Afghan Opium and Terrorism in South Asia
Ramtanu Maitra
Following the Mumbai massacre (Nov. 26-29), a lot of “important” personnel moved through the Indian subcontinent, ostensibly with the intent of unearthing the ghastly plot that killed at least 200 people and made a mockery of India's security.
During the visits of these “important” personnel, and subsequently, nobody, except one, mentioned the thousands of tons (8,200 tons in 2007, and allegedly 421 tons of heroin produced year after year in Afghanistan) as the cause behind growing terrorism in the region. In reality, the huge amount of opium is allowed to be produced not only to finance terrorists and illegal gun manufacturers, but also to infuse cash into the bankrupt world financial system through the offshore banks.
That voice of reality was heard from Moscow when, in an interview with the Russian government daily Rossiskaya Gazeta, Russia's federal anti-narcotics service director Viktor Ivanov said: “The gathered inputs testify that regional drug baron Dawood Ibrahim had provided his logistics network for preparing and carrying out the Mumbai terror attacks.” Ivanov said the Mumbai attacks were a “burning example” of how the illegal drug trafficking network was used for carrying out terror activities.
“The super profits of the narco-mafia through Afghan heroin trafficking have become a powerful source of financing organized crime and terrorist networks, destabilizing the political systems, including in Central Asia and Caucasus,” Ivanov said at the fifth India-Russia meeting of the joint working group on combatting international terrorism in mid-December. While the Indian delegation was led by Vivek Katju, Special Secretary in the MEA, the Russian delegation was led by Anatoly Safonov, Special Representative of the President.
The Drug-Led Corruption
While Dawood Ibrahim's involvement has been tossed about in the media in general, what Ivanov said never got through to the investigators. Or, is it that the drug angle was deliberately ignored, in order to end investigation by resorting to blame games with the purpose of ending up nowhere? The Dawood angle was also pointed out in the Asia Times by Raja Murthy on Dec. 9, when he said it is likely that despite all the noises that are made in New Delhi, India really does not want Dawood back. His argument goes: “The catch is that India's most infamous mafia boss has stories that powerbrokers on both sides of the border might not want the world to hear. Therein lays a reason why Ibrahim apparently continues to live lavishly - alternating between Karachi and Dubai in the United Arab Emirates, according to various reports including from the Pakistan media.”
Be that as it may, it is nonetheless true that there is hardly anyone with “power and authority” in Mumbai, and that includes the Shiv Sena supremo Raj Thackeray and the mainstream politician and former chief minister Vilasrao Deshmukh, among many other political luminaries, law and order bigwigs in Mumbai, and almost the entire tax-evading Mumbai movie Moghuls, who are not on the take from this drug-pushing, murderous creature, now under the wings and threats of the Pakistani ISI, British MI6 and the CIA. But then again, like the celebrated terrorist groups such as the Lashkar-e-Taiba, Jaish-e-Muhammad, Hizbul Mujahideen, Harkatul Mujahideen et al, creatures like Dawood would remain active as long as drugs are grown aplenty to serve the interest of the powers-that-be and to fill the coffers of bankrupt banks. That is how Dope, Inc. not only survives, but flourishes. The deaths of common citizens are “collateral damage” that the powers-that-be ignore by diverting the attention of common man to another direction, such as blaming others, and creating war-like situations.
In fact, this is exactly what has been promoted through a pantomime orchestrated by New Delhi and Islamabad. Instead of addressing the devastating role of thousands of tons of opium, that foster terrorists in Pakistan and bring misery to thousands in India, produced annually in Afghanistan and distributed all over, New Delhi and Islamabad chose to flex muscles to provide the terrorists, and jihadists alike, a rare opportunity to portray themselves as “patriots.” Would bringing troops to the borders eliminate terrorism?
Did it ever achieve this objective? Would anybody with an iota of sense believe that? Then, why do it? Why create a situation in which some mischief-makers can create an incident, which may lead to armed confrontations and the deaths of many, while solving nothing? Why? Why?
Covering Up the Drug Angle
The answer to that question is basically the unwillingness of political leaders to protect their citizens and instead, kowtowing to the powers-that-be. When a large chunk of it is converted into heroin, the 8,200 tons of opium create a lot of cash. It could be as high as a couple of hundred billion dollars when cut, re-cut and sold to the addicts in England, Russia and elsewhere in Europe.
It brings in about $100 million for the Taliban, and other brands of terrorists, or jihadis, or Hindu Tamil Tigers, or Shiv Sena, you name it. That amount, generated annually, is enough to arm and train hosts of terrorists stretching from Chechnya, to Urumqi, to Mumbai. When one group of terrorists gets exposed, they get converted into another brand. It is also a boon for the powers-that-be that opium money is acceptable to all deeply religious terrorists, be they Islamists, or Hindu fanatics, or Sikh Khalistanis. That money has no colour.
It is also known that the global financial system, which is the quintessential Anglo-Dutch liberal system designed in the 18th century to loot the colonies and imposed on the war-ravaged world in 1944 after President Roosevelt's death, is presently at its death throes. The City of London is bankrupt, Wall Street is bankrupt, and the only cash that “could” keep the collapsed financial system going is the drug money.
This drug money, at least a good part of it, is generated in this area with the help of Dawood Ibrahim, who works overtime on behalf of the British and runs his operation through the British-controlled Dubai. Drug comes into Dubai through Dawood's “mules” protected by the ISI-MI6; and by containers which carry equipment sent to Dubai for “repair” from Kandahar, and elsewhere in southern Afghanistan. British troops control the southern Helmand province in Afghanistan where 53% of Afghanistan's gargantuan 8,200 tons of opium was produced in 2007.
The drug gets converted to cash in Dubai, where Dawood “maintains” a palatial mansion, similar to the one he maintains in Karachi. Dubai is a tax-free island-city, and a major offshore banking center. The most common reason for opening an offshore bank account nowadays is the flexibility that comes as standard with such an account and expatriates can particularly benefit from an offshore bank account as it will likely allow them to manage their international financial commitments with ease.
With the development of the Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC), which is the latest free trade zone in Dubai, flexible and unrestricted offshore banking in Dubai has become big business. Many of the world’s largest banks already have significant presence in Dubai, big names such as Abbey National Offshore, HSBC Offshore, ABN Amro, ANZ Grindlays, Banque Paribas, Banque de Caire, Barclays, Dresdner and Merrill Lynch, all have offices in the Emirate already. And as the drug production continues in Afghanistan and bankruptcies galore in the coming days, more banks will surely “find” Dubai.
Drugs and Offshore Banks
One should note that besides Dubai, most of the offshore banks are located in former British colonies. Exceptions are Cyprus, Switzerland, Liechtenstein, Dominica, Cap Verde, Turkish Republic of North Cyprus, among a few others. But the vast majorities are situated in former British colonies and all of them are involved in money laundering. In other words, legitimizing cash generated from drug-sales and other smuggled illegitimate stuff for the “respectable banks” is the watchword of these offshore banks. In other words, the drugs that Dawood's mules carry are doing a yeoman's service to the Anglo-Dutch global financial system, as well as for the terrorists who are killing innocents all over the world. Why create waves about that, New Delhi ponders.
Moreover, Indians know better than most others that where there is opium, there are British. In the Helmand province, the British troops rule the roost; or rather take good care of the City of London's valuable cash. In India, as Prof. Amitav Ghosh (author of Sea of Poppies, among his other books) pointed out during his research work, the British Empire in the late 18th century became so dependent on the opium trade that almost 60% of its revenue was generated from opium sales. Professor Ghosh says that if there had been no opium, the British Empire would have died momentarily.
That tradition continues even today. Wherever there is opium, like bees seeking out honey, Anglo-Dutch financiers, and their American despot friends, set up their house. But, India is no less affected by it. While Pakistan's powers-that-be are fully immersed in the enjoyment of the drug money at the expense of being about to lose the western part of Pakistan, things work in a different way in India.
In India, at the time the British finally finished partitioning this country, there were about 550-odd princely states. These princely states, because of the nature of their set-up, were completely under the grip of Whitehall and Buckingham Palace. These miserable feudal lords used to spend whatever fortune the British allowed them to have in British hotels and brothels, were at the same time vying for “rewards” from the British monarchy. This despicable class of feudalism in India was downright anti-national, and represented the worst of the British lackeys, to say the least.
In India the first legislation to curb the cultivation and production of opium was through the Bengal Regulation Act 4 1797 which made cultivation, production, and trade in opium a monopoly of the East India Company in the territories controlled by the Company. Further the East India Company tried to control the trade in opium in the princely states by creating huge transit barriers by way of transit tax and customs duties for the opium exported through its territory and ports. Incidentally all the seaports were held by the East India Company. The next regulations to control opium cultivation, production, and trade were through the Opium Act of 1858 and 1878.
Subsequently, the British created mechanisms for controlling production, processing, vending and exporting opium and made huge profits. They began with the Patna opium (in Bihar and United Provinces); and extended their control over “Telengana opium” in the princely state of Hyderabad, under the Nizam. But it was much later that they managed to control the Malwa opium produced in current-day Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan. Capital formation in western India was directly linked to the smuggling of opium to China with the help of the Parsee, Marwari and Gujarat entrepreneurs.
The British also made large profits through taxes on local consumption because they were the monopoly suppliers. While for the British, the Dutch and other colonial powers, opium was a major article of trade, the US did not get involved in the opium trade though a number of New England families, some of them later known as the “Boston Brahmins,” were involved in the transporting of opium to China. In the post-colonial period, the US got heavily involved in Central American cocaine, and during the 1980s with Afghan opium.
The Princely State Connection
Unfortunately, the former princely states' connection to the drug inflow has not ended, particularly among the states bordering Pakistan, from where almost all of Afghan opium comes into India. But, it is the opium and heroin entering from Pakistan that came through many of these former princely states, where the old drug-network still survives.
To begin with, it should be noted that the March 2008 annual report of the International Narcotics Control Board noted increased trafficking and abuse of cannabis and heroin in South Asia. The West African traffickers have targeted countries in South Asia, particularly India, for cocaine trafficking. The report further said, “South American cocaine is trafficked to India in small quantities where it is exchanged for South-West Asian heroin bound for Europe and North America. India is increasingly being used as a major transit country and also as a destination country for drug trafficking. Cross-border smuggling is relatively easy because of the porous borders between Bangladesh, Bhutan, India and Nepal. Illicit cultivation and abuse of cannabis continue to be a problem in most of the countries in South Asia.” It has also been noted that opium and heroin enters India through Punjab, where at least four former princely states exist, Gujarat, Rajasthan, Jammu and Kashmir, Mumbai, among other areas.
The Case of Three Terrorists
This brings us to the events in 1999, and the release of three top terrorists to the Taliban in Kandahar in order to gain release of 188 hostages. Those three terrorists, Mushtaq Ahmed Zargar, Ahmed Omar Saeed Sheikh and Maulana Masood Azhar, who were in Indian jails, were personally carried by the Indian External Affairs Minister and scion of the former princely state of Jodhpur, Jaswant Singh. Jodhpur is also very much in the Afghan opium drug route into India.
This raises many questions. To begin with, all three were top drawer terrorists. Mushtaq Ahmed Zargar has renewed the activity of Al-Umar Mujahideen in Muzaffarabad, close to the LOC (Line of Control), in the disputed state of Jammu and Kashmir, and is recruiting and training young ones to carry out terrorism in the Indian part of Kashmir.
Maulana Masood Azhar has hit the headlines again following the Mumbai massacre when New Delhi demanded Islamabad must hand him over as a “test of sincerity.” Masood Azhar, a hard-core terrorist, founded the terrorist group, Jaish-e-Mohammed, and was identified by Indian investigators as the one who masterminded, along with the Pakistani ISI, the audacious attack on the Indian Parliament in December 2001. That attack left 14 people dead, including all five terrorists, who India says were also Pakistanis. The incident almost led to a war between India and Pakistan.
Ahmed Omar Sheikh Saeed, a British citizen, is perhaps the biggest fish in the kettle. He is an MI6 agent who was recruited to serve in Kosovo. Later, he was sent to the state of Jammu and Kashmir, where he kidnapped foreigners and was arrested. Following the generosity emblazoned by his release, Sheikh was named as an accomplice to one of the 9/11 terrorists and later, he slit the throat of Daniel Pearl, an American journalist investigating the terrorist links. Although London vehemently denies that Sheikh is an MI6 agent, Sheikh's role in the subcontinent makes it necessary for MI6 to deny his post-Kosovo affiliation to British intelligence.
This raises another question: Was Sheikh's release obtained through pressure from London using a former princely state scion? Since too many people have since been killed by these released terrorists, it is worth getting the answer to that question.
The author is South Asian Analyst at Executive Intelligence Review News Services Inc.
----- Original Message -----
From:
A. H AMINTo:
Ramtanu Maitra ;
afsirkarim@hotmail.comSent: Saturday, January 03, 2009 2:49 AM
Subject: RE:
good article sir.i am putting this on my blog:--
http://low-intensity-conflict-review.blogspot.com/ regards agha
A.H AMIN
Date: Tue, 23 Dec 2008 07:21:21 -0500From:
mramtanu@verizon.netSubject: To:
afsir_2002@yahoo.comMumbaiMassacre Calls For
a Probe of British Role
by Ramtanu Maitra
The Nov 26-29 siege by terrorists of two top Mumbai
hotels and the Nariman House, where a Jewish group
had its residence and office, not only resulted in the
deaths of more than 200 individuals, but made clear
that India, like the United States, is one of the prime
targets of Dope, Inc. The questions remain: Who exactly
were the terrorists? What were their objectives?
And, were any of their objectives attained through this
dastardly act?
New Delhi must realize that if the Mumbai attack is
to be the last big one, it must carry out a thorough investigation.
The Mumbai terror had a very strong British
link as is detailed below. On Dec. 1, the London
Daily Mail reported that seven British Muslims were
involved. That number dwindled to two within a couple
of days. The now-deposed chief minister of the state of
Maharashtra (where Mumbai is located), Vilasrao
Deshmukh, announced that no British Muslims were
involved. In other words, whitewashing is fully in
progress.
But, it is likely that the evidence of British involvement
in this terrorist act has not yet been wiped out.
That is why, in the early morning of Dec. 14, Britain’s
Prime Minister Gordon Brown came pell-mell to Delhi
to urge the Indian Premier Manmohan Singh to allow
British intelligence, MI6, to interrogate the only surviving
Mumbai terrorist, Mohammed Ajmal Amir Qasab. It
is likely that the purpose of the MI6 interrogation is to
direct Qasab to provide details to confuse the investigators
and keep Britain out of it. The speed with which the
British Embassy in Delhi set up the Brown-Singh meeting
indicates that there is much at stake for Britain.
As far as the attack itself is concerned, in addition to
the three structures mentioned above, the terrorists also
fired random shots at the main Mumbai railway station,
Victoria Terminus, Cama Hospital, and the Metro
cinema. They also killed at least two top Mumbai police
officers, including the head of the Anti-Terrorist Squad
(ATS) of the state of Maharashtra, Hemant Karkare.
The operation surely had a strong input from local
allies of the terrorists. From the outset it was evident
that the former Mumbai mafioso, Dawood Ibrahim,
who now lives under Pakistani ISI (Inter-Services Intelligence)
protection in Karachi, allowed his network to
set up the attack. Ibrahim, a gangster who smuggled
gold from Dubai, U.A.E., a British-controlled area, and
later drugs, lives under threat of extradition to India.
Dawood has no choice but to deliver information, or be
sent back to India, where he would be hanged. Ibrahim
also runs drugs—opium and heroin—from Afghanistan,
through Dubai. This operation helps the City of
London, through the offshore banks located in former
British colonies, to generate some real money.
The Times of India reported on Dec. 18, that Moscow,
which has been sharing intelligence with India, “believes
that Dawood’s drug network, which runs through Afghanistan,
was used to finance the Mumbai attack.” According to Russia’s
federal anti-narcotics service director Viktor Ivanov, in
an interview to the government daily Rossiskaya Gazeta,
the evidence shows that “regional drug baron Ibrahim had
provided his logistics network for preparing and carrying
out the Mumbai terror attacks.” Ivanov added that the attacks
were a vivid example of how the illegal drug trafficking
networks are used to carry out terror activities.
The Anomalies
Although many are trying to sidetrack the investigation
of this massive terrorist act, by pushing the idea that it is yet
“another clear case of Pakistani terrorism against India,” there
exist a number of anomalies, which suggest a different
direction. To begin with, the targets that the terrorists picked
were highly visible, and the three-day siege that they carried ut
provided ample opportunity to the scores of TV and other
media to broadcast the carnage all over India and the rest of the
world.
Mumbai is India’s commercial center, similar to what New
York City represents for the United States. The attack on
the top-of-the-line hotels, where businessmen and tourists
stay, was clearly aimed at jeopardizing Mumbai’s commercial
activities.
On the other hand, Mumbai has three major government-
owned installations: First, the Bhabha Atomic
Research Center (BARC), where fundamental nuclear
research and diagnostic work is carried out, is located a
few miles outside the city. There is also the Mazagaon
Dock where India’s naval ships and submarines are
built; and Mumbai is also the headquarters of the Western
Command. The terrorists bypassed the government
installations, in favor of the highly visible public targets.
The second anomaly is the killing of the ATS chief Karkare
and two of his colleagues, encounter specialist Vijay Salaskar
and Additional Commissioner of Police Ashok Kamte.
For openers, it was noted that prior to his death, Karkare was
unearthing a terror network. His investigation began by
tracing the motorcycle used to plant bombs in Malegaon, a
textile mill town with a heavy Muslim population, located
near Mumbai, in September 2008, to a Hindu Sadhvi (a
female Sadhu, or yogi), Pragyasingh Thakur. In a cellphone
conversation between Thakur and Ramji, the man who
planted the bombs, Thakur asked why more people had
not been killed. This is the first time that the Indian state was
conducting a thorough professional probe into a terror network
involving Hindu extremist organizations.
In addition, the versions of the deaths of Karkare and his
colleagues that have appeared in the news media kept
changing. According to one reporter, as described by
police constable Arun Jadhav, Karkare, Salaskar, Kamte,
a driver, and four constables, including himself, were driving
down the alley from Victoria Terminus to the back entrance
of Cama hospital (at most, a ten-minute drive) to check on injured
police officer Sadanand Date, when two gunmen emerged from
behind trees by the left side of the road and sprayed the
vehicle with bullets, killing all its passengers except
Jadhav. No one is saying who directed Karkare and his
colleagues to the site where they were killed. From the statements
made by state authorities, it is evident that this second anomaly
will not be investigated.
The Objectives
An event as big as this often contains more than one
objective, and involves many players, engaged over a
long period of time. While there is no question that the
terrorists who came from outside India came through
Pakistan, and were residents of Pakistan, there is also
no doubt that these terrorists were “ably” supported by
a network that exists within India.
The objectives of the terrorists, and the timing of the
attack, were predicated on the massive upheaval that
has been in progress in Pakistan for years. However, the
ultimate objective, because of the international nature
of the terrorists, was to use the opportunity, provided by
the instability in Pakistan, to undermine India.
To begin with, the Pakistani interest is an important
one. This may not be in the interest of Islamabad,
but is definitely in the interest of a powerful section
that functions underneath Pakistan’s broken-down
security network. This section consists of a faction of
the ISI and some former Army officers. They had long
been in league with various jihadi groups, such as
Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT), Jaish-e-Muhammad, Sipahi
Sahaba, et al. In fact, all these terrorist groups were armed
And trained by this faction as irregular warriors against India.
Since 9/11, these jihadis, and newly recruited ones, have
included the United States in its pantheon of top enemies.
Over the last period, when President Pervez Musharraf
was in power, this faction was gaining ground.
Musharraf, balancing on a tightrope, had managed to
keep both President Bush and the jihadis happy. This
situation lasted much longer than it should have, but
eventually Washington realized the problem and tried
to bring in someone, such as Benazir Bhutto, who
would fight the jihadis with the help of that faction of
the Army and the ISI, who are pro-United States, and
not anti-India.
Although Dope, Inc. managed to assassinate Bhutto,
the power that controls things in Islamabad, at least as
of Nov. 26, is such a pro-U.S., not anti-India group, led
by President Zardari (the weakest link), Chief of Armed
Services Gen. Ashfaq Pervez Kayani, and ISI chief
Gen. Ahmed Shuja Pasha.
This triumvirate, in addition to saying publicly that
India is not an “enemy nation,” has provided U.S. and
NATO troops with qualitatively improved intelligence
in Pakistan’s Federally Administered Tribal Areas
(FATA), where thousands of jihadis, with opportunists
of all varieties, are waging war, primarily to defeat the
U.S. and NATO, but also for the purpose of breaking up
Pakistan. Dope, Inc. is providing the necessary help to
these militants. The improved intelligence provided by
Islamabad in recent weeks has resulted in helping
U.S./NATO troops to pinpoint their targets within the
FATA. Because of the availability of such improved
intelligence, U.S. troops have killed very few innocents
(“collateral damage”) within the FATA over the last five
to six weeks.
As the jihadis, and their faction within the ISI and
the former Army officers, were being weakened by this
development, they decided to ease pressure on the western
front by creating a war-like situation against India with an
extremely visible, and slow-developing attack on India’s
commercial center. The criminals had two objectives:
They wanted to ease pressure on the western front, in
anticipation of an Indian counterattack. In fact, on Dec 2,
Pakistan’s mass-circulation Urdu-language newspaper
Roznama Jang reported that the Indian Air Force might be
planning an attack on the town of Muridke, the
headquarters of the banned militant organization LeT,
believed to have provided the terrorists who attacked Mumbai.
On Dec 1, Roznama Jang reported that several key Taliban
commanders had
offered to assist the Pakistani Army in the event of any
likely Indian attack on Pakistan with 15,000 fighters. In
return, Pakistani Army officials have called the Taliban
commanders “Pakistani patriots.”
The second objective was to rile up India’s “Hindu
fanatics” against the Muslims. According to the Islamic
jihadists, and the opportunists (such as the Afghan militant
Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, who works hand-in-glove
with the jihadists, and a number of intelligence agencies,
including the ISI, MI6, and Saudi intelligence),
India must identify itself as a “Hindu” nation. That
would then justify the establishment of an Islamic
Ummah throughout the Arabian Peninsula, Iraq, Central
Asia, and the Indian Subcontinent. These jihadists
abhor sovereign nation-states. In their book, there exist
only Christian nations, a Jewish nation, and a “Hindu”
nation.
According to these foot soldiers, and their controllers,
a “Hindu” India will be divided invisibly between
some 850 million Hindus, who will openly undermine
the rights of 160 million Muslims, creating a situation
of permanent conflict. This would stymie India’s
growth, weaken India’s potential, and deal a serious
blow to all hopes of India emerging as a major power.
The Fallout
The fallout from Mumbai has yet to play out fully.
On the other hand, New Delhi had been extra careful to
avoid mobilizing troops along the Pakistan borders, or
in moving inside Pakistan to knock off the terrorist
camps. Although New Delhi is exerting pressure on Islamabad
to respond positively, so that such a terrorist
act is not repeated, it has restrained forces within from
heating up the situation through jingoism.
While the jihadis, and their masters, have failed to
rile up the “Hindu” faction within India, they have
driven the Zardari leadership into a corner. Zardari has
shown no inclination to broaden the investigation, and
has reiterated, again and again, that the terrorists came
from outside. He has made no effort to identify, or bring
to justice, that faction that exists on the periphery of
Pakistan’s powers-that-be, and continues to call the
shots on Pakistan’s relations with India.
The weakening of the Zardari government has
begun, and it is a only matter of time before the “advantage”
that the U.S./NATO troops now enjoy will be
lost. With no political base, Zardari is extremely vulnerable.
Moreover, his government can easily be brought down from
London, where the MI6-controlled Mohajir Qaum Movement
(MQM) leader, Altaf Hussain, resides. MQM, a perennial enemy
of the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP), had thrown his support
to Zardari to secure a majority in the National Assembly and
form a government. It was London that made this government,
and it is London that can undo it. In the interim, the jihadis will
continue to gain ground, and Pakistan’s western front will
become virtually anarchic, before it breaks up.
Meanwhile, the United States has given four names
of former ISI officials, including Lt.-Gen. (ret.) Hamid
Gul, to the UN Security Council to be added to the list
of international terrorists. Gul was director-general of
the ISI from 1987 to 1989, at the end of a mujahideen
war, covertly funded by the United States and Saudi
Arabia, to drive the Soviet Army out of Afghanistan.
Gul has called Washington’s bluff, saying he would
prove his innocence before the International Court of
Justice. Those who are aware of Hamid Gul’s activities
over the years, know that he controls a section of the
faction that ran the Mumbai operation, and they also
know that Gul has dossiers on CIA and MI6 illegal
drug- and gun-running operations, going back to his
association with these agencies in the early 1980s. That
would make it difficult for international intelligence
agencies to put Gul in the dock.
Why India?
Did India provide soldiers to either Iraq or Afghanistan?
No. Then, why has India become the target of the
jihadis? India’s 160 million Muslims strongly oppose
jihad, and have integrated with the rest of the population
of various castes and creed. Then, why has India
been targetted?
To find the answer to this, and prevent future attacks,
New Delhi must accept the fact that there were
international forces, which control and nurture the jihadis,
and which have used these terrorist elements to
attack India. Some of these terrorist elements, such as
the Lashkar-e-Toiba, considered widely as the key
group which provided the manpower in the Mumbai
attack, is also used by the same Dope, Inc. against
Russia in Chechnya, against China in Xinjiang, and in
Somalia, to name just a few.
Besides the Pakistani jihadis, who are mere foot soldiers
ready to lay down their lives for the cause of jihad,
it is Britain that had, all along, been trying to break up
India. Beginning in 1948, after breaking up India into
two nations, the British moved in at the United Nations
to undermine the acceptance letter of Maharaja of Kashmir,
Hari Singh, to join the Indian Union. The objective
of the British then, joined by the Americans a little later,
was to have a three-way plebiscite in order to create an
independent Kashmir bordering India, China, and Pakistan.
Much later, a similar attempt, through an extreme
level of violence, was launched from London to create
an independent Khalistan in India’s Punjab, north of
Delhi and adjoining the disputed Kashmir. None of
these efforts bore fruit, but that does not mean the British
colonial establishment (in fact, there does not exist
any other establishment within Britain) will allow India
to grow, prosper, and become a powerful nation. For the
same reason, Britain undermines Chinese sovereignty,
but because Britain held India as its colony for almost
200 years, it has enormous built-in capabilities to maintain
assets that could weaken India.
Londonistan
In addition, there is no gainsaying that most of the
mosques in Britain harbor jihadis who operated in the
Balkans in the 1990s, and are now operating in this
area. Volumes have been written about the British harboring
of Islamic terrorists through its intelligence
networks. Britain also harbors other terrorists; for example,
it is a safe haven for the LTTE (the separatist
Tamil Tigers of Sri Lanka), which raises funds and
lobbies politicians to promote and propagate LTTE
terrorism.
Despite being banned in the U.K., LTTE’s former
ideologue, the late Anton Balasingham, was living in
London, thanks to the generosity and hospitality of
successive U.K. governments. His wife, Adele, who
was once the head of the Women Suicide Cadre, is still
living in London, presumably influencing British politicians.
Despite repeated protests from anti-LTTE organizations,
among them Sinhalese, moderate Tamils,
and Muslims, a newly formed front called the British
Tamil Forum recently organized the Mahaveer Day
(Heroes Day) with pomp and glory, and the attendance
of some Labor, Liberal, and Independent Members of
Parliament. The MPs who participated and spoke at
the celebration of the LTTE’s brutal terrorist leader
Prabhakaran’s birthday were Edward Davey (Liberal
Democrat), Siobhain McDonagh (Labour), John McDonnell
(Labour), Andrew Pelling (Independent),
Joan Ryan (Labour), and Virendra Sharma (Labour).
The British have historically played havoc with Islamic
groups. To begin with, the British created Pakistan,
re-drew the maps in Arabia, and through the
Sykes-Picot Treaty, became the controllers of most Islamic
nations.
Additionally, the Britain-headquartered Tablighi
Jamaat, perhaps the largest Islamic “teaching organization,”
was named for the Bali bombings in 2006. The
organization—influenced by a branch of Saudi Arabian
Islam known as Wahhabism—has already been linked
to two of the July 7 London suicide bombers who attended
a Tablighi mosque at the organization’s headquarters
in Dewsbury, in northeast England. The jailed
shoe-bomber Richard Reid is also known to have attended
Tablighi meetings.
Take the case of the Hizbut Tahrir (HT), an extremely
active and dangerous Islamic group also headquartered
in Britain. HT is funded by various Saudi
charities, and is most active in Central Asia. Another
preachers’ group, openly promoting a worldwide Islamic
Caliphate from the mosques of Britain, HT is ostensibly
a non-gun-carrying group. But, at the same
time, one of the most violent terrorist groups that function
in Central Asia, the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan
(IMU), recruits exclusively from the HT. HT is
also active in Chechnya, although its headquarters are
in Old Brompton Road in London.
On Dec. 1, HT had a day-long event in Lahore, Pakistan.
In that seminar, a British Muslim, Naveed Butt,
said: “. . . The time has come that the people of power,
fulfilling their responsibility, provide Nusrah [material
support] to the Hizb so that Islam may be implemented
and the Ummah should be unified under a single leadership.”
Yes, the event took place in Pakistan, but it was
run by the London-headquartered HT, funded by Saudi
Arabian charities.
Although Indian authorities demur (ostensibly in
order to avoid embarrassing Britain) in accusing Britain
in connection with terrorist attacks, Indians in general
agree that very little good has come out of Britain
of late, and recognize that its “divide-and-rule” policy
was the keystone in setting up its Empire.
Take, for instance, Indian Premier Singh’s demand
that Britain hand over 14 terrorists, who had committed
attacks in India, and were harbored in Britain. Representing
a nation of 1 billion people, Singh made that
demand, in person, to then-British Prime Minister Tony
Blair, in St. Petersburg, Russia, in 2006. His demand
was ignored, and the Indians quietly, without making a
fuss, swallowed the insult.
But, the story does not end there. On Nov. 26, the
very day the Mumbai attack began, the Indian Express,
reported that a Briton, Mohammed Raheel Ataur
Rehman Sheikh, who was accused of funding the July
11, 2006 serial explosions in a Mumbai train that
claimed more than 200 lives, had been detained by the
authorities in England. Raheel Sheikh was reportedly
picked up by the authorities in Britain on the basis of an
Interpol Red Corner Notice (RCN) issued against him.
Sheikh is also an operative of the Lashkar-e-Toiba
group, considered the foot soldiers in the Mumbai
attack.
India News, citing a source report, said Raheel was
picked up from Birmingham a few weeks before. On
Nov. 10, Interpol contacted the CBI (India’s Central
Bureau of Investigation) seeking details behind the Red
Corner Notice against Sheikh. However, the latest reports
indicate that he has been released, and remains in
England.
Obstacles to a Thorough Investigation
A thorough investigation of the Mumbai massacre is
the only way to prevent another such attack. But there
are obstacles to carrying out such an investigation. To
begin with, because of its 190-year old colonial link in
India, Britain has succeeded in developing an Angophile
Indian upper-income class, which would not hesitate
to endanger the nation’s security to protect Britain’s
“good name.” The long Cold War years allowed India’s
“left-leaning” elites, to use every possible platform to
attack “Anglo-American” interests. What they really
meant always was American interests.
In addition, many in the upper classes were educated
in Britain, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh included.
Many of these have also served the Anglo-
Dutch Liberal financial system through their tenures at
the IMF (the Prime Minister included), and have
become promoters of free trade (the British East India
Company’s trademark lethal weapon to pauperize the
colonies), and globalization. These individuals see Britain
as a friend, America as a threat, and Pakistan as the
real enemy.
This is what threatens the lives of India’s 1 billion
people.
