Frontline Pakistan : The Struggle With Militant Islam - Arz-e-Pak

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