New battlefield for Kashmiri militants
With more and more Kashmiri militants shifting base to the already trouble-ridden Waziristan to join hands with the Taliban fighters, the anti-US resistance movement has been strengthened
By Amir Mir
Recent conflicting reports about the deaths of two key pro-Kashmir militant leaders in US drone attacks in the Waziristan region have confirmed a dangerous development: the trouble-stricken area has become the new battlefield for the Pakistan-based Kashmiri militants who are increasingly joining forces with anti-US and pro-Taliban jihadi elements.

Area profile
The tribal areas of Punjab are not easily accessible but are frequently used by Talibans to sneak into the settled areas of South Punjab
By Abrar Nutkani
The 5,500 sq km tribal belt of Punjab is surrounded by the country's four provinces. Originally a part of districts D G Khan and Rajanpur, it has Waziristan to its North-West, Dera Bugti and Zhob to its South-West, and on the South-East, it extends to Kashmor in Sindh. The whole area is mainly inhabited by nine tribes. The side adjacent to NWFP is controlled by Qaisrani, Buzdar and Nutkani tribes, whereas Loond, Khosa, Leghari, Dreshek and Gorchani are on the Balochistan side. The Mazari tribe touches the Sindh province.

"There are three major pockets of militancy…"
-- Muhammad Amir Rana, former journalist and noted author of The Seeds of Terrorism and Gateway to Terrorism, currently heading the Pakistan Institute of Peace Studies
By Waqar Gillani
Muhammad Amir Rana believes South Punjab is one of the major ideological sanctuaries and recruitment base of Taliban and Muslim extremists.

"Southern Punjab is the main reason you have militancy"
-- Aftab Ahmed Sherpao, head of PPP (Sherpao) and former federal Interior Minister
By Naila Inayat
The News on Sunday: In a recent report in The New York Times, explaining the attacks in Lahore and the 20-hour siege at the GHQ, you were quoted as saying, "These are all Punjabi groups with a link to South Waziristan". And, earlier you had said the same for the militants fighting in Swat. What is the source of your information?

From South to South
The strategic, geographic and strong religious roots of South Punjab connect the region with South Waziristan in nurturing militancy
Whether it is Waziristan or Punjab, 'South' seems to have a major part in nurturing militancy and extremism in Pakistan. South Waziristan, geographically linked to South Punjab via Dera Ghazi Khan, the River Indus belt and provincially administered area in the largest (population-wise) province of the country, is considered the centre of activity in the ongoing "war on terror". But from time to time, fingers are pointed at South Punjab believing it to be one of the home grounds of jihad turned militancy.

South Punjab has been found. It did exist before, doing its bit to make this world more militant, but without being noticed for a long time. The evidences were there for all to see. But no one ever pointed out. And then suddenly a sort of link was formed. The sole surviving gunman from the bloody Mumbai attacks last year came from Faidkot in Okara district.

As the country was in the grip of suicide attacks, a new pattern emerged with the attack on Sri Lankan cricket team in March this year followed by the Manawan police training academy, with gunshots and the possibility of hostage-taking. Terrorism emerging from FATA had a distinct face but these attacks were different.

Terms like Punjabi Taliban were heard in whispers even though Baitullah Mehsud claimed responsibility for the first Manawan attack. Whispers became louder and South Punjab was projected as the hotbed of militancy as another village in the Southern belt saw a sudden explosion of firearms in an ordinary teacher's house.

Equally loud were the calls of denial, about nothing unusual happening in this part of Punjab. This was the time of the Swat operation. Contrary voices were heard from NWFP that talked about launching another operation in South Punjab. This was where terrorism was originating from, these voices claimed.

Of course the seminaries, the extreme poverty and the historical profile of the region did offer some leads in that direction.

As most of the recent attacks in Punjab were confined to Lahore and Rawalpindi-Islamabad, the possibility of a collusion between the militant sectarian organisations based in Punjab and the Pakhtun Taliban was raised more frequently. No suicide attack could have been launched without a support system in place in these urban centres, which the militant sectarian organisations must have provided. The responsibility for recent attacks on GHQ and various locations in Lahore was claimed by the Amjad Farooqi group of the so-called Punjabi Taliban.

At this point, we decide to do a Special Report on the threat that South Punjab poses. We want to find out how the motives of these so-called Punjabi Taliban differ from the ones operating from FATA. We have an exclusive piece from the provincial tribal belt that links Punjab with Sindh, Balochistan and Waziristan. To conclude, it may not be a good idea to single out the threat from South Punjab because the linkages are wider and not confined to one region any more, but nor is it wiser to ignore it.

Preliminary investigations by the Pakistani authorities indicate that the terrorists who had targeted the General Headquarters of the Pakistan Army in Rawalpindi on October 10, 2009 and those involved in the October 15, 2009 multiple terrorist attacks in Lahore at three different places were in fact Punjabi Taliban belonging to at least three Sunni Deobandi sectarian-cum-jihadi organisations which are working in tandem with the Pashtun-dominated South Waziristan-based Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) to carry out joint terrorist operations in almost every nook and corner of the country.

The GHQ attack has not only highlighted the growing threat from the Waziristan-based Pashtun Taliban, but also from the Punjabi Taliban. As a matter of fact, Aqeel alias Dr Usman, the ring leader of the GHQ attackers, too happens to be a Punjabi Taliban from the Kahuta area of Rawalpindi who had been affiliated with the Army Medical Corps till 2006. According to his interrogators, in the aftermath of the July 2007 Lal Masjid operation in the heart of Islamabad, Aqeel and several other hardcore jihadi elements floated a new organisation by the name of Tehrik-e-Taliban Punjab, which is currently led by one Farooq Bhai, who had been affiliated with the Lashkar-e-Jhangvi and the Jaish-e-Mohammad in the past. The two organisations of the Punjabi and the Pashtun Taliban reportedly share a Sunni-Deobandi ideology and a common objective to wage jihad against the Pakistan Army which is siding with the forces of the infidel in the ongoing war against terror. The Punjabi-Pashtun nexus of the two Taliban organisations reportedly share each other's religious seminaries, training facilities, sanctuaries as well as jihadi cadres to carry out terrorist operations across Pakistan. However, the terrorist activities of Tehrik-e-Taliban Punjab have so far been limited to the twin cities of Rawalpindi and Islamabad as well as Lahore.

Much before the TTP henchmen targeted the GHQ building the Pakistani intelligence agencies had informed the government that some of the southern Punjab-based banned militant-cum-sectarian groups were gaining military strength, especially after joining hands with the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan. As per the intelligence information, several activists of the Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM), Lashkar-e-Jhangvi (LeJ), Sipah-e-Sahaba Pakistan (SSP) and the Harkatul Jihadul Islami (HUJI), who had taken part in the Afghan jihad, have tied up with the TTP to carry out terrorist operations against important government and security installations. The facilitators of the terrorists who targeted the provincial headquarters of the Inter Services Intelligence and the Federal Investigation Agency in Lahore recently, besides attacking the training facilities of the Punjab police as well as the Sri Lankan cricket team were all Punjabi Taliban.

South Punjab actually grabbed the attention of the intelligence agencies over the past couple of years due to involvement of the Punjabi Taliban who were arrested from different parts of the province after a spate of terrorist attacks targeting the country's security and intelligence establishment. However, two years down the road since then, the growing power of the Punjabi Taliban poses a serious threat.

While Punjab has been the hub of religious extremism and radical Islamists for long, it is the southern part of Punjab, also known as the Seraiki region, which faces the most threat serious of Talibanisation. Investigators believe local militant groups in Punjab provide logistical support and human resource to the Pashtun Taliban for carrying out their terrorist operations in Punjab.

Initially made up largely of Pashtuns, the Taliban movement in Pakistan is now largely dominated by Punjabi militant groups created by the Pakistani military and intelligence establishment with a view to 'liberate' Jammu and Kashmir. However, like Frankenstein's monster, these jihadi groups, which are mostly based in Punjab, have joined hands with the Taliban and al-Qaeda to take on their creator.

With a population of approximately 27 million, South Punjab comprises 13 districts: Multan, Bahawalpur, Rahimyar Khan, Jhang, Layyah, Lodhran, Khanewal, Muzaffargarh, Bahawalnagar, Rajanpur, Bhakkar, Vehari and Dera Ghazi Khan. The investigators believe that local militant groups in Punjab provide logistical support and human resource to the Pashtun Taliban for carrying out their terrorist operations in Punjab. But fresh recruits for most of the Sunni Deobandi sectarian-cum-militant jihadi groups come from the religious seminaries of Jhang, Dera Ghazi Khan, Multan, Bahawalnagar, Bahawalpur and Muzaffargarh.

Once indoctrinated at these religious seminaries, the young madrassa students from Punjab are taken to the terrorist training camps in the country's Pashtun tribal belt. According to rough estimates, over five thousand youngsters from the religious seminaries of southern and northern Punjab Province have reportedly moved to South and North Waziristan in the backdrop of the Lal Masjid operation. Once they completed their military training, these youngsters eventually proved themselves to be valuable partners for the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan, keeping in view their first hand knowledge of the important urban centres of Punjab, such as Lahore, Rawalpindi and Islamabad. These very elements have apparently let loose a reign of terror in both the federal capital Islamabad and the provincial capital Lahore by launching unprecedented fidayeen attacks on key military and police installations.

Despite reports regarding the existence of Tehrik-e-Taliban Punjab, analysts say the existing network of the Punjabi Taliban lacks any organisation or command structure and operates as a loose network of elements from distinct jihadi and sectarian organisations, including Sipah-e-Sahaba Pakistan (SSP) led by Maulana Mohammad Ahmed Ludhianvi, Lashkar-e-Jhangvi (LeJ) currently led by Qari Mohammad Zafar, Jaish-e-Muhammad (JeM) led by Maulana Masood Azhar, Jamaatul Furqan, the splinter group of the Jaish, led by Maulana Abdul Jabbar and both the Azad Kashmir and the Pakistan chapters of the Harkatul Jihadul Islami (HUJI), led by Commander Ilyas Kashmiri and Qari Saifullah Akhtar respectively. They further believe that the purpose of undertaking terrorist operations under the name of the Punjabi Taliban is to have the freedom to operate without the level of command and control inherent when working for the more established militant outfits.

A careful scrutiny of newspaper files show that the term Punjabi Taliban was first used for ethnic Punjabis affiliated with the Harkatul Jihadul Islami of Qari Saifullah Akhtar, once he had reached Kandahar along with his fellow jihadis after being freed by the Pakistani authorities, following the dismissal of the second Bhutto government in November 1996. Qari had been arrested for plotting to take over the General Headquarters of the Pakistan Army in Rawalpindi during the Corps Commanders Conference and later overthrow the Benazir government to eventually enforce their own brand of Islamic Shariah in Pakistan. However, after the dismissal of the Bhutto government, Qari Saifullah Akhtar was released. He went to Afghanistan and was inducted into the cabinet of the Taliban Ameer Mullah Mohammad Omar as his advisor on political affairs.

Once in Afghanistan, the militants of Qari's HUJI were called Punjabi Taliban and offered employment, something that other jihadi organisations could not get from Mullah Omar.

Interestingly, three ministers in the Taliban regime and 22 judges of the superior courts also belonged to the HUJI, whose militants are known to have supported Mullah Omar in difficult times. At least 300 HUJI militants lost their lives while fighting the Northern Alliance troops, prompting Mullah Omar to give HUJI the permission to build six more training camps in Kandahar, Kabul and Khost, where the Taliban army also used to receive military training. Before the 9/11 attacks and the subsequent invasion ofAfghanistan, the HUJI had branch offices in 40 districts across Pakistan. While funds were collected from these grass-root offices and from foreign sources, the Harkat had accounts in two branches of the Allied Bank in Islamabad.

While HUJI's Pakistan chapter is led by Qari Saifullah Akhtar, its Azad Kashmir chapter is autonomous and headed by Commander Ilyas Kashmiri, a veteran of the Kashmir jihad who is considered to be one of the most dangerous al-Qaeda-linked Pakistani commanders. No. 4 on the Pakistani Interior Ministry's Most Wanted list, Kashmiri had spent several years in an Indian jail before escaping. He was then arrested by the Pakistani authorities following the December 2003 twin suicide attacks on General Musharraf's presidential cavalcade in Rawalpindi. However, Kashmiri was set free in February 2004 on the intervention of the United Jihad Council's chief, Syed Salahuddin. He later shifted base to the North Waziristan region on the Pak-Afghan tribal belt and joined hands with Commander Baitullah Mehsud.

Having switched from the freedom struggle in Jammu and Kashmir to the Taliban-led resistance against the NATO forces in Afghanistan, Kashmiri established a training camp in the Razmak area of Waziristan and shifted most of his warriors from his Kotli training camp in Azad Kashmir. In May 2009, Kashmiri was accused of plotting the assassination of Army Chief General Ashfaq Kayani, in collusion with al-Qaeda. In September 2009, Kashmiri was reportedly killed in a US predator strike in South Waziristan but he reappeared almost a month later in October to belie official claims of his death, besides vowing retribution against the US and its proxies. As things stand, both the Punjabi Taliban leaders of the HUJI -- Ilyas Kashmiri and Saifullah Akhtar -- are reportedly operating from South Waziristan and carrying out joint terrorist operations in Punjab with the help of their fellow militants from Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan.

These jihadis (from South Punjab) are not forced into war like those in FATA and Afghanistan and they also have no ethnic affiliation with FATA and Afghanistan; they are motivated purely on the basis of ideology.

That makes it very difficult to break their resolve to fight. They have been working to use state as a platform for the extension and protection of the Ummah.

Between 3,000 and 8,000 jihadists from Southern Punjab are fighting in Afghanistan or FATA. Madrassas in South Punjab have been playing a very important role in inculcating the ideology of jihad among the area's youth. They should be called 'Salafist jihadists' rather than Punjabi Taliban. They are different groups working for one purpose. Their immediate issue is American invasion in Afghanistan and Pakistan government's actions against the activity of TTP. They want the state of Pakistan to follow the 'right path' and help the jihadis to fight their war against the enemies of Islam.

I don't see a big shift in the establishment's policy towards them. To use the jihadi organisations in Kashmir is a strategic option for our establishment.

"How can you say their motivation in the 1980s was right but it is wrong now?"

General (retd) Hameed Gul

Former DG ISI

The Pakistani agencies fought a war of survival in Afghanistan in the 1980s. At that time they were fighting for their Afghani brethren because a more powerful and aggressive country had attacked them. The same is the case today. The ground is the same, the level of aggression is the same, so how can we say that their motivation in the 1980s was right but it is wrong now.

I am sure the issue of South Punjab's jihadi organisations is being highlighted by the West as well as India to engage Pakistan army internally.

I know for a fact that most jihadis in Kashmir came from Central Punjab and not South. The West and India together want the Pakistan Army to kill its friends. The mujahideen have already announced that if India attacks Pakistan, they will fight against it along with the army. They are attacking security forces just to make them realise that they have been helping the infidels and killing Muslims for the sake of American interests.

I don't believe the establishment can make a major policy shift on the issue of jihadis. Can you scratch out Kashmir or jihad from the minds of the Pakistanis? Nobody can do that because we have been in a state of war with Hindus for centuries and jihad is the best answer to their tyrannies in Kashmir.

"There is clear evidence that extremists are out to destroy Pakistan"

Dr Pervez Hoodbhoy

Defence analyst

Although Pakistan is fighting a battle for survival, these influential forces still dream of acquiring strategic depths and continue to believe that somehow America and India are behind all of Pakistan's problems. That is why Punjabi or, in some cases, the Pashtun Taliban are still being tolerated and the South Waziristan operation is being opposed, although there is a clear evidence that the extremists are out to destroy Pakistan.

"After the Lal Masjid

massacre, their goals have changed"

Anonymous

Ex-jihadi from South Punjab

The primary objective of jihadi organisations is to establish an Islamic state on the lines of the Caliphate, quite like the one they established in Afghanistan. But after the Lal Masjid massacre, their goals have changed in the sense that they now want to teach a lesson to the Pakistan security forces which were involved in killing of innocent girls and boys (at Lal Masjid). They also want freedom for their jailed leaders like Omer Sheikh, Akram Lahori and Haji Ishaq.

The South Punjab-based jihadi organisation has decades-old relationship with their counterparts in Afghanistan and FATA. They are very close to each other because they follow the same ideology. They want to spread the Deobandi ideology. Their agenda is not restricted to Pakistan; in fact, they want to spread their belief around the world. Many retired security officials still help mujahideen in their different tasks.

The links of jihadi organisations from Punjab with the establishment is no secret. The organisations have been using each other for their own gains.

-- As told to Aoun Sahi

Recent conflicting reports about the deaths of two key pro-Kashmir militant leaders in US drone attacks in the Waziristan region have confirmed a dangerous development: the trouble-stricken area has become the new battlefield for the Pakistan-based Kashmiri militants who are increasingly joining forces with anti-US and pro-Taliban jihadi elements.

First such death -- that of Rashid Rauf, a British terror plot suspect belonging to the Jaish-e-Mohammad in North Waziristan in a US predator attack along with two other Most Wanted al-Qaeda comrades (Abu Nasr Al-Misri and Abu Zubair Al-Masri) -- was reported by the international media in November 2008. However, almost four months later, in April 2009, the British authorities sought intelligence cooperation from the Pakistani agencies for the arrest and extradition of Rashid Rauf, saying the previous assessment about his death had now been revised in view of some latest credible intelligence information.

Actually a British national of the Pakistani origin and in charge of al-Qaeda's external operations branch responsible for attacks in Europe, Rashid Rauf happens to be the brother-in-law of one of Maulana Masood Azhar's younger brothers.

The second such death -- that of Ilyas Kashmiri, chief of the Azad Kashmir chapter of the Harkatul Jihadul Islami -- was reported by the international media in another US drone attack in North Waziristan in September 2009. He was reportedly killed along with Nazimuddin Zalalov alias Yahyo, a top al-Qaeda leader belonging to the Islamic Jihad of Uzbekistan. But almost a month later, Ilyas Kashmiri refuted reports of his death in an October 13, 2009 newspaper interview besides vowing retribution against the United States and its proxies.

The Pakistani authorities say the militants belonging to Ilyas Kashmiri's HUJI and Baitullah Mehsud's TTP had jointly carried out some major terror operations in different parts of the country besides sponsoring the multi-pronged suicide attack.

Well-placed intelligence circles believe it was actually the changing government policy on Kashmir that forced many of the Kashmiri militant groups to gradually migrate their fighters to tribal areas of North and South Waziristan on the restive Pak-Afghan border. Information collected by the Pakistani authorities indicates the presence of fighters belonging to at least four Kashmiri militant groups -- Harkatul Jihadul Islami (HUJI), led by Maulana Ilyas Kashmiri; Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM), led by Maulana Masood Azhar; Harkatul Mujahideen (HuM), led by Pir Syed Salahuddin and Jamaatul Furqaan (JuF), led by Maulana Abdul Jabbar.

Besides the HUJI and the JeM, the third Pakistan-based Kashmiri militant group having presence in the Waziristan region is the Hizbul Mujahideen (HuM) or the Party of Freedom Fighters, which is considered the mother of ongoing militancy in Jammu and Kashmir.

On September 11, 2008, the Afghanistan-based American forces targeted with a missile an alleged training camp of Al-Badar, a Kashmiri militant group which was being aided by the Hizb-e-Islami. Unmanned Predator aircraft reportedly launched several missiles at a target in the Miramshah area of North Waziristan, killing 12 members of Al-Badar.

Much before that, the international media had reported the arrest of three Hizbul Mujahideen cadres at Tank near South Waziristan on March 28, 2006 carrying explosives and ammunition. Senior Superintendent of Police Dar Ali Khattak told media people that the three were on their way from South Waziristan in a vehicle when they were apprehended at a checkpoint in Tank. However, the then Hizb spokesperson Saleem Hashmi maintained that the allegation that the group cadres were roaming around the tribal areas bordering Afghanistan was an attempt to blacken the name of the Kashmiri fighters.

The fourth Kashmiri militant group having presence in the Waziristan region is Jamaatul Furqan, the splinter group of Jaish-e-Mohammad, led by Maulana Abdul Jabbar. He had been involved in the Kashmir jihad as a Jaish commander who was arrested repeatedly after 9/11 by the Pakistani authorities on terrorism charges but set free each time after brief detention. He, too, has reportedly shifted to Waziristan, becoming part of a militant training camp to fight in Afghanistan.

With more and more Kashmiri militants shifting their base to the already trouble-ridden Waziristan to join hands with the Taliban fighters, the anti-US resistance movement has been gradually strengthened.

Area profile

The 5,500 sq km tribal belt of Punjab is surrounded by the country's four provinces. Originally a part of districts D G Khan and Rajanpur, it has Waziristan to its North-West, Dera Bugti and Zhob to its South-West, and on the South-East, it extends to Kashmor in Sindh. The whole area is mainly inhabited by nine tribes. The side adjacent to NWFP is controlled by Qaisrani, Buzdar and Nutkani tribes, whereas Loond, Khosa, Leghari, Dreshek and Gorchani are on the Balochistan side. The Mazari tribe touches the Sindh province.

Under this tribal belt lies a vast plain which is crossed by River Indus and enters deep into Punjab's settled areas. An old route comprises Adam Khel Pass, Waziristan and Qaisrani, which has for decades been used for drugs and arms trafficking. Now the same route is frequently used by the Talibans to sneak into the settled areas of South Punjab.

The area's local residents often host these unfamiliar people -- ostensibly foreigners from Central Asia. This promises them easy and relatively lucrative income. Also, they are impressed with the foreigners who carry sophisticated weapons -- weapons have always been a symbol of prestige in the area.

For the past many years, this passage has seen the mushroom growth of seminaries. Often big buildings are converted into seminaries belonging to Deobandis. Highly active and eloquent seminary teachers allure naïve and simple minds. They train these simpletons to become fierce mercenaries to serve some ulterior designs. The practice is rapidly amassing a large-sized army.

Apart from the tribal area, other parts of Punjab adjacent to tribal belt are also becoming host to dubious activities. A large number of seminaries promoting Deobandi thought have been established, especially in Tehsil Taunsa. Poor people, who are admitted to these seminaries to acquire religious education, are trained as mercenaries in NWFP. That's how these Talibans are enhancing their influence unobtrusively in the area.

A majority of people belonging to Qaisrani tribe lives in the mountains without any shelter. They drink contaminated water. The underground water reservoirs have crude oil traces which again cannot be used for drinking. There's little food available to them to eat -- in winters, they survive on loaves made from dry berries, and in summers, live on different seasonal fruits.

Perhaps it is due to the inaccessibility of the area that almost half of the local population is not registered. Educational and medical facilities are non-existent. The Punjab government has established check-posts on the borders of Punjab and NWFP, but the officials often hesitate to get them posted there.

After the initiation of the Waziristan operation, the path which was seen as impassable has been serving as a main route for Pathans who have been coming to settle in Tehsil Taunsa and in its suburbs.

The District Police Officer and the District Administration disclaim any underground activities, but it is common knowledge that a lot is brewing there. The local population is visibly alarmed by the unregulated activities of infiltrators which would possibly invite US strikes.

At the same time the anti-US emotions are very high in the area, people are convinced that US is responsible for the turbulent condition in Pakistan. It's therefore much-needed that the government should take immediate steps to launch development projects in the area as it has large reserves of uranium, natural gas and other valuable minerals.

Muhammad Amir Rana believes South Punjab is one of the major ideological sanctuaries and recruitment base of Taliban and Muslim extremists.

"The problem lies down South where the ally groups of Taliban are based," says the former journalist and noted author of The Seeds of Terrorism and Gateway to Terrorism, talking to TNS.

Currently heading the Pakistan Institute of Peace Studies (PIPS), "This is one of their main recruitment regions as it has an obvious influence of madrassas, lack of education, unemployment, poverty et al.

"Radicalisation and the recruitment patterns are observed in other areas of the country as well, especially in Central Punjab in cities like Faisalabad and Jhang."

When asked as to why is South Punjab especially highlighted as the training ground of extremist elements, Amir quotes the example of Qari Saifulalh, Amjad Farooqi, Ilyas Kashmiri and others, saying most Pakistani Taliban came from South Punjab. "When the leadership is from a specific area it ought to influence the people around which serves to expand the infrastructure in these areas also, and ultimately these areas come into the limelight."

He adds, "There are three major pockets of militancy in Pakistan which also find sympathisers across the country. Waziristan is one such region where they enjoy all the training facilities and the freedom to operate and collaborate. Then, Karachi is known as a major source of their funding, chiefly foreign funding; and, South Punjab is considered to be a pool of human resource."

However, Amir doesn't find the idea that there would be training camps in Southern Punjab similar to those in Waziristan as quite plausible. "But we can say they have ideological camps here and jihad is an essential part of their indoctrination." The militants recruit the youth from all over the country using the influence of these radical madrassas.

According to Amir, the influence of Taliban is not growing as fast as it is being made out to be, especially in Punjab. "But, in order to avoid the threat, which may become potential if looked over, the government will have to act right now. It should take serious action instead of just repeating the rhetoric that it will obliterate all extremists from the face of the earth."

For an effective operation, he says the need is to work on solid evidence; "making arrests or apprehensions of 'suspected' elements and recovering weapons from them is not enough. A proper strategy at both federal and provincial level is required to improve the situation.

"We need effective policing at the Punjab border with clear monitoring instead of any massive operation. Secondly, we need to engage the local political leadership in order to tackle the issue politically."

Amir also talks about engaging the influential feudal for the promotion of a soft and positive image of Islam "through Sufism."

As regards the Provincially Administered Tribal Area (PATA), Amir says there is a growing realisation among the people (of PATA) that the government cannot do much. "As per our information, the PATA locals are also forming Lashkars (private armies) in their areas to fight militancy.

"The government should adopt a comprehensive policy to counter the madrassa radicalisation by effectively spreading general education and awareness and introducing reforms in these areas. This requires a lot of financial investment, too."

The News on Sunday: In a recent report in The New York Times, explaining the attacks in Lahore and the 20-hour siege at the GHQ, you were quoted as saying, "These are all Punjabi groups with a link to South Waziristan". And, earlier you had said the same for the militants fighting in Swat. What is the source of your information?

Aftab Sherpao: There is a nexus between al-Qaeda, Taliban and militants, meaning Pakhtun militants or Punjabi militants. They have a common agenda to make an Islamic emirate -- or whatever they like to call it -- so they are fighting for this agenda. These Punjabi militants were there in Swat and continued fighting for some time.

TNS: As interior minister did you have evidence of Taliban presence in the Southern Punjab?

AS: Yes, we did have some solid ground information of their activities in that region. They don't have any problem communicating with the groups in tribal areas. They can move freely back and forth in these areas and they can even contribute to their cause.

See, Southern Punjab is the main reason why you have all this militancy. Even in Afghanistan, the militants from South Punjab had gone there to fight alongside Taliban and after 9/11 so many were arrested from the same area. The entire belt from Toba Tek Singh, Mailsi, Jhang, D G Khan, Layyah, Bhawalpur, Multan, Bhawalnagar and Rahim Yar Khan has the maximum number of madrassas. For example, the recent explosion in Sahiwal district in a girls' madrassa; there was ammunition stored in the madrassa.

The top leadership of the militants is from South Punjab and the feudalistic equation of community is suppressing the people there. Poverty in the villages of South is far greater than what you see in Balochistan or NWFP. This makes it a breeding ground for militants. Due to a lack of resources, the people give over their sons to the madrassas initiating them in the system. I'm not saying that it's only Southern Punjab, even districts like Attock and Rawalpindi are sensitive in that sense.

TNS: As federal minister and having your own government in Punjab then, what steps did you take to curb these militant activities?

AS: The Punjab government remained in a state of denial and they even tried to justify there was nothing in those areas instead of knowing the root cause. Suicide bombers can't work without local help; if they didn't have local facilitators they wouldn't be able to operate in the area. Then and even now, anywhere in the country, whenever a suicide incident happens, the government withdraws into the denial mode.

TNS: What do you think are the reasons for this 'denial', so to say?

AS: You see, if I am the chief minister of a province, I would say nothing is happening in my province. The federal ministers belonging to the ruling party would say, "Oh there is nothing going on in Punjab," showing Punjabi chauvinism and putting the blame on Waziristan every time. The moment the incident takes place, fingers are pointed towards Wana without any solid evidence.

In the first Manawan case, the federal interior minister said it was Waziristan. A few days later, the CCPO of Lahore said he feared Indian involvement, whereas other circles thought it was one of the jihadi groups, because the modus operandi was not Wana-specific.

TNS: What should be the government's strategy with reference to the recent military operation in Waziristan vis-à-vis South Punjab?

AS: I don't think the foreigners would be able to run away from the region. But the bordering districts of Layyah, Rajanpur, etc have to be focused. This is not a conventional war -- sealing the border with the police is not the answer. It is the proactive intelligence that wins wars for you.

In the US, you have homeland security that oversees the entire security; in UK they have separate special counterinsurgency security, so you need special training for all this.

Whether it is Waziristan or Punjab, 'South' seems to have a major part in nurturing militancy and extremism in Pakistan. South Waziristan, geographically linked to South Punjab via Dera Ghazi Khan, the River Indus belt and provincially administered area in the largest (population-wise) province of the country, is considered the centre of activity in the ongoing "war on terror". But from time to time, fingers are pointed at South Punjab believing it to be one of the home grounds of jihad turned militancy.

There has been solid evidence of involvement of Punjabi groups, belonging to the southern part of the province, in the attack on Sri Lankan cricket team in Lahore in March 2008, the Manawan Police Training School, Lahore, ambush during the same month, the Marriott Hotel attack in Islamabad, and attacks in Rawalpindi. These deadly attacks escalated after 2007. This was the time when the national press was also reporting deaths of militants from Punjab -- "Punjabi Taliban", so to say -- in various drone strikes in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA).

There are strategic, geographic, religious and socio-economic reasons why South Punjab is associated with militancy. Voices have been raised for years that these madrassas are an ideological support and work as human resource and recruitment bases for jihadis.

Historically, this is the area where 'Islamic movements' began in Pakistan, including the Majlis-e-Ahrar campaign against Ahmadis in 1950s, says Dr Tahir Kamran, professor of history in Government College University, in one of his research paper.

He also writes that the Deobandi school of thought spread its madrassa network in South Punjab soon after Pakistan was formed. These seminaries were replacements of Deobandi seminaries left in India after the Indo-Pak partition. There are big seminaries of Deobandis in Multan, Rahim Yar Khan, Dera Ghazi Khan, Khanewal, Rajan Pur and Bahawalpur areas of South Punjab, which have been working as the breeding ground of jihadis. These Deobandi networks in Punjab, which have turned violent lately, were actually nurtured in Deobandi madrassas network -- the largest network of seminaries in Pakistan -- during the General Ziaul Haq regime in 1977-1988. These seminaries have always exploited the socio-economic situation of the areas and extreme poverty in the name of Islam where the poor parents send their kids to madrassas for free educations, food and boarding etc.

According to a Pakistan Institute of Peace Studies report, out of the 12,000 registered seminaries in Punjab, more than 7,000 are in South Punjab's three divisions D G Khan, Multan, and Bahawalpur.

The geographical location also allows militants to make easy inroads into the area. Dera Ghazi Khan, which connects Punjab with four provinces, has a major boundary shared with FATA through its Tehsil Taunsa and PATA (Provincially Administered Tribal Areas). Bhakkar and Layyah, two other districts in South Punjab, are also connected with Dera Ismail Khan leading towards the war zone in Tank and Wana.

Historically, South Punjab has produced a greater number of militants because of the presence of the top freedom fighters in Kashmir and Afghanistan from the area, such as Maulana Masood Azhar (most wanted by India), Qari Saifullah Akhtar who went on to join Mullah Omar in Afghanistan in the 1990s, Ilyas Kashmiri, Amjad Farooqi and so on.

The area is known for violent and jihadi organisations, mostly belonging to Deobandis, such as Sipah-e-Sahaba Pakistan, Harkatul-Ansar, Harkatul Jihad-al Islami, Jaish-e-Muhammad, Lashkar-e-Jhangvi, and so on. Though all these organisations were banned during Pervez Musharraf regime, after the ban and the starting of the war on terror, these organisations have allegedly been supporting the Taliban. It is also said that they are working in small groups headed by "individuals". These groups help Taliban in operational networking. These organisations, previously, have also been openly or secretly involved in sectarian violence in Pakistan. This was to counter Shia strongholds in South Punjab -- in cities like Khanewal, Bhakkar and Jhang. If the Shias were in majority in Bhakkar, the Sipah-e-Sahaba made the adjacent district Layyah its stronghold and operational unit.

Former top man of Punjab police, Tariq Pervez, who now heads the National Counterterrorism Authority (NACTA), mentions in a report that in Taliban "the ideas, logistics and cash come from the gulf. Veteran Punjabi extremists plot the attacks, while the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan provides the martyrs."

Recent intelligence reports provided to the Punjab government hint at Southern Punjab as a potential security threat. Although the reports do not put it down to Taliban presence but they acknowledge a threat of extremism in areas of South Punjab and propose a timely action.

A similar report was presented before the Punjab cabinet in May 2009. The report indicated poverty-stricken, illiterate, feudalistic and staunchly religious population could be a shelter and helping hand to Taliban, proposing the government to improve governance, establish the writ of the state and sincerely make madrassa reforms and education reforms in the area. The most difficult task is to get rid of these ideological sanctuaries and to change the mindset of the people.

-- Waqar Gillani

vaqargillani@gmail.com