The road to peace is rough and strewn with glass splinters, making India to bleed as per the agenda of the terrorists and Muslim fundamentalists; backed in their nefarious designs by Pakistan, a key ‘ally’ in the US-led war on global terrorism. This is notwithstanding the fact that Pakistan is the ‘epicentre’ of terrorism. Pakistan’s disclaimer that it has dissociated from terrorists is a mere farce.

Sending teenagers to wage jihad in Kashmir has become a religious practice in Pakistan. The madrasa culture has spread far and wide, creating hatred against non-Muslims. Young children are motivated and brainwashed completely, till they of their own accord accept to become jihadis, ready to kill infidels. School curriculum there cultivates the sentiment of ‘Muslim victim-hood’ and inculcates in young minds the hatred for Jews and Hindus in particular and non-Muslims in general.

Read the following before making your opinion about Madrasas: “It is our opinion that whoever claims the acceptability of any existing religion today—other than Islam—such as Judaism, Christianity and so forth, is a non-believer. He should be asked to repent; if he does not, he must be killed as an apostate because he is rejecting the Quran”

This is being preached in madrasas everywhere. The above paragraph is contained in a 32-page booklet (a copy is with me ) titled : “ The Muslims Belief”, by Shaikh Muhammad As-Saleh Al-Uthaimin, published by the Jeddah D’awah Centre .There is a method in creating these mad caps. The cult of ‘martyrdom’ is being inculcated in such madrasas, estimated to be over 30,000 in Pakistan alone. It has become obviously clear after the London bomb blasts –twice in a fortnight from July 7—that pupils in these Islamic schools are fed on the element of ‘sacrifice’. Parents of these children in the age group of 13 to 15 are instilled with the belief that ‘blood of these novice young Muslims will enable the Islamic creed to conquer the entire world”. Many such parents are led to believe that sending their children to wage jihad will be blessed by god. ‘They feel happy to sacrifice their children for Kashmir’, reports from across the border say.

The militants are enjoying unfettered freedom. Pakistan President General Pervez Musharraf is just blinking. But he has recognised the fact that the militant groups want to ‘settle score with India through military means. ‘They want to do jihad in the world and do jihad everywhere’, he said in an address over PTV after 7/7 mayhem.

This is contrary to his often- repeated rhetoric and phraseology that ‘Kashmir is the root cause of terrorism’. Terrorists are not only bothered about the Muslim-majority Kashmir, but also about the entire world, which they want to Islamise. To achieve this ambition, thousands of young boys and even girls are made ‘cannon fodder’ for militant acts worldwide.

Several hundred training camps have been revived in Pakistan, some of which were abandoned earlier under US pressure. Terrorist organisations like Hizbul Mujahideen, Al-Badr Mujahideen, Harkatul Mujahideen and Lashkar-e-Toiba have regrouped, providing training facilities to new recruits. However, to my belief, the number of such recruits is now dwindling in Kashmir. This was the general impression I could gather in Srinagar recently. People are disillusioned about Pakistan. It is the Jamait-e-Islami cadre that is backing Hizbul Mujahideen.

Amazingly, the leading light of the party, Syed Ali Shah Geelani has been removed from the party for ‘anti-party activities’. Kashmiris are crying for peace, asking Pakistan to leave them alone in their struggle against poverty.

The process of regrouping and recruiting jihadis started soon after the peace process between India and Pakistan was initiated, coinciding with the 15 day long sojourn of the Hurriyat Conference leaders in Pakistan. Their visit to Rawalpindi has hardly created ripples in the valley.

The tragedy is that mandarins in the South block are ready to provide ‘concrete evidence’ of cross-border terrorism to Pakistan. But their counterparts just shrug off their shoulders, preferring to remain non-chalant about the issue, because peace process is ‘irreversible’.

India had thus far failed to react in a befitting manner at least diplomatically, to Pakistan’s overtures and its soft-pedalling with the terrorist groups, who feel emboldened following their successful London operation. However, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh while on American soil, told Pakistan in clear terms that he would not be able to ‘push forward’ the peace process if Pakistan allowed its territory to be used for terrorist activities directed against India. “ I, as Prime Minister of a democracy, will not be able to go against public opinion if acts of terrorism cannot be controlled…”, he said, voicing ‘serious concern’ about the security of Pakistan’s nuclear assets, saying ‘ there is a danger of extremists seizing power and taking control of these weapons’.

The question arises, why Pakistan is shirking from its responsibility of taking action against terrorist outfits like Harkatul Mujahideen and Jaish-e-Mohammad, which have a strong base in that country, though banned. These outfits are allegedly involved in the assassination bid on Gen Musharraf and Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz.

Intriguingly, while Pakistan had allowed resumption of militant training camps, especially at Mansehra, as the entire world knows, the US, which is leading global war on terror, has overlooked it. Are the two allies also collaborating in launching some specific terrorist camps to use them when a contingency arises? Kashmiri jihadi groups have retained their infrastructure because the Pakistan army has not decided to give up the option of battling India at a future date.

Some political analysts in Islamabad contend that “Pakistan wants to keep some militant organisations in reserve, in case they are forced to revive the option of jihad in Kashmir. The Americans believe they can use these militants as a source of information to ferret out the top Al Qaida hierarchy”. But who believes Osama bin Laden is hiding in South Afghanistan? It is to hoodwink world opinion. If CIA is to be believed, Al Qaida leaders are in Pakistan, nurtured by ISI, which is sheltering Osama that is known to George Bush. Taliban also continue to find safe haven in Pakistan.

May be, Pakistan police has cracked down on some of the extremist groups. It is just eyewash. Some 125 suspected Islamic extremists have been arrested in response to London blasts. This is a drop in the ocean as Pakistan is churning out thousands of jihadis every year. It is just like a private army. A parent of a new ‘recruit’ has said: ‘If we have a strong army, then why should we push innocent children into this bloody war’. Pakistan is a breeding ground for terrorists. Musharraf also admits now. Yet, no major terrorist outfit has been touched. What use taking action on people sheltering militants, when camps are being run freely?

Noted Pak writer-diplomat Hussain Haqqani says: “Pakistan’s policies of constantly invoking religion in affairs of the State, unconventional warfare against neighbours as a means of containing their power, and duality in dealing with the West have failed”.

World leaders should unite to wage jihad against jihadis. What has happened in London is enough to change ‘gear’. It is insufficient to condemn terrorist violence, unless we tackle the root cause of a ‘perverted and poisonous misinterpretation of the religion of Islam’.


Courtesy : Syndicate Features

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