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
Create successful ePaper yourself
Turn your PDF publications into a flip-book with our unique Google optimized e-Paper software.
Volte-Face<br />
US-led war on terror, but also because of its growing involvement in<br />
domestic politics. General Haq kept the Americans happy by capturing<br />
hundreds of al-Qaeda fugitives, but there was also huge scepticism<br />
over his efforts to curb home-grown <strong>Islam</strong>ic militants, who continued<br />
to operate unabatedly, despite the apparent ban on their activities.<br />
Though the changes in the military hierarchy had placed General<br />
Musharraf firmly in the driving seat, his position still appeared quite<br />
tenuous as he faced a strong challenge from the country’s powerful<br />
<strong>Islam</strong>ic groups who were out on the streets violently protesting<br />
against his pro-US policy. This was problematic for Musharraf, as these<br />
groups had significant influence among the rank and file of the army.<br />
Musharraf hoped for a quick end to the war, but his standing became<br />
more precarious when civilian casualties from the American air raids<br />
rose. <strong>The</strong> reaction from the extremist religious parties was swift and<br />
deadly. Thousands of people took to the streets in the western city of<br />
Quetta, close to the Afghan border, destroying and looting banks and<br />
torching UNICEF offices. <strong>The</strong> army was called out in <strong>Islam</strong>abad, the<br />
capital, and other cities to control violent demonstrations.<br />
Armed with anything from locally made rifles to machine guns, thousands<br />
of <strong><strong>Pak</strong>istan</strong>i tribesmen streamed into Afghanistan in response<br />
to the Taliban’s call for jihad. In the last week of October 2001, Sufi<br />
Mohammed, a radical <strong>Islam</strong>ic cleric, crossed the border with 10,000<br />
volunteers, including madrasa students, to fight against US-led coalition<br />
forces. <strong><strong>Pak</strong>istan</strong>i forces turned a blind eye to the hordes of volunteers<br />
crossing the border. ‘<strong>The</strong>y should go to Afghanistan rather than<br />
disrupting civil life here,’ declared an Interior Ministry spokesman. 29<br />
More than 5,000 <strong><strong>Pak</strong>istan</strong>i jihadists died fighting for the Taliban. Thousands<br />
of others were taken prisoner by various Afghan warlords.<br />
What worried the military government was the danger of a spillover<br />
effect of the Afghan war into <strong><strong>Pak</strong>istan</strong>. <strong>Islam</strong>ic zealots seeking<br />
revenge for the American bombings in Afghanistan massacred 18<br />
innocent Christian worshippers in a Bahawalpur church. This barbaric<br />
action was apparently inspired by the rhetoric of war between ‘<strong>Islam</strong><br />
and Christianity’ emanating from the radical <strong>Islam</strong>ists. <strong>The</strong> carnage<br />
gave a violent turn to the anti-American agitation and brought the war<br />
into <strong><strong>Pak</strong>istan</strong>i territory. <strong>The</strong> situation became even more explosive as<br />
hundreds of thousands of Afghans fleeing the American bombings<br />
poured into <strong><strong>Pak</strong>istan</strong>. Strong support from the moderate and pro-West<br />
liberal political parties like former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto’s<br />
<strong><strong>Pak</strong>istan</strong> People’s Party and the Muttahida Qaumi Movement helped