Indian Defence Review

The heritage wing of the Taj Mahal Palace and Tower aflame, November 26. (Photograph: Uttam Ghosh/rediff.com)

Most Indians are astounded and perplexed about the motive behind China’s unequivocal portrayal of the Pakistan based Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) as the perpetrator of 2008 Mumbai terror attacks (26/11) on China’s State run television channels. The first channel to give vivid details about the planning and execution of 26/11 from Pakistan soil was Shanghai TV. Significantly the 26/11 documentary was aired in run-up to the visit of President Pranab Mukherjee to China in the third week of May 2016. Subsequently, other channels followed suit, which amongst other aspects aired the confessions of Ajmal Kasab. The Pakistan establishment too is confounded by this sudden anti-LeT posturing of its all-weather friend China.

The fact that jihadi outfits like Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) and LeT are strategic assets of Pakistan military-intelligence establishment against India is not lost out on China. Probably it suits China as well.

It may be recalled that in April this year when it came to proscribing JeM by the UN in the wake of role of the attack on Pathankot airbase, the Chinese used their veto power to salvage Maulana Masood Azhar and redeem Pakistan. Intriguingly, this was in the backdrop of the Nuclear Security Summit, wherein it was a foregone conclusion that overwhelming focus would be on Pakistan. The powers that be, are unnerved about the security of Pakistan nuclear weapons and shudder at the prospect of jihadi outfits getting their possession.

Latest reports based on archival research of the BBC reveal that Masood Azhar had extensively toured UK in 1993 and delivered some 40 speeches in different mosques, predominantly Deobandi. It may be mentioned that Deobandis control more than 40 percent of British mosques. Masood Azhar as per the report was the first to fan ideology of modern jihadist militancy in Britain. He constitutes a global threat for his ‘global jihad’ activities, having footprints in China as well.

In 2015 too, China had killed an Indian resolution at the UN against Pakistan decision to release Zakiur Rehman Lakhvi despite the fact that he had blood of 160 people killed at his behest in 2008 in Mumbai. Earlier it had taken the same position with regard to ban of JuD, the parent organization of LeT. It was only banned in 2010 as a result of inescapable international pressure and circumstances. Wikileaks revealed how China ensured that LeT is not added to the terror list. Similarly, it let Al Ahrar Trust of JeM off the hook. It also did not allow Syed Salahuddin, Chairman of United Jihad Council, to be listed on the terror list.

Why then did China, which has been tormented by Uighur jihadists in Xinjiang has come to the aid terrorist outfits like JeM and LeT. Plausibly, there are two reasons. First, it suited the Chinese to keep India unsettled through these Pakistan based jihadi outfits as it makes strategic thrust through PoK, all the way to Gwadar through Pakistan’s longer axis by way of China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC). Second, both Pakistan and China need the indulgence of Pakistan jihadi groups like JeM and LeT for security of CPEC. The stretch between Lahore and Karachi, wherein portions are dominated by the said jihadi groups, is a ‘priority project’ of the CPEC network.

Meanwhile Pakistan military has made it abundantly clear that it cannot abandon the jihadi outfits till it amalgamates India’s Kashmir and imposes its own regime in Kabul in perpetuity. Recently, the Law Minister of Punjab province of Pakistan, Rana Sanaullah said that the government cannot take legal action against terror groups like JuD and JeM as the “State itself remains involved with them”. In March 2016, Sartaz Aziz during his visit to US admitted the presence of leadership of Afghan-Taliban in the country. This is common knowledge being officially mouthed.

Why has China’s posturing with regard to jihadi outfits specially LeT then undergone such drastic change?

It is because the LeT Chief Hafiz Saeed and some other Mullahs been taking an increasingly strident position on China’s policy on Chinese Muslims. At a recently held ‘National Conference on Religion’ held at Beijing, President Xi Jimping cautioned citizens to be vigilant against ‘Islamic tendencies’ such as ‘halal products’ which he found as divisive The Pakistan dispensation and majority Pakistanis, as inferred through various sources, are not prepared to allow strategic and economic partnership with China to be eclipsed or derailed by religious issues. The jihadi groups and the likes of Hafiz Saeed will have to make major adjustments in their pan-Islamic agenda or face the wrath of China. Nine years ago, in July 2007, the cadres of formidable Lal Masjid, led by Maulana Abdul Aziz, overestimated their invincibility and kidnapped some Chinese nationals. The response was swift. Pakistan military stormed the complex under the duress or ultimatum of China. It is a commentary on the beholden status of Pakistan vis-à-vis China, that it has to eschew any religious narrative completely while dealing with its strategic benefactor.

China has 10 million strong Muslim Uighur community. In fact the Chinese government has banned civil servants and students observing Ramadan. Some months ago, Chinese authorities had banned burqas in Urmuqi, the capital of Xinjiang province.’’ Burqas are not a traditional dress of Uighur women and wearing them in public places is banned in countries such as Belgium and France’’ reported Xinhua, official paper of China. Cumulatively these developments incensed Hafiz Saeed. He said that he would take-up the matter to Chinese Ambassador in Islamabad. Further Hafiz Saeed said that the statement by Chinese leadership was challenge to Islamic way of life and exhorted Sharif government to ‘show some courage and direct China to stay away from Islamic sentiments’.

These religious policies of China have full backing of the Communist Party officials. Earlier, on several occasions Chinese authorities have bilaterally taken up the issue of jihadi organizations in Pakistan fomenting terrorism in China by aiding and abetting Uighur jihadis. This time however Pakistan based jihadi organizations have, possibly in the reckoning of China, crossed the red line by challenging the country’s official policy on treatment of Muslims. The documentary on LeT role on 26/11 in China’s state television channels is also a stark warning to the jihadi organizations in Pakistan and the Pakistani dispensation that China’s support to the former in international for a cannot be taken for granted and is subject to good conduct on matters relating to China.

In deference to their nation- building most confident countries in the world do not brook pan-Islamic interference and pressures, least of all China.