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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<strong>Frontline</strong> <strong><strong>Pak</strong>istan</strong><br />
officials for a couple of months. His conduct was closely watched as he<br />
performed routine organizational duties. He was supposed to collect<br />
funds, organize propaganda meetings and practise the preaching<br />
of <strong>Islam</strong> in his home and neighbourhood. Only a select number of<br />
volunteers were chosen for the extended programme. <strong>The</strong>y returned<br />
home completely transformed after the course. <strong>The</strong>y kept their hair<br />
long and stopped cutting their beards. <strong>The</strong>y were identified by new<br />
names, mostly the surnames of companions of the Prophet Mohammed<br />
or of the earliest <strong>Islam</strong>ic heroes. 16 Between 10,000 and 30,000 young<br />
men were trained at LeT camps.<br />
<strong>The</strong> extended training, however, did not ensure that a volunteer<br />
would be sent for combat operations. Thousands of trained guerrillas<br />
anxiously awaited their turn to cross into Kashmir, but not everyone<br />
was given the chance. ‘I pray to Allah that my turn [to go to Kashmir]<br />
comes soon, ‘said Abu Mohammed, a young college student who had<br />
already completed the second level training. Hafiz Saeed often said<br />
that he would not put a weapon in the hands of any young recruit<br />
who was not secure in his faith. To be a combatant one had to be a<br />
pious person. 17<br />
LeT, unlike some of the other jihadist groups, drew its recruits from<br />
universities and colleges as well as from among unemployed youth.<br />
<strong>The</strong> traditional <strong>Islam</strong>ic madrasas provided only ten per cent of the<br />
volunteers. 18 Influenced by radical <strong>Islam</strong>ic literature, many university<br />
and college students joined the group. ‘Those coming from educational<br />
institutions are much more motivated and conscious of what they<br />
are doing,’ said Naveed Qamar, an LeT activist and graduate of the<br />
University of Engineering and Technology, Lahore. <strong>The</strong> top leadership<br />
of the group, including Hafiz Saeed, had been on the faculty of that<br />
university. A large number of LeT activists also came from the working<br />
class or were school drop-outs. In the countryside, LeT recruits were<br />
largely from families which were influenced by Wahabi <strong>Islam</strong>. 19<br />
<strong>The</strong> majority of LeT recruits came from Punjab, particularly from<br />
Lahore, Gujranwala and Multan where Ahle Hadith had its strongholds.<br />
In some central Punjab district villages LeT had considerable influence<br />
because of support for the Kashmir jihad. Gondlawala, a small dusty<br />
village, is now called Pind Shaheedan (the village of martyrs) because<br />
at least one person from every family had fought or died in the Kashmir<br />
jihad, mainly as an LeT fighter. <strong>The</strong> group’s increasing influence was<br />
indicated by the fact that the villagers would accept its arbitration in<br />
local and even in domestic disputes. 20 In recent years, LeT had started