DEBORCHGRAVE: Public Enemy No. 1Pakistan's homegrown
extremists displace Americans
Madrassas are jealously guarded
by Pakistan's countless politico-religious extremists.
Government edicts on curriculum reform are
ignored with impunity. Free meals and an "education" are the principal
attraction for the overwhelming majority of Muslim Pakistan's 175 million
people, who subsist on $2 or $3 a day. The government cannot afford a modern
public school system for the poor as the military absorbs most of the budget.
And Pakistan cannot return to the ranks of strong, peace-loving nations until
madrassas are replaced by normal high schools. Those are still a decade or two
away.
The miserable conditions under which a majority
of Pakistan's poor eke out subsistence living (electricity frequently is
unavailable for 12 hours a day, shutting down fans and naked bulbs in 100-degree
heat) are likely to continue for the foreseeable future. The game-changer is the
Pakistani army, whose volunteers came principally from the ranks of the poor.
But the officers, if not the rank and file, now understand that religious
extremists are no longer their allies.
With 3,500 killed by terrorists in a year and
more than 10,000 injured and many small businesses closed, coupled with the
government's neglect of their plight for lack of funds, and U.S. aid spread thin
over a multitude of unrelated projects, those who cherry-pick suicide targets to
make matters worse are faced with an embarrassment of riches. -- Arnaud de
Borchgrave
By Arnaud de
Borchgrave
Tuesday, May 4,
2010
Pakistan is still producing an
estimated 10,000 potential jihadis a year out of 500,000 graduates from
Pakistan's 11,000 madrassas - young gung-ho boys, mostly 16-year-olds, who
finish 10 years of Koranic cramming and can then recite the holy book by heart
in Arabic. That means 114 suras (chapters), 6,247 ayats (verses) or 78,000
words. A true-green jihadi believes the enemies of Islam (principally the United
States, India and Israel) are on a crusade to push back the frontiers of Islam
and deprive the Muslim world of its principal means of defense - Pakistan's
nuclear arsenal.
How can the holy Muslim book
motivate youngsters to kill nonbelievers by killing themselves? European Koranic
"experts" say that two lengthy suras in the Koran deal with God's promise "to
cast terror into the hearts of those who are bent on denying the truth; strike,
then, their necks" (Koran 8:12). God also instructs his Muslim followers to
"strike terror into his enemies and your enemies" (Koran 8.60).
The motto of the Pakistani army
is "faith, piety and jihad in the path of Allah." A military manual on jihad,
"The Quranic Concept of War," is required reading at officers training schools.
Sample: "The war [the prophet] planned and carried out was total to the infinite
degree. It was waged on all fronts, internal and external, political and
diplomatic, spiritual and psychological, economic and military. ... Thus, the
Quranic military strategy enjoins us to prepare ourselves for war to the utmost
in order to strike terror into the heart of the enemy, known or hidden. ...
Terror struck into the hearts of the enemy is not only a means; it is the end in
itself."
Mercifully, the United States is
no longer seen as the enemy by most Pakistanis. Taliban, an organization
originally patented by Pakistan's intelligence service (ISI), is now Public
Enemy No. 1.
Madrassas are jealously guarded
by Pakistan's countless politico-religious extremists.
Government edicts on curriculum
reform are ignored with impunity. Free meals and an "education" are the
principal attraction for the overwhelming majority of Muslim Pakistan's 175
million people, who subsist on $2 or $3 a day. The government cannot afford a
modern public school system for the poor as the military absorbs most of the
budget. And Pakistan cannot return to the ranks of strong, peace-loving nations
until madrassas are replaced by normal high schools. Those are still a decade or
two away.
The miserable conditions under
which a majority of Pakistan's poor eke out subsistence living (electricity
frequently is unavailable for 12 hours a day, shutting down fans and naked bulbs
in 100-degree heat) are likely to continue for the foreseeable future. The
game-changer is the Pakistani army, whose volunteers came principally from the
ranks of the poor. But the officers, if not the rank and file, now understand
that religious extremists are no longer their allies.
With 3,500 killed by terrorists
in a year and more than 10,000 injured and many small businesses closed, coupled
with the government's neglect of their plight for lack of funds, and U.S. aid
spread thin over a multitude of unrelated projects, those who cherry-pick
suicide targets to make matters worse are faced with an embarrassment of riches.
The government, such as it exists, is left with a grim menu of inadequate
medical and police responses, followed by vigils and commemorations.
The governor of Punjab, long
considered the most important of Pakistan's four provinces, says it is a "bomb"
waiting to explode.
In Baluchistan, youths on
motorcycles attacked and disfigured teenage girls by throwing acid in their
faces.
Following the army eviction of
terrorists from the scenic Swat valley, and its return to civilian control,
Taliban extremists are back - while the army has moved on to fighting Talibanis
infiltrating back into the South Waziristan, Bajaur and Orakzai tribal agencies
whence they also had been evicted over recent months. The military, long used to
static positions on the Indian frontier, is exhausted. So is the equipment.
Helicopters, in desperately short supply, require 15 hours of maintenance for
every hour ferrying troops or rocketing Taliban strong points. And tribal
leaders who fled South Waziristan last fall are refusing to return to their
villages.
The United Nations issued an SOS
for about 300,000 new refugees from the fighting who require food, water,
sanitation, health care and shelter. About 1.3 million already displaced by
earlier fighting in Khyber Pakhtoonkhwa province (formerly known as North West
Frontier Province) are yet to go home and are stranded with little assistance,
the U.N. says.
A former high-ranking Pakistani
official, speaking privately, told us, "Now that the state is finally taking
some domestic terrorists head-on, it is high time the pseudo-religious
terrorists, previously protected, be brought to book for spreading hate,
bitterness and terror throughout the country."
Most of the banned sectarian
organizations, such as Lashkar-e-Jhangvi, Jaish-e-Muhammad and Sipha-e-Sahaba
Pakistan are now an integral part of Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP). And they
have taken on Shia Muslims from the tribal areas to Quetta, the capital of
Baluchistan, where they are known as Hazaras and their first language is usually
Persian Farsi rather than Pushto.
Evidently, TTP has revived from
multiple blows from the Pakistani army since August 2009, when it lost its
founder, Baitullah Mehsud, killed by a U.S. drone attack. His successor,
Hakimullah Mehsud, caught in the cross hairs of another drone flown by remote
control from Nevada, was first reported killed. Severely injured, Hakimullah
survived; six others were killed.
TTP's new commanders apparently
have revamped their fading organization. Both the Afghan and Pakistani branches
of Taliban are still well-entrenched on both sides of the long (1,400 miles)
border and are reaching out to all manner of extremist Muslim groups that share
the same twin goals - caliphate and Shariah.
In Afghanistan, rhythmic chants
of "Death to America" and "Long Live Islam" echoed from demonstrators outside
Jalalabad protesting U.S. troops who had killed a Taliban "facilitator." He also
was the brother-in-law of a prominent parliamentarian. Instructed to lower his
weapon, he raised it and was promptly cut down.
Arnaud de Borchgrave is
editor-at-large of The Washington Times and of United Press
International
10:07 PM
Sultan Shahin
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