Geopolitics

The AQIS Call – Mirrors Pakistan’s ISI
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Issue Net Edition | Date : 08 Jul , 2016

The historical basis of the ISI’s confidence flows from the fact that both the US and China used Pakistan for creating the Taliban and Al Qaeda and the US gave Pakistani regulars and Taliban safe exit from Afghanistan during the US invasion. Proxies of Pakistan continue to be used in the Great Game. That is why Mussharaf confidently says, “Osama-bin-Laden, Ayman-al-Zhaveri, Haqqanis are our heroes ….. We trained the LeT against India”.

…the Haqqani Network based in Pakistan past 30 years itself is Al Qaeda, as acknowledged by US scholars and being used not only as a crucial anti-India asset in Afghanistan but also against US and Afghan security forces.

When Asim Umar was appointed the AQIS South Asia head by Al Qaeda  chief Ayman al-Zawahiri in September 2014, it not only denoted the Pakistani connection, it obviously was on the recommendation and behest of Pakistan’s ISI. After all the finesses with which Osama bin-Laden was kept in a safe house for years in Abbotabad right under the noses of US-NATO forces searching for him in Afghanistan, was well-planned investment for future dividend. It is unclear if the CIA was aware of Osama’s whereabouts but Benazir Bhutto from abroad had certainly given a broad hint by saying Osama bin-Laden was perhaps in Musharraf’s backyard. But then the Haqqani Network based in Pakistan past 30 years itself is Al Qaeda, as acknowledged by US scholars and being used not only as a crucial anti-India asset in Afghanistan but also against US and Afghan security forces.

Getting back to Asim Umar, his birthplace remains a mystery, some suggesting Uttar Pradesh in India where he attended the Darul Uloom Deoband seminary before migrating to Pakistan in 1990s. In Pakistan, he studied at the Jamia-ul-Islamia in Karachi and later at the Darul Uloom Haqqani in Khyber Pakhtunwala (KPK). Darul Uloom Haqqani is also known as the ‘University of Jihad’ where notorious radicals like Mullah Mansour Akhtar and Sirajuddin Haqqani have been past alumni.

Significantly, simultaneous to the recent US announcement of giving $800 million to Pakistan, Pakistan announced grant of Rs 300 million to Darul Uloom Haqqania for year 2016-2017.

Asim Umar had reportedly joined Harkat-ul-Jihad (HUJI) after he travelled to Afghanistan and met Osama bin-Laden. Later, Asim Umar facilitated bin Laden’s move to the safe-house in Abbotabad, Pakistan where he lived undetected for years before US forces killed him. HUJI during that time had branches in Kashmir, Bangladesh and Myanmar. So, it is no surprise that Zawahiri picked up Asim Umar to head AQIS, South Asia especially after he appeared prominently in Tahrik-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) propaganda videos post the Lal Masjid incident and later headed Al Qaeda’s Sharia Committee in Pakistan.

The history of communal riots for political gains is pathetic in our country… and some political leaders even travelling to Pakistan and shamelessly calling for support to dislodge the Prime Minister of India.

Through a recent audio message (simultaneous to a written release from Pakistan titled ‘No to the Slogan of Disbelief’) Asim Umar has purportedly given a call urging Muslims in India to undertake ‘lone wolf’ attacks to target senior IPS and IAS officers, saying Indian Muslims must follow the example of youths in Europe and strike against Indian police and senior officials. According to him, senior government officials should be held responsible for communal violence, adding that the state and its departments were equally responsible for the incidents against Muslims in India and senior officials must be targeted to cause financial loss to the government and start riots in the country.

This last sentence is tad intriguing because targeting senior officials to cause financial loss to the government doesn’t gel albeit riots following such killing (s) certainly would. But then such calls are not new, having been given in the past by many radical organizations including the AQIS, aim being to incite the Muslim youth to destabilize India and damage  our economy. Of course, the history of communal riots for political gains is pathetic in our country, including one political party notorious for ‘criminalization of politics’ and some political leaders even travelling to Pakistan and shamelessly calling for support to dislodge the Prime Minister of India.

What is interesting to note is the timing of the Asim Umar’s audio-statement, coming at a time when both Afghanistan and Bangladesh want to take Pakistan to the UN for exporting terror while Pakistani radicals have recently stamped their terror signatures in Saudi Arabia. Bangladesh is quite convinced that ISI is behind the ISIS and AQIS recruitment drives in Bangladesh. In fact, the only close friends that Pakistan can claim today perhaps are China, North Korea, and Turkey, future of relations with US being ambiguous.

What has caused Pakistan to go on overdrive in her terror enterprise of course is the increasing strategic depth she is carving out from Afghanistan; her clandestine empire composed of Haqqanis and others – as described by Robert Kaplan in his book ‘The Revenge of Geography’. The historical basis of the ISI’s confidence flows from the fact that both the US and China used Pakistan for creating the Taliban and Al Qaeda and the US gave Pakistani regulars and Taliban safe exit from Afghanistan during the US invasion. Proxies of Pakistan continue to be used in the Great Game. That is why Mussharaf confidently says, “Osama-bin-Laden, Ayman-al-Zhaveri, Haqqanis are our heroes ….. We trained the LeT against India”.

Asim Umar is merely reading out the script handed over by Pakistan’s ISI.

Asim Umar may be the head of AQIS in South Asia tasked from Afghanistan to Myanmar but he is just one entity amongst the radical mass of multiple terrorist organizations entwined like worms and tentacles whose brain and eyes are the Pakistani military-ISI. The interlinking of Taliban, Al Qaeda-Haqqanis, AQIS and others are all there to see; the Afghan Taliban and TTP coalescing, TTP support to ISIS, Al Qaeda allegiance to Afghan Taliban, Haqqani network in top echelons in Afghan Taliban, ISI supported by Pakistani regulars heading the Khorasan chapter of ISIS in Afghanistan, you name it.

So Asim Umar is merely reading out the script handed over by Pakistan’s ISI.

Pakistan has played her US and China cards well, perhaps assuring them that with her radical connections their mainland will remain safe. Perhaps she gave the same assurance to Saudi Arabia but then in such enterprise there is always possibility of elements going berserk. On the other hand the terror attacks in Saudi Arabia could well have been engineered to keep the country ‘in line’, Pakistani hand in 9/11 and sheltering of ETIM elements in Pakistan being examples.

India has no option but to be fully prepared to counter terrorism in all its forms, individually and collectively, combining diplomacy, information operations, economic and military…

China can be expected to continue giving Pakistan totally free hand in exporting terror not only because of the lifeline to Indian Ocean that Pakistan is providing but also because of recent evidence of Chinese nuclear proliferation to North Korea through Pakistan. That is why defence analyst and former Pakistani officer Agha H Amin predicted in 2012, “Pakistan will be a semi autonomous Chinese province by 2030 or so… Pakistani Baluchistan by 2030 would be a completely Chinese run show”.  It would be interesting to watch how US-Pakistan relations evolve under the next US President; how the enlarging threat of the China-Pakistan-North Korea nexus is viewed.

It is even more interesting to see that despite the façade of nuclear-cum-terrorism bravado, a sense of déjà vu appears to be creeping up in Pakistan. Asif H Raza, Pakistani scholar and former army brigadier in his recent article ‘Pakistan being strategically encircled’ reflects that fear. According to him, Pakistan is in a “nut cracker situation” with western and southwestern borders unsafe and Saudi Arabia and Gulf States getting more inclined towards India; Pakistan is fast losing breathing space and is getting isolated. He goes on to say that Iran is closer to India than with Pakistan, Indo-US-Afghan-Iran axis has now become a reality and a nightmare for Pakistan, Iran has drifted away and can no longer be relied upon as a trustworthy neighbor, adding that China and Turkey are the only two dependable and all-weather friends that would stand by Pakistan. His many recommendations include Saudi proposed 34-member alliance of Muslim States, with Gen Raheel Sharif as its Commander, must be taken seriously and made into a NATO like group to confront threats of terrorism and proxy wars and to ward off Pakistan’s isolation.

For sure we are in for more turbulent times especially with Pakistan refusing to curb her state policy of terror. India has no option but to be fully prepared to counter terrorism in all its forms, individually and collectively, combining diplomacy, information operations, economic and military – including pro-active measures as deterrence to proxy wars.

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The views expressed are of the author and do not necessarily represent the opinions or policies of the Indian Defence Review.

About the Author

Lt Gen Prakash Katoch

is Former Director General of Information Systems and A Special Forces Veteran, Indian Army.

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5 thoughts on “The AQIS Call – Mirrors Pakistan’s ISI

  1. What is the point in offering elaborate explanations on why Pakistan is so contemptuous of India or the biographical details of their terror agents. The answer is simple. Our collective cowardice over the years has only emboldened these Pakis to wreak repeated acts of depredations on our soil. Yet Modi harps on peace talks. He boasted about teaching Pakistan a lesson when he was soliciting votes, but after forming the government, he changed overnight, more probably arms twisted by the Yankess into courting Pakistan. It is so disgusting what identity politics has reduced the country to, which trashes the sacrifices of our faujis, including that of my late father. The Modi government is under the thumb of the babus and does not have a mind of its own because of a zero exposure to strategic matters.

    • I quite agree with you – Balls is what this country needs, but for that we have to be militarily prepared. The Army is in a bad way – lack of basic equipment and ammunition to fight a war. The Army will also be paid less than the police forces. Their morale is another factor. Our military fabric is weak. So that’s where we stand.

  2. this indian hindu blaming pakistan means(a thief is calling on others to catch thief”) plenty of evidence suggested indian terror agency raw involved to killed and bombed in all over pakistan. recently indian army senior office arrested by pakistan openly say” our misson to dstablize pakistan” this is fact india is terrorist country’

    • Dear General,
      We all know that Pakistan is a Pathological conniver and 2 timing Jihadi Muslim Bigot Country with 1 Point Agenda:Stop Indias rise.This agenda is finely in accordance to Chinas liking.But now the situation has turned a little bit to utter dismay and surprise to the Chinese.India under Modi has also become assertive in its Foreign Relations and aspirations.With SCS Periphery Countries being at odd with Chinas claim on SCS and USA supporting them it has become obvious that India is of Help to Bottle in China in its SCS Conundrum & to a small extent Payback China in its own Coin.With Brexit China is at a disadvantage for its Commerce with EU and a net Winner is namely India.Gulf Countries are all the more aware of it and in addition are watching with anxious eyes as to what happens on the 12th of July after the UNCLOS Award reg.Phillipines complaint against China.We are definitely going to have very turbulent times in coming weeks and Months.India under Modi is positioing itself for a showdown that lies ahead of us.
      Pakistan Moron read the above to understand your coming fate

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