International Civil Liberties Alliance:
Our friends in Pakistan at the FarrukhSaif Foundation made us aware of the following developments in Pakistan. These developments have huge implications for human rights in the Indian Subcontinent in particular. They are also likely to have a broader strategic impact that will likely have human rights implications across a much wider area.
Ready or not they are coming: By Farrukh Harrison Saif
South Asia: Pakistani intelligence agencies have warned the provincial governments and other law and enforcement agencies regarding the mounting threat from the ISIS militants. Recently a secret document was leaked in which Pakistani Agencies were sending information about the ISIS (Daish) activities in Pakistan.
According to the letter, dated 31st October, Daish or ISIS has recruited 10,000 to 12,000 fighters from the Hangu district of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Kurram tribal district in FATA. In that letter it is also mentioned that ISIS has offered some banned Islamic organizations like Lashkar-e-Jhangvi (LeJ) and Ahl-e-Sunnat Wal Jamat (ASWJ) to join hands in Pakistan. Both of these organizations are Anti-Shia like ISIS. ISIS (Daish) has also formed 10-members Strategic Planning Wing, which will target the Army installations in Pakistan as Pakistani Army is working hard to eliminate these terrorists from the North of Pakistan.
Moreover, Pakistani Military Intelligence revealed that there are more than 370 ISIS terrorists in Pakistan and the majority of them have made their strongholds in Karachi and Southern Punjab.Different media groups are revealing that hundreds of Islamists are joining ISIS in Punjab and currently five top ISIS commanders have shifted to Lahore from Karachi and all of them are Australian Nationals.
Pakistan is currently going through the hard time in its history , religious extremism is at its height and if, as with this situation, terrorist organizations like ISIS made their strong hold in Pakistan, then religious Minorities and Moderate Muslims will be in great tribulation.
Altaf Hussain, the Chief of MQM, is the only person who raised this issue in public on the same day when this report was leaked.
A few weeks ago six of the top Pakistani Taliban’s commanders announced that they would ally with ISIS. Taliban spokesman Shahidullah Shahid said that he, along with five other commanders, has accepted the leadership of Al-Baghdadi, chief of the Islamic State or ISIS or IS. He further stated that he will obey all the orders of Abu Bakar Al-Baghdadi by any means.
Shahidullah further stated that:
Mullah Fazlullah will support ISIS but he still owes adherence to Mullah Omer, the chief of the Afghan Taliban, who is aligned to al-Qaeda. Whereas I and my other five associated commanders have accepted the leadership of Al-Baghdadi. He also announced the names of his associates who joined ISIS, Orakzai Agency Chief Saeed Khan, Kurram Agency Chief Daulat Khan, Khyber Agency Chief Fateh Gul Zaman, Peshawar Chief Mufti Hassan and Hangu chief Khalid Mansoor.
Less than a week after Taliban spokesmen announced their loyalty to Abu Bakr Al Baghdadi, another associated group of Al-Qaeda namely Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan (IMU) announces their joining with ISIS as well.(IMU, is an Uzbek-led militant group of Central Asians).
The IMU leader Usman Ghazi, in his official statement greeted ISIS leader Abu Bakr Al Baghdadi’s decision to declare a caliphate. In this same statement he congratulated all Muslims with the restoration of the long-awaited Islamic state.As ISIS is getting control in major cities in Syria and Iraq, most of the Pakistani, Afghani, Arab as well as Uzbek fighters have started thinking to join them.
Even in September John Simpson (World Affairs Editor of BBC News ) wrote in his article that “Fighters from a militant Islamic group in Afghanistan, allied to the Taliban, have told the BBC that they are considering joining forces with Islamic State (ISIS).
This has also been observed that hundreds of fighters from Pakistan and Afghanistan joined ISIS through Saudi Arabia. ISIS is getting favor around the world as in the war to become the superpower in the world of militancy, ISIS appears to winning the hearts and minds of a new generation militants with its ruthless quest for the Caliphate, theatrical territorial gains and persistent propaganda.
The new generation of militants appears to be more involved in action than lectures. Al Qaeda soldiers from around the world are joining ISIS. As for them Abu Bakr Al Baghdadi is fighting against the apostates and establishing a new Caliphate.
If the Pakistani and Afghanistan Talibans and mainstream leaders of Al-Qaeda network joins ISIS then Pakistan will be in terrible situation. Liberals, moderates and minorities in Pakistan will be cut into pieces by these monsters, just as happening in Syria and Iraq . Furthermore minorities may be forced to pay the Jizzya or provide their wife or daughter as booty to Jihadists and moderate Muslims will be forced to give their daughters as well for Jihad-ul-Nakkah. We all know that Pakistan has been home to International terrorists including Al-Qaeda and the Talibans. Even the mastermind of 9/11 was arrested in Pakistan and Bin Laden, the head of Al-Qaeda was killed there. Militants were kept as an important component of Pakistan Foreign policy. Many Islamist militants were created and controlled by the Pakistani authorities. Even Former Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari, and Gen. Pervaiz Musharraf, had to admit that terrorist outfits were “deliberately created” and looked after by previous governments as a policy to achieve some short-term strategic objectives.
In the 1950s The Pakistani government started inserting Islamists associated with Jamaat-e-Islami into Afghanistan. In 1974 Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto created an organization to manage and control dissident Islamists in Afghanistan. Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto instructed the Army Intelligence of Pakistan to begin organizing an Islamist resistance into manageable groups.
When General Zia ul Haq seized power in Pakistan in 1977, he made every possible effort to make Pakistan a pure Shariah state. However he began pressing the USA for the support as the Soviet Union became more violent in Afghanistan.
After 1982 American and Saudi money was flowing like water into Pakistan and hundreds of madrasas were established around the country to train and welcome the Mujahideens from all over the world. By this time Jamaat-e-Islami became important in the promotion of the new political Islam in Afghanistan and Pakistan.
This entire situation created unrest in Pakistani society. Christians and other religious minorities were caught in a grave situation, with gory incidents occurring. A wild wave of sectarianism had overwhelmed the society; religious intolerance is suffocating the lives of Innocents.
Religious extremism has grown beyond all proportions; If in this situation where Christians, Shia and other minorities are persecuted every day in Pakistan, if control is established by the ISIS, then Christianity and other religious minorities will be cast out of Pakistan just like they have been in Syria and Iraq.
It’s a time to decide this land called Pakistan is safe for our families? Even this is the responsibility of International community to Stand with the Persecuted religious Communities of Pakistan before it too late.