[Reader-list] Arrests won't affect us, jihad will continue: Lashkar

[anupam chakravartty]

Dear Kshemendra,



Respects to Ayesha Akram. I think you completely missed the point. The
western journalist need not be from Europe or America. It is a worldview.
(Weltanschauung in German. Very popular word during the Nazi Germany)



First lets see what we are arguing about. The ANI reports very clearly
states things like safe houses, bushy beards and all those things that have
been used in the report to create the ambience of talking to the militiamen:




   1. "We are still well-organized and active," the 'Washington Times'
   quoted the Lashkar coordinator, as saying during an interaction at a safe
   house near Lahore.
   2. He ran his fingers through his bushy beard as he sat in a dingy room
   for the
   interview, surrounded by boys' ages 15 to 20 that listened intently as he
   spoke.
   3. Jihad being epitome of good Muslim. How many of you know what is being
   good Muslim, good Christian and good whatever … what is so good about being
   good? Can you answer this?



These reports when they get published in Europe or America, the first thing
that they (those who believe in the world view of Europe and America) think:
"Oh these poor countries. Lets go solve their problems. Lets first carpet
bomb the area, those who are affected, we shall give them aid and we will
all be a part of the peaceful globe." This is the thought that brought
American/Russians to Afghanistan, England to Argentina, Americans (again) to
Honduras, Nicaragua, Polynesia, and Columbia. Name a conflict zone, these
people are seen as there – the do-gooders.



And very rightly you have said Kshemendra, the jehadists preaching violence
are problem. However, there is silent reactionary force also armed with
nuke, all things grotesque… that would not need an excuse (as if they needed
one while bombing Hiroshima and Nagasaki).



Although the only saving grace in the report was the useful piece of
information that Kashmiri boys orphaned during the earthquake are now being
used by Lashkar. Since news is for the public, therefore I have criticised
as my experience (of not being someone from media) should count as opposed
to dingy room and bushy beards.



My friends who had just finished their MBAs from Lahore university are now
angry about the fact that inspite of the presence of such a large group of
liberal and free thinking people, it is the jehadists and the extremists
that gets projected in the media across the world. They were very critical
about this interestedness of the global media in Pakistan being always
portrayed as a harbour for terrorists.


Cheers Anupam




On 12/11/08, Kshmendra Kaul <kshmendra2005 at yahoo.com> wrote:
>
>   Dear Anupam
>
> The Washington Times report was written by Ayesha Akram.
>
> The name does not sound as belonging to what you called "... a typical
> western
> journalist stuck in Islamabad and imagining things out of his/her head."
>
> You yourself on the other hand have ascribed quotes to the ANI report that
> are not to be found anywhere in the report. Seems like it is you who has
> imagined things out of your head.
>
> The problem is not in what Non-Muslims think "Jihad" is all about. The
> problem is in what some of the Muslims themselves believe and how they
> interpret "Jihad" and accordingly preach it, propagate it and follow  the
> path of mindless violence.
>
> Kshmendra
>
> --- On *Tue, 12/9/08, anupam chakravartty <c.anupam at gmail.com>* wrote:
>
> From: anupam chakravartty <c.anupam at gmail.com>
> Subject: Re: [Reader-list] Arrests won't affect us, jihad will continue:
> Lashkar
> To: "sarai list" <reader-list at sarai.net>
> Date: Tuesday, December 9, 2008, 7:46 PM
>
> "He ran his fingers through his bushy beard as he sat in a dingy room for
> the interview, surrounded by boys' ages 15 to 20 that listened intently as
> he spoke."
>
>
> I am sorry to say but this looks like the work of a typical western
> journalist stuck in Islamabad and imagining things out of his/her head. I
> doubt the credibility of this report on the grounds that it was clearly
> inspired from a Frederick Forsythe novel.
>
> The statement, "we are still well organised and active" is so absurd.
> The
> reporter calls the person a "coodinator" and then asks if they are
> not
> organised or active. How bizzare. (And how can we forget the cliche -- safe
> houses)
>
> "They are concentrated on the tribal areas of Western provinces of
> Pakistan": Even american missles knew about this. Where is the news here?
>
> Also very conspiratorially the reporter states the problem of Jihad with a
> quote from the so-called coordinator, stating the same shit (sorry but it's
> true) we have been getting on television and newspaper. If Jihad is epitome
> of good muslim, then the reporter should have also stated in a responsible
> manner that the Holy Koran has a very different connotation of Jehad as
> opposed to what a lot of non-muslims think of.
>
> ANI is a prestigious news organisation. Care must be taken not to make half
> hearted attempts to report about the real issues behind the pall of such
> calamity. My point here is if you have called it extremism, used phrases
> like jehad, holy war, fundamentalism, and other such things, then you must
> investigate why so many are becoming a part of this agenda. what makes
> a pashtoon from waziristan take up arms, who is capable of tilling the arid
> soils single handedly?
>
>
>
> On 12/9/08, Aditya Raj Kaul <kauladityaraj at gmail.com> wrote:
> >
> > Arrests won't affect us, jihad will continue: Lashkar
> > ANI
> > *New Delhi/ Lahore* A Lashkar-e-Toiba coordinator has said that the arrest
> > of at least 20 Jamaat-ud-Dawa activists, including the purported
> mastermind
> > of the Mumbai terror attacks, Zaki-u-Rehman Lakhvi, on the outskirts of
> > Muzaffarabad, will not stop the militant outfit from continuing with its
> > activities.
> >
> > "We are still well-organized and active," the 'Washington
> Times' quoted the
> > Lashkar coordinator, as saying during an interaction at a safe house near
> > Lahore.
> >
> > The Lashkar fighter in Lahore said the group has "huge strength"
> and is
> > concentrated in Pakistan's tribal areas on the border with
> Afghanistan.
> >
> > He ran his fingers through his bushy beard as he sat in a dingy room for
> > the
> > interview, surrounded by boys' ages 15 to 20 that listened intently as
> he
> > spoke.
> >
> > The man stood uncomfortably against the wall throughout the interview, his
> > eyes avoiding contact with the interviewer.
> >
> > "The Lashkar definitely has the capability and the capacity to
> conduct
> > attacks such as those which took place in Mumbai," said Rasool Baksh
> Raees,
> > a political science professor at the Lahore University of Management
> > Sciences.
> >
> > The Lashkar organizer denied that the group had to purchase recruits.
> > "Young
> > boys come to us usually because their friends have convinced them, because
> > they believe jihad is the epitome of being a good Muslim or because their
> > families are involved," he said.
> >
> > Sharmeen Obaid, a filmmaker who has covered jihadists in Pakistan
> > extensively, said that selling boys into jihad is a common practice.
> >
> > "It's happening more and more nowadays as people become more
> desperate for
> > money in Pakistan," she said.
> >
> > "After the [2007 Kashmir] earthquake when a large number of children
> became
> > orphans, I was told that a number of them were sold to organizations such
> > as
> > Lashkar," she added.
> >
> > She said the price for one recruit could range from 10,000 to 19,000
> > dollars. "Sufi shrines and mosques are usual meeting grounds for
> young
> > boys," the Lashkar organizer said.
> >
> > However, Yahya Muhammed, a spokesman for Lashkar-e-Taiba, has denied that
> > the organization has training camps.
> >
> > "The Jamaat-ud-Dawa was formed in 1986, while the Lashkar-e-Toiba was
> > formed
> > in 1986 and our main aim was to help our Kashmiri brothers," he said.
> >
> > *India can't question Lashkar commander, says Pakistan*
> >
> > Pakistan ruled out giving India access to Lashkar-e-Toiba commander Zakiur
> > Rehman Lakhwi, who is alleged to be behind the Mumbai terror strikes,
> > saying
> > questioning could be done only by Pakistani authorities to ascertain
> > whether
> > he had any link to the attacks.
> >
> > Pakistan Defence Minister Chaudhary Ahmed Mukhtar said India's
> 'concerns'
> > can be discussed through a joint investigation mechanism which Islamabad
> > has
> > proposed to be set up to probe the Mumbai attacks.
> >
> > "May be we can have a joint investigation mechanism and find out who
> these
> > culprits are," Mukhtar told a TV channel.
> >
> > He said Pakistani officials will question Lakhwi, who was arrested in the
> > crackdown against terrorists, to find out whether there is any linkage to
> > the Mumbai terror attacks.
> >
> > Lakhwi's name figured during questioning of Ajmal Kasab, the only
> terrorist
> > caught during the Mumbai attacks, by Indian investigators.
> >
> > "We do not have to rush into things. We have to move slowly to get
> hold of
> > the right kind of people who could be involved or are alleged to be
> > involved
> > (in Mumbai attacks). I really do not know who they are. We are trying to
> > find out. We will find out. There is no reason why we would not find
> out,"
> > he said.
> >
> > Mukhtar said the perpetrators of the Mumbai attack are 'scared' of
> > improvement in relations between India and Pakistan.
> >
> > "They are scared of these countries becoming trading partners and
> gaining
> > confidence of each other," he said.
> >
> > Mukhtar said the meeting of the Defence Committee of the Cabinet, chaired
> > by
> > Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani, discussed the 'pros and cons'
> of
> > incidents 'happening around us' and ways to continue the war
> against terror
> > and to help Pakistan's neighbours fight the menace.
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