I fail to understand what other proof is required to link seminaries with ongoing mayhem in Pakistan and Afghanistan
JUBAIL, SAUDI ARABIA: With the rise of the Islamic State (IS) in Levant, al Qaeda is on the backfoot to prove its relevance in a changing world. To avoid any direct confrontation with the IS, al Qaeda has now chosen another front to work upon — the subcontinent. ‘Why is there no storm in your ocean’? — this was the question put to Indian Muslims by the Amir of recently established franchise of al Qaeda in the subcontinent. Asim Umar, a Pakistani ideologue, was named by al Qaeda chief Ayman al-Zawahiri to lead the jihadists in India, Bangladesh and Myanmar. Moulvi Umar was educated at Jamia Binoria in Karachi and Akora Khattak in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa. He worked with the Punjabi Taliban before joining the ranks of al Qaeda.
Religious parties and organisations coordinating seminaries’ activities in Pakistan have long claimed that neither of their institutions are involved in promoting terrorism. I just fail to understand what other proof is required to link the seminaries with the ongoing mayhem in Pakistan and Afghanistan, now being extended to other countries in the subcontinent. The Pakistan Army has been fighting terrorists for a long time — South Waziristan, Swat and a host of other tribal areas and now is fully engaged in fighting the Taliban in North Waziristan. Unless and until we defeat the ideology which is brain washing hundreds of thousands of seminary students, we are just running behind the shadows in the tribal areas. It’s up to us to make a sensible choice, otherwise the subcontinent will keep bleeding for years to come.
Masood Khan
Published in The Express Tribune, September 16th, 2014.
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