe
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Re: Will Pakistan shut down all the Jihadi terror camps?

Extremists to face crackdown: Musharraf orders all law-enforcers

ISLAMABAD, July 15: President Gen Pervez Musharraf on Friday directed law-enforcement agencies to launch a countrywide campaign against collection of donations, display of arms, use of loudspeakers and holding of gathering by banned outfits and remove all hate material from markets by December this year.

The directive, seen by political observers as a new campaign against extremism following last week’s London attacks, in which three of the four suicide bombers were ethnic Pakistani Britons, were issued at a meeting attended by about 200 senior police and law-enforcement agencies officers from all over the country, including Azad Kashmir and Northern Areas.

Speaking at the unprecedented gathering, the president reiterated the government’s resolve not to allow banned militants organisations to resurface using other names.

“You must enforce an end to publication and distribution of hate material including pamphlets, booklets and CDs. Writers, publishers and distributors of all such literature must be held accountable in accordance with the law. You must ensure that such material is not available in the markets latest by December this year,” he said.

The president said the country was committed to combating sectarianism and terrorism in any form. He made it clear that the government would not tolerate extremism and would continue to combat the menace of terrorism with unflinching determination and force, as it was in the interest of Pakistan’s continued socio-economic progress.

President Musharraf said the new measures should not be seen as anti-religion but were meant to curb the ‘extremist minority’ harming Pakistan’s interest and tarnishing the image of Islam.

“No government can be anti-religion — Pakistan undoubtedly is an ideological state and is an Islamic republic. We have to take it forward as a modern, dynamic, progressive and forward looking Islamic state,” he said.

The meeting was also attended by Interior Minister Aftab Sherpao, Interior Secretary Kamal Shah and National Crisis Management Cell’s Director-General Brigadier Javed Iqbal Cheema.

The president also ordered constitution of a committee under the interior ministry to address issues facing law-enforcement agencies’ personnel. He said there was a need for better emoluments for the police force and stated that the government would provide necessary financial resources for the law-enforcement agencies.

Talking to Dawn, the interior minister said the president stressed the need for improving the country’s image in the comity of nations.

“The president desired that Pakistan should enter the next year with a better image and as a progressive and forward-looking Islamic state,” the minister said

President Musharraf said the government would not allow any representatives of militant organisations to collect donations in any form and hold gatherings. “Anyone found indulging in these activities would be strictly dealt with in accordance with the law,” he added.

The president said nobody should be allowed to brandish weapons as the government would provide full support to police in their action against extremists.

The president said he would review the progress of the drive against extremism, sectarianism and terrorism and would judge the results on the basis of feedback from the people.

Tracing the fallout of regional events, particularly unrest and strife in Afghanistan, the president said that Pakistan had to redress the repercussions on its society for the country’s unhampered development.

Talking about the country’s efforts to curb terrorism, the president said that Pakistan would continue its operation against terrorists and eliminate masterminds and planners from the country.

Pakistan, he underscored, stood at cross-roads in its history and there was an urgent need to address extremism existing on the fringes of its society.

“We have to transform the society and bring about harmony for our long-term progress, we owe it to our future generations to rid the country of the malaise of extremism and allowing the vast moderate majority to progress and proper in accordance with our immense potential,” he said.

President Musharraf praised the efforts of police and other law-enforcement agencies in the war against terrorism, saying that so far 700 terrorists had been arrested.

Interior Minister Aftab Sherpao apprised the president about the efforts of law-enforcement agencies to combat terrorism and said so far 400 personnel had laid down lives for the cause.

THERE YOU GO MATE!!!!!!!!!!:)

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Re: Will Pakistan shut down all the Jihadi terror camps?

This appeared in LA Times by Parvez Hoodbuoy

When?
The idea of an ‘Islamic bomb’ is not new. Extremists would love one.

By Pervez Hoodbhoy, Pervez Hoodbhoy is a member of the Pugwash Council and is professor of nuclear and high-energy physics at Quaid-e-Azam University, Islamabad, Pakistan.

One wonders what Osama bin Laden and his ilk learned from Hiroshima.

The decision to incinerate the Japanese city and another, Nagasaki, was not taken in anger. White men in gray business suits and military uniforms, after much deliberation, decided that the United States could not give the Japanese any warning, that although it could not concentrate on a civilian area, it should seek to make a profound psychological impression on as many inhabitants as possible. They argued that it would be cheaper in American lives to release the nuclear genie.

Crowds gathered in Times Square to celebrate: There were fewer of the enemy left. Rarely are victors encumbered by remorse. Declared President Truman: “When you have to deal with a beast, you have to treat him as a beast. It is most regrettable but nevertheless true.”

Not surprisingly, six decades later, even U.S. liberals remain ambivalent on the morality of nuking the two Japanese cities. But terrorists are not ambivalent.

The New York Times reported that before the Sept. 11 attacks, the United States had intercepted an Al Qaeda message that Bin Laden was planning a “Hiroshima” against America. In a later taped message, released before the U.S. attack on Afghanistan, Bin Laden said, “When people at the ends of the Earth, Japan, were killed by their hundreds of thousands, young and old, it was not considered a war crime; it is something that has justification.”

In a recent televised debate between myself and Hameed Gul — an influential Islamist leader, retired general and former head of Pakistan’s powerful intelligence agency — my opponent snarled at me: “Your masters [the Americans] will nuke us Muslims just as they nuked Hiroshima. People like you want to denuclearize and disarm us in the face of a savage beast set to devour the world.”

Gul then vented his anger at those — like myself — who opposed Pakistan’s nuclear weapons program. He sees us as agents of America, apostates and enemies of Islam and the Pakistani state.

This extremist general was making a point that resonates around the globe. The United States has bombed more than a dozen countries since 1948, and recently killed tens of thousands on the pretext of chasing weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. It claims to be a force for democracy and the rule of law despite a long history of supporting the bloodiest of dictators, rejecting the International Criminal Court and continuing to develop nuclear weapons.

But the nuclear monopoly is breaking down. The making of atomic weapons — especially crude ones — has become vastly simpler than at the time of the Manhattan Project. Basic information is freely available in technical libraries throughout the world, and surfing the Internet can bring anyone a staggering amount of detail.

Advanced textbooks and monographs contain details that can enable reasonably competent scientists and engineers to come up with “quick and dirty” designs for nuclear explosives. The physics of nuclear explosions can be readily taught to graduate students.

By stealing fissile materials in the thousands of former Soviet bombs marked for disassembly, or even a fraction of the vast amounts of highly enriched uranium and separated plutonium in research reactors and storage sites the world over, it is unnecessary to go through complex processes for uranium enrichment or plutonium reprocessing.

Anger in Muslim countries at the United States has never been higher. The desire for an atomic weapon to seek vengeance — utterly immoral, foolish and suicidal though it be — is becoming ever more popular.

The notion of an “Islamic bomb” existed long before Sept. 11. Addressing posterity from his death cell in a Rawalpindi jail, where he would be hanged two years later, former Prime Minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, the architect of Pakistan’s nuclear program, wrote in 1977: “We know that Israel and South Africa have full nuclear capability. The Christian, Jewish and Hindu civilizations have this capability. The communist powers also possess it. Only the Islamic civilization was without it, but that position was about to change.”

Addressing an Islamic conference in Tehran in 1992, the Iranian vice president, Sayed Ayatollah Mohajerani, said, “Since Israel continues to possess nuclear weapons, we, the Muslims, must cooperate to produce an atomic bomb, regardless of U.N. efforts to prevent proliferation.”

In the celebrations following Pakistan’s 1998 nuclear tests, the decades-old religious party Jamaat-e-Islami paraded bomb and missile replicas through the streets of Pakistani cities. It saw in the bomb a sure sign of a reversal of fortunes and a panacea for the ills that have plagued Muslims since the end of the Golden Age of Islam. In 2000, I captured on video the statements of leaders of jihadist, right-wing political parties in Pakistan who also demanded a bomb for Islam.

It is impossible, however, to conceive of any Muslim state risking retaliation by declaring that it has an Islamic bomb that would be used for defense of the ummah — the Islamic community of believers — against the United States or Israel. The danger of a nuclear conflict comes from radicalized individuals within the states.

Although Pakistan’s military government insisted that there was no danger of any of its nuclear weapons being taken for a ride by some radical Islamic group, it wasn’t taking any chances. Shortly after the U.S. bombing of Afghanistan began in October 2001, several weapons were reportedly airlifted to safer, isolated locations within the country, including the northern mountainous area of Gilgit.

This nervousness was not unjustified — two strongly Islamist generals of the Pakistan army, close associates of Gen. Pervez Musharraf, had just been removed. Dissatisfaction within the army concerning Pakistan’s betrayal of the Taliban was (and is) deep. Almost overnight, under intense U.S. pressure, the Pakistan government had disowned its progeny and agreed to wage a war of annihilation against it.

Fears about Pakistan’s nuclear weapons were compounded by revelations that a high-ranking nuclear engineer, Bashiruddin Mahmood, and a materials specialist, Chaudhry Abdul Majid, had journeyed several times into Afghanistan in 2000. Both scientists espouse radical Islamic views. Mahmood had even been photographed with Bin Laden.

Today, the United States lives in fear of the bomb it created, because the decision to use it has already been made. Pious men with beards will decide when and where on U.S. soil atomic weapons are to be used. Shadowy groups, propelled by fanatical hatreds, scour the globe for materials. They are not in a hurry. Time is on their side. They are doubtless confident they will one day breach Fortress America.

The possibilities for nuclear attack are not limited to the so-called suitcase bomb stolen from the arsenal of a nuclear state. In fact, getting and exploding such a bomb is far more difficult than the use of improvised nuclear devices fabricated from highly enriched uranium, constructed in the very place where they will eventually be detonated. Still more likely is an attack on a vulnerable nuclear reactor or spent fuel repository.

Some nuclear weapons experts say privately that it is not a question of if but when the attack will happen.

This may be too pessimistic, but tighter policing and monitoring of nuclear materials (and rapid reduction of stockpiles) and nuclear weapons knowledge must be the first step. There should not be the slightest delay in moving on this. But this is far from sufficient.

If nuclear weapons continue to be accepted by nuclear weapon states as legitimate instruments of deterrence or war, their global proliferation — whether by other states or non-state actors — can only be slowed at best. Coercive nonproliferation will only serve to drive up demand. Nonproliferation by cooperation and consent cannot succeed as long as the United States insists on retaining and improving its nuclear arsenal. By what reasonable argument can others be persuaded to give up, or not acquire, nuclear weapons?

So what will happen when religious fanatics succeed in a nuclear attack? The world shall plunge headlong into a bottomless abyss of reaction and counter-reaction in a horror the human mind cannot comprehend.

Who will the United States retaliate against? Will the United States nuke Mecca? The capitals of Muslim states? What will the United States and its allies do as their people fear more attacks? Will they expel Muslims from the United States and Europe, or herd them into internment camps as was done to Japanese Americans in World War II? Hiroshima signaled a failure of humankind, not just of the United States. The growth of technology has far outstripped our ability to use it wisely. Like a quarrelling group of monkeys on a leaky boat, armed with sticks of dynamite, we are embarked on an uncertain journey.

Humanity’s best chance of survival lies in creating taboos against the manufacture of nuclear weapons — such as those that already exist for chemical and biological weapons — and to work rapidly toward their global elimination.

My Painting
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Re: Will Pakistan shut down all the Jihadi terror camps?

Of course not,we have heard this before

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Re: Will Pakistan shut down all the Jihadi terror camps?

these camps are just like a bog industries for MULLA

and they will rissist against this step

i think it will quite difficul for gov

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Re: Will Pakistan shut down all the Jihadi terror camps?

Yes it should it if it doesn't want to be nuked.