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Ahmed Rashid, a renowned journalist and author of bestselling “Taliban: Militant Islam, Oil and Fundamentalism” spoke on the rise of ISIS, Yemen Crisis and their impact on Pakistan in a talk hosted by The Last Word. The Last Word is a celebrated book store in Lahore which, according to its Facebook page, caters to a ‘readership that thrives on ideas, creativity and explosive concepts’. Such talks and public events are a regular feature at The Last Word which has soon established itself as a popular venue for Lahore’s literati. Attended by a house full of around 70 people, the hour long candid talk was followed by questions and answers session.
“Rise of ISIS is not a surprise for me”
Starting with the history and genesis of ISIS, Ahmed Rashid asserted, “The birth of ISIS and their swift escalation is not a surprise for me as it is the outcome of a highly destabilized Iraq, crippled by violence and wars.”He further attributed the long standing insurgency and the huge power vacuum in Iraq as the key factors giving birth to ISIS.
Iraq grew to be the nucleus of terrorism after the American invasion which soon begot large scale sectarian violence, and terrorism owing to Al-Qaida’s presence. The violence and marginalization suffered by a number of groups provided the context which thrives radicalization and terrorism. The ISIS came as a natural culmination of these circumstances, he opined.
ISIS, according to Ahmed Rashid, was born out of Al-Qaeda.It was after the death of al-Zarqawi, al-Qaida’s head in Iraq, in 2006 that ISIS’s formation was declared under the leadership of Abu Omar al-Baghdadi, the predecessor of current emir of ISIS known as Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi.
Al-Qaida and ISIS
Speaking on the similarities between ISIS & Al-Qaida, Rashid pointed out that in terms of ideology there is not much of a difference.In terms of strategy, however, they are poles apart. ISIS believes in capturing the territory and establishing a caliphate in whatever form, which then be used as a base for further expansion and fighting the enemies of Islam. Al-Qaida, on the other hand, believes in fighting US and other perceived enemies of Islam, and sees the establishment of Caliphate as the long-term objective.
Answering a question on ISIS’s stance on Palestine issue, Rashid highlighted that interestingly ISIS is virtually silent on Palestine and never challenges Israel’s hegemony. On the contrary, Palestinian refugee camps in Syria frequently become victims of ISIS’s cruelties.
ISIS: A look inside the cadre
“The hierarchy of ISIS is comprised of several ex-officers of Saddam’s Army, along with Uzbek, Tajik and Chechen fighters. They are all professionally trained jihadi militants,” told Rashid.
About 25,000 recruits from 90 different countries have joined ISIS in the last couple of years, which is roughly equal to one thousand recruits per month.ISIS’s numbers have multiplied exponentially in no time. Young people from Britain, France, and astonishingly, from all over Europe are rushing to join ISIS. Another element which distinguishes ISIS from other jihadi militias is their success in attracting female recruits, explained Rashid while talking about traction for ISIS.
ISIS is currently the richest terrorist group on the planet. They are controlling nearly 50 oil wells and further using smuggling and kidnapping for ransom to generate revenue. They are also employing thousands of women and young girls in sexual slavery. They are earning a million to two million dollars a day which makes them the spearhead of terrorism in the world. Al-Qaeda never achieved anything like this.I think we are going to witness further spread of the ISIS, said Rashid whilst commenting on the gravity of the situation.
“Media manipulation paved way for the success of ISIS”
Explaining the motives of the ISIS and their techniques of media manipulation, Rashid explained that ISIS not only wants to abolish the borders between Iraq and Syria, they want the expansion of their Khilafat by all means. Unlike Al-Qaeda, ISIS believes in exterminating all minorities residing in the areas under their control.They are doing mass killings, beheadings, suicide bombings and major terrorist attacks not just in Iraq and Syria but in places like Jordan and recently, in Saudi Arabia.
After expunging all other media sources which could expose their activities and whereabouts, ISIS choose themselves what and how they want to show to the rest of the world. They have been using footages of beheadings and bombings for fear and propaganda. The online propaganda had a massive impact on the radicalized youth all over the world.
The Yemen Conflict
“Yemen is in a state of civil war for the last five years”, said Rashid. Commenting on the sectarian facet of the conflict, he was of the view that it is not mainly a proxy war. Because of doctrinal differences, Iran may not consider Houthis as proper Shia. Houthis have been marginalized in the post-Saleh political setup which led to their revolt against the regime.
“Yemen has 95 million guns for 25 million people”
Rashid said that Yemen is currently the most armed country in the world. With a population of about 25 million, there are 90 million guns in Yemen. In such a heavily armed country with tribal allegiances, poor governance and infrastructure, very cautious measures need to be taken to address the Yemen crisis. Unfortunately there has been no serious diplomat effort on Yemen so far.
What is the rest of Muslim world doing?
Rashid said that the Arab countries and their lack of leadership is quintessentially resulting in the spread of ISIS. The Americans and other Western countries are taking steps against the organization which should have been a task completed by the Arab countries.
“The 60 state alliance against ISIS should have been led by the Arab countries rather than America”, Rashid lamented.
Talking finally about Pakistan, he said, “Pakistan did the right thing by not sending it troops to Yemen”. The situation in Yemen is far too complex to be handled through military operation. Only diplomatic effort and political solution has the answer.
Commenting on the possibility ISIS’s upsurge in Pakistan, Rashid said that the kind of vacuum ISIS requires to grow is not there yet.
Rashid was warmly appreciated by the echoing applause in the end of the talk and he thanked all his listeners for showing interest
![Wall chalking in support of ISIS in Bannu, Pakistan. [courtesy of Talha Siddidui]](https://laaltain.pk/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/ISISBannu.jpg)
The concept of the Caliphate is sold in Jihadist narratives as the ultimate goal of their political (violent & non-violent) struggle. It is considered by them as the ultimate antidote to the venom of secular and liberal democracy, and thus a panacea for all social, political and religious ills that Muslim communities are currently undergoing.
ISIS have declared themselves the winners of the global race towards a Caliphate, and as such its gains and losses will shape the future face of Jihadism in Pakistan and across the world.
Their destruction of Sufi shrines, mass murders of Christians and Shias and threats to desecrate shrines in Karbala, Baghdad and even establishments in the Kaaba, reflect the ideological basis on which their movement is based.
Transnational alliances of Islamist movements form the backbone of their material and ideological support systems, a subject not given due mileage in local counter-extremism and counter-terrorism work. Thus this article attempts to explore the links between ISIS and various Jihadist movements within Pakistan.
History
ISIS sprang from what is known as Jama’at al-Tawhid wal-Jihad (JTJ) and later Al-Qaeda in Iraq (AQI), both of which were founded by Abu Musab al-Zarqawi. Zarqawi’s Islamic State of Iraq – also known as al-Qaeda in Iraq – is the genesis of what is today known as the ISIS.
Zarqawi is said to have traveled to Pakistan at the age of 23 to participate in the Afghan Jihad (Ahmed, 2011). He started living in Hayatabad, Peshawar and networked with leadership members of the newly formed al-Qaeda. It is important to note that Hayatabad, Peshawar became a center for al-Qaeda leadership and many of its terrorists have been arrested from there. Zarqawi’s sisters were also settled in Peshawar and his mother visited him frequently there.
It was in Peshawar that Zarqawi adopted the fundamentalist Salafist faith, which experts say fuelled his animosity toward Shia Muslims and moderate Muslim governments.
Zarqawi established a terrorist camp on the Afghanistan-Pakistan border to train fighters and is responsible for multiple terrorist attacks on government targets and against Shias.
He was hosted by the banned Pakistani terrorist outfit Lashkar-e-Jhangvi (LeJ) for several years and trained their recruits from South Punjab in his camp.
He is also rumored to be arrested by the Pakistani intelligence ISI, but was later released. He traveled to Karachi regularly, and before saying goodbye to Pakistan in 1999 he is thought to have influenced local Jihadi organizations like Laskhar-e-Taiba and Laskhar-e-Jhangvi, and maintained Jihadist ties with them. (Mir, 2008)
Zarqawi developed differences with Al-Qaeda’s spiritual mentor Al-Zahwahiri, chief Osama Bin Laden and ideologue Maqdisi for his brutal, ad-hoc and indiscriminate killing of Shias in Iraq.
Much of what is happening in the Arab world can be credited to the conscious decision of Zarqawi to adapt a violent anti-Shia stance in his global Jihadist world-view. The sectarian civil strife the Middle East is currently witnessing is exactly what the anti-Zarqawi leadership of Al-Qaeda predicted. He inspired and executed several attacks on Iraqi Shias and till date inspires local Pakistani organizations like Laskhar-e-Jhangvi for their public massacres of Shias.
Funeral
On 10th June 2006, Jamat’ud Dawa held funeral prayers in absentia of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, after his death in an airstrike on 7th June 2006.
As certain Urdu columnists observed the ‘martyrdom’ of their fallen hero Zarqawi, many Pakistanis who stood at his funeral prayers in absentia did not know of the violence perpetuated by this man and his fierce anti-Shia views (although posted and published few days before his death on mainstream media and internet forums in June 2006) in which he claimed that, “There would be no total victory over the Jews and Christians without a total annihilation of the Shia” and that, “If you can’t find any Jews or Christians to kill, vent your wrath against the next available Shia” (Ahmed, 2011).
Current leader of ISIS
The current leader of IS (ISIS) and self-proclaimed Caliph of Muslims, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, fought and studied under Abu Musab al-Zarqawi. ISIS’s fighters have been spotted raising pictures of Zarqawi even 8 years after his death, clear proof of his continuing influence on the organization’s ideology.
Amid rumors, it is now established that ‘Mujahideen’ of Pakistani origin are also fighting in Syria and Iraq. Tehrik e Taliban Pakistan (TTP) has openly boasted about sending ‘hundreds of men’ and having established Jihadi camps in Syria.
The social media feeds of Sipah e Sahaba and Lashkar-e-Jhangvi reveal their level of interest in recent developments in the Middle East. While sectarian wars are on the rise everywhere, the recent upsurge in attacks on Shias in Pakistan can be directly linked with the rise of ISIS.
Zarqawi is dead but ‘Zarqawism’ is now deeply rooted in violent Islamist movements and his ruthless advocacy to kill the ‘near enemy’ (Shias, Sufis, Jews, Christians and others) first will not vanish anytime soon.
It is now up to Muslim societies and states to ensure that this crisis does not escalate further into what could be a full-blown, global sectarian war. The responsibility lies with governments and civil society, and the peaceful voices within them, to take a stand against the forces that seek to instil hatred, violence and division among us.
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With radical state and non-state actors, the Middle East is not only a key player in the global oil trade with its unmatched oil monopoly but it also shapes the international politics to a great extent. Issues and conflicts pertaining to this region range from ethnic to nationalist and religious to sectarian, all in the pursuit of power.
After the disintegration of the Ottoman Empire, Middle East witnessed a number of conflicts among the Arab states, but after the creation of the state of Israel in 1948, Arab-Israeli conflict stole the limelight and shaped the entire regional politics with directly influencing international politics as well. Since 1948, there have been more wars and armed conflicts between Arabs and Israelis than among the Arab states. But after recent developments since the Arab Spring, Muslims have found more reasons to fight with each other as the regional politics has undergone a paradigm shift.
In the Arab spring – a series of uprisings which were instigated against dictatorships, monarchies and political corruption – protesters who demanded more political rights were tried to be quelled. The situation went out of control in some states in which the repressive rulers were either ousted or dragged on the streets of their own countries. For instance, leaders of Tunisia, Egypt and Yemen were deposed and in Libya, Gaddafi was killed by the rebellious masses. The uprisings in two states – Syria and Bahrain – radically altered the dynamics of regional politics. The uprisings, which were originally against the ruling elites, were molded into an all-out sectarian conflict between Shias and Sunnis. Particularly in Syria, this transformation took place when Iran and Saudi Arabia shadily and actively intervened to hijack the genuine revolt that was initially led by the Free Syrian Army (FSA). Hence, a proxy war has been initiated in which private militias and jihadi terrorist groups are still being heavily funded, and both states are pursuing and advancing their political interests at the cost of human lives. Outrage of western powers over the alleged use of chemical weapons by Assad compelled him to surrender his weapon stockpile. Plus, gave an apparent reason to the western powers to back out from the Syrian crisis with a superficial victorious face.
Resultantly, militants flexed their muscles and this caused a spillover in Iraq as well. Also, internal differences and infighting led some jihadi groups to act independently. The most prime example is that of Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) or also known as Islamic State in Iraq and Levant (ISIL). This group used to operate under the umbrella of al-Qaeda but not anymore, because the group leader, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, rejected the orders of Ayman al-Zawahiri to operate only in Iraq and, currently, it continues to operate both in Iraq and Syria. The extremity of ISIS can be evaluated by the fact that after a power struggle between ISIS and al-Qaeda the latter had to dissociate itself from the former. Moreover, parts of northern Syria are already under the control of ISIS and, with the US troops withdrawn, weak Iraqi government and military, ISIS rebounded with robust force taking over Mosul, Tikrit, Falluja along with many other cities seizing massive caches of arms, ammunitions, large amount of money and laying siege to Iraq’s largest oil refinery. According to the sources, ISIS has now become the richest terrorist group in the world.
Such advancement has not only raised eyebrows in the Iraqi political circles, but in the White House as well. Iran has already expressed its will to assist Iraq while, on the other hand, the US is mulling options which includes airstrikes and support for the Iraqi military or Kurdistan’s army, the peshmerga. Moreover, clerics are also playing an active role in the conflict. In Iraq, Ayatollah Sistani issued a call to take up arms against ISIS militants whereas, in Syria, the Grand Mufti announced that voting for Assad was commanded by the Prophet. Since, ISIS’ militants are adherent of Sunni Islam, so once again the fight is being dubbed as a sectarian conflict between Shias and Sunnis. And, such statements by clerics will only add more fuel to the fire; let the political forces handle the crisis.
The ongoing crises in the Middle East, particularly in Iraq, bears two lessons. First, for the West; peace cannot be attained just by replacing one political actor with the other as the problem lies deep within the minds. Afghanistan can be the next Iraq. Second, for the Muslims in general, separating religion from politics will save the former, before power politics, in the name of religion and sectarianism, destroy religion. Unfortunately, a region that only had one main conflict to deal with i.e. the Arab-Israel conflict, has now fallen into an abyss of its own homegrown conflicts.