The WikiLeaks has recently revealed that Islamic charities from Saudi Arabia and UAE are giving $100 million dollar yearly to jihadi terrorist organisations in Pakistan. The religious extremist organisation use those money to recruit new Jihadists to their networks in Southern Punjab.
WikiLeaks further reported that the extremist religious organizations exploit worsening poverty in outer areas of Punjab and recruit children of age 8 into the divisions’ growing Deobandi and Ahl-e-Hadith madrassa networks. These children are later indoctrinated into jihadi philosophy, deployed to regional training/indoctrination centres, and ultimately sent to terrorist training camps in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA).
According to WikiLeaks, “At these madrassas, children are denied contact with the outside world and taught sectarian extremism, hatred for non-Muslims, and anti-Western/anti-Pakistan government philosophy.”
The US cable also revealed that the Jihadi networks working in the name of charitable organisations often “exploit families with multiple children, particularly those facing severe financial difficulties in light of inflation, poor crop yields, and growing unemployment in both urban and rural areas in the southern and western Punjab. Oftentimes, these families are identified and initially approached/assisted by ostensibly “charitable” organizations including Jamaat-ud-Dawa (a front for designated foreign terrorist organization Lashkar-e-Tayyaba), the Al-Khidmat Foundation (linked to religious political party Jamaat-e-Islami), or Jaish-e-Mohammad (a charitable front for the designated foreign terrorist organization of the same name).”
The revelations of WikiLeaks might be shocking for the Western nations but those who live in the region and have been witnessing these developments in Pakistan, these revelation for them are not new. In far-flung areas where government schools do not exist but there are huge and well-built madrasas for children everyone is aware who financially support these religious seminaries. It is also an obvious fact that underage children are brainwashed in these schools and then send to Kashmir and Afghanistan for carry out terrorist activities. Pakistan army and intelligence agencies from the beginning have been part and parcel of these activities that is why they have ignored such developments and the spread of jihadi networks under their nose.
The fact that Pakistan army and intelligence agencies have let the terrorist networks to grow stronger in Punjab is because they got huge amounts of money from other Muslim states in the name and slogan of so called Islamic brotherhood. The activities of religious extremist in Punjab are greater than any other region in Pakistan. For this reason Punjab is an easily approachable place for religious extremists to recruit terrorists and open Madrasas. The religious groups from these madrasas have coined the term ‘Punjabi Taliban’. It is surprising that on one hand the Pakistani army is indiscriminately killings Pashtuns in the name of fight against Taliban but on the other hand the Punjabi Taliban have always had special exemption from Pakistani military.
Even currently Pakistan army is acquiring funds from the entire world in the name of ongoing ‘Zarb-e-Azb’ operation but at the same time Punjabi Taliban and their leaders are roaming openly without any fear and hindrance. Even though there are huge amount of head-money on the leader and armed terrorists of Punjabi Taliban but they are peacefully living in their house as they know military and ISI are on their side. Journalist Owen Bennett-Jones recently in an article wrote that Pakistan considers Punjabi Taliban an asset because on one side it uses them in Kashmir in name of Jihad to carry out sabotage activities in India and on the other hand Haqqani Network is active against the Afghan government.
The Baloch pro-freedom organisations’ point of view in this regard is also worthwhile because they believe that Pakistan is repeating its sinister designs in Balochistan. The Baloch people have always stayed away from religious extremism due to their secular nature and liberal values and they followed the philosophy of innovation and religious tolerance but now Pakistan Army is encouraging, transferring and providing safe haven to terrorist organisations like Lashkar-e-Jhangvi and Jama’at-ul-Da’awa in Balochistan in a similar pattern as it did in southern Punjab. At the same time they are closing down schools and colleges at gun point only to expand their network of madrasas. It is now certain that due closure of schools and economic backwardness poor Baloch will have no option but to admit their children to these religious ‘indoctrination’ centres.
In the second phase of this conspiracy Pakistan is using these religious extremists as a front to counter the secular and enlightened pro-freedom Baloch activists. Pakistan army and its proxy Sardars and Mirs including Sanaullah Zehri (a senior minister in current provincial government), Seraaj Raisani, Shafiq Mengal, Barkat Mohammad Hasani and the imported Jihadi extremists have created several state backed death squads in Balochistan. These death squads are involved in abduction and killing of pro-freedom Baloch activists. Pakistan is using these terrorists groups not only as a military forces but it also wants to fill the vacuum that it created by indiscriminately killing pro-freedom Baloch activists with these fundamentalists. Hence, Pakistan will try and use these criminal gangs as a political forces in Balochistan.
Extremist organisation like Jamaat Daawa and Jaamat Islami and their so called charitable trusts Flah Ensaani Foundation and Al-Khidmat Foundation have been given a free hand in Balochistan. Through these trusts the terrorist organisations like Lashkar-e-Tayyaba can recruit children of poverty ridden Baloch families. One recent example of such activities is the military crackdown against Baloch and international humanitarian organisations and stop them from carry out relief work in Awaran region of Balochistan during the earthquake. The military has only allowed Falah Ensaani Foundation of the wanted terrorist Hafiz Saeed to carry out activities in affected areas in the name of so called humanitarian work.
Pakistan is not only using its criminal proxy terrorist groups against freedom loving Baloch but these organisations are also polluting the centuries old secular and tolerant value of Balochistan. These religious extremist organisation are involved in killing of Shia Hazaras, Zikiri Baloch and the killing and abduction of members of Hindu community.
Baloch intellectuals and analysts believe that if the West is serious about rooting out fundamentalism and extremism then they must make sure that their tax payers’ money should not fall in the hands of fundamentalist states like Pakistan. They [West] should support the moderate Baloch forces as their natural allies otherwise Pakistan with the help of Arab states’ money, China’s weapons and its own rogues army will succeed in turning Balochistan into another Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan which is not only a risk to the survival of Baloch nation but also a great threat to peace and stability of the world.
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