ISLAMABAD: One of the premier institutions set up to fight terrorism has informed the country’s top security intuitions that proscribed organisations are still recruiting Jihadis who have become a serious internal security threat to Pakistan.
The shocking revelations have raised a question mark about the government’s seriousness in an indiscriminate crackdown on militants by the security forces under the National Action Plan (NAP) started soon after the Army Public School’s massacre in December 2014.
“Major banned outfits are still recruiting the students of madrassas to wage Jihad in the Indian-Held Kashmir and Afghanistan. Such non-state actors have become very dangerous for Pakistan,” senior security officials dealing with counter-terrorism warned the government in a confidential document titled “Proscribed/Jihadi Organizations”.
It should be noted that the banned outfits have consistently denied any such activity on their part.In its secret document, consisting of 111 pages, the Counter Terrorism Department (CTD), Punjab, revealed that 32 proscribed organizations with nine splinters groups have now become “a nursery of terrorism in Pakistan.”
Banned organizations like Islamic State (Daesh) and Hizb-ut-Tahreer (HuT) are also gaining ground by establishing a special wing in the country where their commanders are recruiting militants, reveals the document exclusively available with Geo News (Programme ASKKS) and The News.
Adjacent areas of Bahawalpur, Muridke, Sialkot and some southern districts of Punjab have now become a breeding ground for these banned outfits, it further revealed.The HuT is alluring educated Pakistani youth, particularly in colleges and universities, through the social media by convincing them to wage Jihad against the US interests in the country. They are also involved in anti-state activities, urging youth to stand up against Pakistan’s friendly policy towards the United States, according to the secret document.
Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) and Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) are still feeding militants who after joining the Tehreek-e-Taliban, al-Qaeda and Islamic State (Daesh), etc. are seriously damaging the state institutions.
Almost similar findings were given about estranged groups like JeD, JeM, Al-Rehmat Trust, Khudamul Islam and Khairunas in this secret document which reveals that their followers are now waging a war against the state.
The LeT and JeM have established 2,200 offices across Pakistan where both have been issuing ‘Jihadi literature’.The document further revealed that despite claims of JeM and JuD, their estranged followers were joining hands with the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan and al-Qaeda.
The United Baloch Army, Lashkar-e-Balochistan and Balochistan Liberation Army are being funded by the Indian premier intelligence agency (Research and Analysis Wing) and other foreign organisations, it revealed.
The followers of these Baloch organisations want freedom from Pakistan. The above-mentioned Baloch organisations have always denied receiving any funds from RAW. They said that they have been fighting for the rights of people.
The secret booklet revealed that Al-Akhtar Trust, operating under the leadership of Maulana Shah Hakim of Khanqa Imdaya Ashrafia, Karachi, was supporting fighters in Afghanistan and Iraq. Al-Akhtar provided logistic support to the followers of the banned organizations in Pakistan.
Some workers of Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) Pakistan who accepted ‘Jihad’ by heart joined hands with the militant groups after they believed that their party will not let them do Jihad, counter-terrorism officials wrote in their findings. But the JI strongly rebutted the findings of the CTD Punjab against its followers. JI leader Professor Ibrahim claims, “The party’s workers strictly believe in peace and patriotism.”
The CTD officials have also asked the government to choke the foreign funding of followers of these proscribed organizations and dismantle their training camps.“Training must be specified for personnel of armed forces and law enforcement agencies,” they further recommended.
The report also revealed that the LeJ, which had been running training centers for the Taliban in Afghanistan, was also responsible for the attack on a journalist, Raza Rumi, in which he sustained injuries while his guard was killed in Garden Town Lahore in 2014.
JuD Spokesperson Yahya Mujahid denied the allegations saying that the organisation was only involved in welfare activities.“We are a peaceful organisation having nothing to do with the LeT. Our Jamaat is against banned outfits and its followers never joined hands with militant groups like Daesh, etc.,” Mujahid said.
Security analyst Lt. Gen. (retd) Amjad Shoaib said the state had to get rid of all non-state actors who were now a serious threat to its sovereignty.“Pakistan must keep check on them [banned organizations]; the security agencies must be vigilant about the Jihadis’ footprints; they must be checked on now or never basis before they pose the ultimate threat to the state.”
