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COVERSTORY: INDO-PAK SPECIAL
CAN MUSHARRAF REIN IN JEHADIS?
 By
Khaled Ahmed
The General has the extremists-on both sides of the border-well
in hand as he has the ISI. But they will be beyond his control once the
Kashmir dispute is solved.
He can. Otherwise
it was no use Vajpayee talking to him. On June 27, all the major religious
leaders fielding strong militias in Kashmir met him and endorsed his visit.
Among them was Qazi Hussain Ahmad, head of the Jamaat-e-Islami. Two others
flanked Musharraf during namaz that day. Maulana Samiul Haq and Maulana
Fazlur Rehman symbolise the Deobandi monopoly over jehad. Rehman, who
had earlier called the Musharraf regime "American" was smiling
and calling for a cease-fire with India. Apex Muttahida Jehad Council
reacted negatively, only to fall in line the very next day.
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ON GUARD: Harkat-ul Mujahideen office in Muzaffarabad
in POK
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The religious-jehadi parties who had cursed "soft"
civilian leaders in the past have supported Musharraf's attempt to talk
to India. This consensus indicates the control the Inter-Services Intelligence
(ISI) exercises over the religious warriors. The ISI has always existed
in a legal penumbra. Is it civilian or military? The question put to the
Supreme Court in the Najam Sethi case is unanswered. Often in conflict
with its civilian bosses, it is in lock-step with Musharraf-not least
because most of the army brass, barring Musharraf himself, is ex-ISI.
Remember Azhar Masud and his wild Jaish-e-Muhammad?
After he shot off his mouth following his release from India, he was brought
to heel and confined to Bahawalpur. The great Harkat-ul Mujahideen, arisen
from the ashes of Harkat-ul Ansar, was split in 2000 and tamed. Musharraf
may have started weak but he has consolidated himself within the army.
On June 5, he was able to castigate the corrupt jehadis in his speech
to a tame clergy on the Prophet's birthday. A writer working in a state-run
think tank commented: "Musharraf has set the record straight. The
so-called Islamic warriors are essentially paper tigers, propped up by
vested interests."
Infiltration into Kashmir can be stopped if
the Pakistan Army removes its covering fire across the Line of Control.
The jehad inside Kashmir is the domain of the Hizb-ul-Mujahideen. That
Musharraf can actually control that jehad too was proved in 2000. Now
he has extracted the approval of a divided Hurriyat Conference. As Vajpayee
rolls the dice with Musharraf, he will be conscious of the General's ability
to switch off the jehad at will.
What Musharraf, or anyone after him, will not
be able to handle is the rolling back of jehad after the Kashmir dispute
is resolved, and restoring the writ of the state. Jehadis sit on top of
Pakistan's beleaguered civil society and they will not be disarmed. But
he may not be faced with that challenge just yet. India is referring to
Kashmir as an ANG or a part of its body which cannot be amputated. Pakistan
goes one better in this unhappy anatomical analogy. It terms Kashmir its
shahrag (jugular vein).
(The author is the deputy editor of Friday Times,
Lahore)
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