Frontline Pakistan : The Struggle With Militant Islam - Arz-e-Pak
Frontline Pakistan : The Struggle With Militant Islam - Arz-e-Pak
Frontline Pakistan : The Struggle With Militant Islam - Arz-e-Pak
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War Comes Home<br />
Rabia was the target of another predator attack on 5 November,<br />
2005. He escaped, but eight people, including his wife and children,<br />
died in the strike. His death, a month later, weakened the organization’s<br />
ability to coordinate terrorist attacks from the border region of <strong><strong>Pak</strong>istan</strong><br />
and Afghanistan. Rabia was believed to be a key link between bin<br />
Laden and other al-Qaeda operatives and his death could mean that<br />
<strong><strong>Pak</strong>istan</strong>i and American security forces were closing in on the top al-<br />
Qaeda leader.<br />
<strong>The</strong> presence of al-Qaeda in <strong><strong>Pak</strong>istan</strong> had thinned as a result of<br />
this series of high-profile captures, and also because many others<br />
had shifted to new venues of jihad, particularly to Iraq following its<br />
occupation by the US forces. Besides, <strong><strong>Pak</strong>istan</strong> was no longer a safe<br />
haven for the terrorist network.<br />
Musharraf’s growing crackdown on al-Qaeda’s command structure<br />
forced the terrorist organization to adapt, breeding new militant <strong>Islam</strong>ic<br />
threats in <strong><strong>Pak</strong>istan</strong> that the security forces found harder to uproot.<br />
Several new terrorist cells emerged out of the outlawed militant outfits.<br />
Most of them comprised a new breed of young militants coming from<br />
educated middle-class backgrounds, rather than the religious school<br />
students who were associated with <strong>Islam</strong>ic militancy in the past.<br />
Thousands of <strong>Islam</strong>ic guerrillas, trained by the ISI to fight against<br />
Indian forces in Kashmir, were now frustrated by Musharraf’s policies<br />
and provided ready recruits to these new terrorist cells. As external<br />
avenues for waging jihad were being closed, the militant Muslim youth<br />
increasingly turned inwards and targeted the military or the state.<br />
This new cadre boasted highly qualified professionals and university<br />
graduates. Children of opportunity rather than deprivation, they were<br />
the masterminds behind many of the terrorist attacks in the country.<br />
<strong>The</strong> creation of the Karachi-based Jundullah (Army of God) was a<br />
prime example of al-Qaeda’s changing face in <strong><strong>Pak</strong>istan</strong>. <strong>The</strong> group was<br />
founded by Attar Rehman, a university graduate, who was arrested in<br />
June 2004 on the charge of masterminding a series of terrorist attacks<br />
in Karachi, targeting security forces and government installations. 59<br />
<strong>The</strong> eldest son of a businessman, he grew up in a middle-class<br />
neighbourhood in Karachi. His family house was the biggest in the<br />
area and was known by the neighbours as the ‘White House’. Many<br />
of his close relatives, including one uncle, were settled in the USA.<br />
His classmates at university remembered him as a very quiet person.<br />
He didn’t give any indication of his potential involvement with the<br />
terrorist network.<br />
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