New Target for Al Qaeda

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The Ismaili Moslems who follow the Agha Khan, number about 13 million, similar to the Jews. They practise a moderate form of Islam.

http://atimes.com/atimes/South_Asia/GA19Df06.html

New target for Pakistan's militants
By Ramtanu Maitra

Pakistan's Sunni militants, who were instrumental in bringing together the Afghan Taliban and Arab al-Qaeda organizations, have found fresh fodder in Pakistan. The militants' new target is the Ismailis, the followers of the Aga Khan.

In Pakistan's Northern Territories, which border China and Afghanistan and include a part of the disputed state of Jammu and Kashmir, Sunni militants shot and killed an Ismaili leader, Agha Ziauddin, on January 8. Ziauddin's killing, in Gilgit, sparked riots that left at least 15 dead. In December, two Sunni militants were arrested in connection with the killing of two employees of an Aga Khan aid agency in the remote northern town of Chitral bordering Afghanistan that same month.

The Ismailis are a branch of the Shi'ite Muslim sect that can be found in large numbers in Pakistan's Northern Territories, as well as in nearby Tajikistan's Pamir plateau. About 350,000 Ismailis live in Tajikistan and most of them reside in the Pamirs in the Gorno-Badkashan region of the country. In adjoining China's Xinjiang region, a large number of Ismailis live in virtual isolation from the Aga Khan-run international community.

Pakistan's Sunni militants, schooled in an orthodox Deobandi school of Islamic teaching, work hand-in-glove with the Wahhabis of Saudi Arabia. In fact, the political arm of the Sunni militants in Pakistan, the Jamaat-i-Islami (JII) and its student wing Islamic Jamiat Tulaba (IJT), are financed generously from Saudi Arabia. The JIl have been infiltrating the Pakistani military in large numbers since the 1980s, and played a very important role in bringing the Taliban militants to power in Afghanistan in 1996.

The killing of the Ismailis - who along with the Ahmadiyyas and Shi'ites are contemptuously considered heretics by orthodox Sunnis - was not carried out by JII cadres, but by any one of a number of Sunni terrorist groups, such as the Jaish-e-Mohammad, the Lashkar-e-Toiba or the Lashkar-e-Jhangvi, among others. All of these groups function freely within Pakistan, despite bans "imposed" on them years ago by Islamabad.

Observers point out that the Northern Territory is strategically important; to the north is China, Tajikistan in its northwest, Afghanistan in the west and the disputed state of Jammu and Kashmir is in the east. For strategic reasons, since the 1980s, Islamabad has allowed a large number of Sunnis and Wahhabi Maulvis to settle in the area, causing more distress to the locals. Noteworthy is that while the latest round of killings were going on, President General Pervez Musharraf did no more than helplessly declare a curfew in Skardu and Gilgit. No attempt was made to bring the killers to justice.

There are a number of reasons for Islamabad's posture of apparent helplessness. To begin with, it is clear that Musharraf appreciates the fact that one who lives in a glass house must not throw stones. Islamabad now resembles something between a glass house and a bunker. Too many disgruntled militants with connections to the all-powerful military are seeking revenge, and without a doubt Musharraf is also a target himself.

But it should not really be surprising to Islamabad that the Ismailis are now facing the Sunni militants' guns. Whether the events were planned is a moot question, but certain actions Islamabad has taken to please Washington are certainly a factor in directing the wrath of the Sunnis against the Ismailis.

The American prod
Since the1980s, Pakistan's education ministry has depended solely on the tuition-free madrassa system of religious education, funded by Saudi Arabia and other orthodox Sunnis, to see a large number of poor Pakistani children get to school. The theocratic education of Pakistan's orthodox madrassas was tailored to produce the leaders of the Taliban movement. The madrassas also produced the Sunni militants and others who protected the anti-American Taliban and al-Qaeda militants. But after the events of September 11, 2001, Washington had a great awakening: suddenly the madrassa system was perceived as pure evil that produces anti-American, Islamic militants.

After promoting militant orthodox Islam in the 1980s, with the help of Saudi Arabia, to expedite disintegration of the former Soviet Union and save the "free world", Washington set about to "fix" Pakistan's education system. Musharraf, boxed in from both sides, did not have many choices. Some claim that his will to survive and his confidence that he would be able to work around desperate Americans to ensure his political and physical survival persuaded him to give a green signal to the Americans, and he agreed to stop proliferation of Islamic madrassas. Washington, of course, was willing to pay for some of the costs. Musharraf had no intention of making any wholesale changes, and, in fact, last week permission was given to open new madrassas in the North West Frontier Province (NWFP).

Goaded by Washington, Musharraf last year approved the establishment of the Aga Khan Education Board in Pakistan. In May 2004, Prince Karim Aga Khan, spiritual leader of the Ismaili community, called on Musharraf at the Aiwan-i-Sadr (President House) in Islamabad. During this meeting, reports indicate the Pakistani president expressed his appreciation for the various philanthropic and development projects undertaken in Pakistan by the Aga Khan Foundation. He also praised the keen personal interest of Prince Karim Aga Khan in health, education and other welfare projects in the social sector.

A new economic and educational monopoly?
The prince and Musharraf discussed Pakistan's poverty. Prince Karim Aga Khan described First MicroFinance Bank Ltd, an effort of the Aga Khan Development Network to address the root causes of poverty. The bank's US$9 million capital is subscribed by the Aga Khan Rural Support Program and the Aga Khan Fund for Economic Development, and discussions regarding the involvement of the International Finance Corporation are at an advanced stage. "We are also actively reviewing the possibilities of initiating microfinance programs in Afghanistan, where we have begun discussions with international development agencies for potential partnerships," the Ismaili leader told Musharraf.

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Sunni militants have also noted that recently, through an open and transparent process, the Aga Khan group secured management control of Habib Bank Limited, one of the premier financial institutions of Pakistan. The Aga Khan also expressed deep interest in developing tourism in Pakistan's Northern Territory. Citing the romance of the Silk Road and reflections of Gandhara art and crafts of the tribal areas, the Aga Khan said these were "of considerable fascination and originality to foreigners, both distant and near".

One hardly needed to read between the lines to appreciate the fact that the Aga Khan and Musharraf were discussing a virtual economic monopoly, for good or bad, for the Ismailis in Northern Territory, where they have a significant presence. The Aga Khan is seemingly interested in seeing his flock prosper.

But what has particularly antagonized the Sunni militants are Musharraf's steps to introduce "secular" education through the Ismailis under pressure from the US. It is widely known that Prince Karim Aga Khan, who counts European nobility among his school mates, is as Westernized as they come. He finished his schooling at Harvard, and his Aga Khan Foundation has since been commended by the Harvard Review Committee for providing progressive education. USAID makes available some funds to the foundation, and is full of praise for its education system.

Allergic to "secular" education
At a well-attended public meeting in Karachi last May, Qazi Hussain Ahmed, acting head of the Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal (MMA), a coalition of six orthodox Islamic political groups with a very strong presence in Balochistan and the NWFP, and Amir of Jel, stated that Pakistan's rulers "had given total authority to the Aga Khan Foundation for establishing a new education system in the country". According to Dawn, the MMA chief said that the same task was assigned to the Qadiani community (also known as Ahmadiyyas), but the people of Pakistan launched a movement against them and finally they failed in their plans.

Addressing himself to the Aga Khan Foundation and the Ismaili community generally, Ahmed added that the "people would also launch a movement against them if they continued to impose a secular education system in Pakistan". On December 3, 2004, the provincial chapter of Tanzeem-i-Isatiza Pakistan, another orthodox Sunni outfit, issued threats against the Ismailis. Tanzeem's provincial chief, Khairullah Hawari, warned the Musharraf government to end the affiliation of schools and colleges with the Aga Khan Board, and threatened to march toward Islamabad if the demand was not met.

Jamaat's student wing, the IJT, had also opposed the establishment of the Aga Khan Board to cater to O- and A-level students in Pakistan. "We don't think it's a wise decision. Nothing should be done against the ideological boundaries of the country," observed participants of an IJT-arranged study circle last May.

Dangerous subtleties
Clearly the orthodox Sunnis will not tolerate even the half-hearted efforts of Musharraf, under pressure from the US, to reform Pakistan's woefully backward education system.

To fully appreciate this one must realize that religious orthodoxy was introduced to modern Pakistan in the first place by a pro-American military leader, and not by the mullahs. The process began under General Zia ul-Haq in the 1980s, and as a result enjoys a very solid base within Pakistan's military.

At present the Ismailis may have a temporary "godfather" in the form of Musharraf. But the killings in Skardu and Gilgit, and Islamabad's nod to the MMA to start new madrassas in NWFP, indicate that the Ismailis cannot really trust the godfather.

Musharraf is fully aware that Pakistan's madrassas are breeding grounds for jihadi terrorists, and his inability or unwillingness to reform the madrassa system is the most obvious evidence of his determination to keep one foot in the Islamic militancy camp. Musharraf knows that even if a few Ismailis get killed and the AKF is eventually given the proverbial go-by, Washington will not abandon him because he is the most "secular" of all the Pakistani leaders.

The Ismailis community would do well to understand these subtleties to ensure their own survival.