Counter Terrorism

Posted by Samanta Woods on July 31st, 2019

Terrorism is a real plague for the global community. It flourishes in countries of the Third World, but neither USA nor Europe is free from terroristic organizations. The tragedy of 11/09 showed to the whole world that no country is protected from terrorism, and that States have to unite their efforts to handle the problem on a global scale but not locally. To be able to fight terrorism effectively its reasons, methods and goals should be analyzed. This paper focuses on one of most well-developed and active terroristic organizations in the world – Lashkar-e-Taiba, – and aims to research its origin, ideology and methods, as well as the steps taken to counter it.

Lashkar-e-Taiba is a well-known terroristic organization, and there are a lot of articles and books study this case. This document resorts to the report prepared for Norwegian Defense Establishment by Research Consultant Quandeel Sidduque, a research devoted to Lashkar-e-Taiba by Lindsay Massara from the University of Oregon; some articles on the topic from The New York Times, Rediff News and The Times of India were useful to clarify the current activities of this organization.

The origins of Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) lie in the conflict over Kashmir, a territory disputed by India and Pakistan. LeT professes Sunni Islamism in extreme Wahhabite interpretation and aims at reunification of Kashmir in an Islamic state Kashmir within Pakistan, indoctrination of the whole India into Islam and at worldwide jihad (holy war) against infidels. Currently, it is one of the most powerful and active terroristic organization banned in the USA, European Union, India, Russia and Australia.

The forerunner of LeT – Islamite fundamentalist organization Markaz Dawa-wal-Irshad (MDI) – was founded in 1986 by three Pakistani university professors – Hafiz Saeed, Zafaq Iqbal, and Abdul Rehman Makki. Initially, it opposed Soviet occupation of Afghanistan. Lashkar-e-Taiba was created in 1990 as a militant wing of MDI. After the Soviet troops left Afghanistan in 1990, LeT concentrated its attention on Kashmir area. Historically, Kashmir was divided by the British between Pakistan and India in 1956. As the population of Kashmir is Muslim, and the dominant religion of India is Hinduism, the Indian part has become a zone of conflict on a religious background since then. No wonder it became fertile soil for LeT with its extreme religious views.

LeT first announced itself in 1996, when 16 Hindus of Indian air force personnel were killed at Barshalla, in Kashmir Doda district. It has committed, directly as well as indirectly, a series of acts of terror mainly in India. Research estimates the total amount of victims of religious and political confrontation in Kashmir since 1989 at around fifty thousand people. Some researchers list violent assaults attributed to LeT that show the scale and intensity of its aggression. In 2000, LeT committed an attack on the Cantonment section of the Red Fort in New Delhi. In 2001, it attacked Srinagar airport, Indian border security forces, and India Parliament in New Delhi. 2002 was marked by an attack on an Indian Army base in Kaluchak, and 2003 - by bomb blasts in Mumbai on temple and monument. 2005 witnessed bomb explosion on the Shramjivi express train in Uttar Pradesh state, serial attacks on markets in New Delhi, and an attack on the Indian Institute of Science in Bangalore. 2006 saw activation of LeT: explosions at a railway station and Hindu temple in Varanasi, an abortive attempt on the HQ of Hindi organization in Nagpur, serial rail bombings in Mumbai, a grenade cast into a temple in Manipur, and two bombs explosion on a passenger train in West Bengal. In 2007, LeT committed bomb explosion in Delhi-Attari train in Haryana, bomb blasts in Hyderabad at park and restaurant, coordinated attacks in 3 cities in Uttar Pradesh and at a cinema in Punjab, and an attack on paramilitary facility in Uttar Pradesh. In 2008, bombing of market and temple areas took place in Jaipur and a terroristic attack with guns and bombs in Mumbai.

Financing for LeT arrives from the countries of the Middle East, especially Saudi Arabia, pro-arabic organizations, Pakistani expatriates and LeT adepts across the world. LeT maintains relations with other Islamist terroristic organizations, inclusive ill-famed Al-Qaeda, Palestinian Hamas and The Taliban. It supports and inspires, in its turn, aggressive Islamist groups in Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Maharashtra, and Gujrat, India. LeT members participated in bloody conflicts in Bosnia, Chechnya and the Philippines. Since its foundation, LeT has acted in concord with ISI (Pakistani Interservice Intelligence) that gives it a lot of advantages and possibilities.

LeT located its headquarters in Muridke, Pakistani state of Punjab. On over 200 acres of the territory, it owes a religious seminary (madrassa), a hospital, market, residential area, agricultural tracts and a fish farm. Besides, there is a military training camp in Muridke and several other camps in Pakistan. LeT is claimed to have 2800 training camps and 700 offices all over the world. Since 2002, LeT develops its philanthropic fa?ade, namely building hospitals, schools, madrassas, factories throughout Pakistan that wins them gratitude, support and fidelity of local population.

Despite its fundamentalist character, LeT uses modern ways of propaganda and recruiting. It issues its periodicals in Urdu, Arabic and English, including magazines for women and children, and has two radio channels. Extensive use of the Internet enables LeT to indoctrinate and attract adepts beyond Pakistan. It is presumed that LeT appeals in the web inspired 2013 Boston bombers – the Tsarnaev brothers.

With its extremism and radicalism, LeT could not but arise a strong anti-terrorism response. In October 2001, after their attack on Indian Parliament, it was banned in India, and in March of the same year in Great Britain. In December 2001, it was added to the list of foreign terroristic organizations in the USA. Pakistani president Pervez Musharraf banned LeT in Pakistan in January 2002 that led to creation of aliases, development of charitable activities of LeT and reduction of open support by Pakistani ISI. The United States banned LeT aliases in April 2008 and froze bank accounts of four LeT key persons in May 2008. On January 15, 2009 fifteen LeT training camps were shut down in Pakistan, its web sites and seven publications were closed. Nevertheless, such actions are incomplete and lack coordination, as LeT still enjoys covert support from Pakistani government.

The analysis of the history and activity of Lashkar-e-Taiba shows that its attractiveness for people lies in its ideology based on religiousness and nationalism. It gains fidelity of the Pakistani community by charity that is also meant to cover its main activity. It uses modern tools (radio, publicity, the Internet) for indoctrination and recruitment indoctrinates and reaches its adepts. The strength of this organization lies in connection to the ISI and in networking with other terroristic organizations. Although it is far from its initial aim (unification of Kashmir), its plans reach much farther. Saeed, its current spiritual leader, stresses supreme importance of fighting for Kashmir, but his successor can be expected to shift priorities. LeT has sufficient resources and enough adherents to present serious threat on the world scale, and this danger should not be underestimated.

The article was conducted by the executive writer from prime-resume.com - Samanta Woods.