By Agha Iqrar Haroon JUNE 19, 2014
Spokesperson of Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), Shahidullah Shahid
confirmed that the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan (IMU) provided the manpower
for the attack at the Karachi Airport on Sunday night, and it was a joint
action of the Taliban and IMU. TTP and IMU statements give the impression that
militants living in the tribal areas of Pakistan have enough potential to
strike anywhere they wish within Pakistan or even abroad, because they have
links with other militant groups in Central Asia, China, and the Middle East.
Pakistan-based jihadists of Central Asian origin are causing increasing concern
to countries including China, Russia, and Turkey.
The Chinese in particular are worried about Turkic militants carrying
out attacks in western China, which has a large Muslim population. Security
observers in Pakistan feel that a successful attack on the Karachi airport has
given the militants enough confidence and experience that they could plan to
strike any small airport in the northwestern province of Xinjiang where they
are trying to establish Islamic rule for the Uighur ethnic group.
From 1995 to 1997, the struggle in Xinjiang was at its peak, with
increasingly frequent attacks by militants. This was happening at the time when
the Taliban ruled Afghanistan. China formed the Shanghai Cooperation
Organisation (SCO) and enlisted Central Asian countries’ assistance in cracking
down on Uighur militants. Many of them fled China and developed contacts with
Central Asian militants with the alleged support of Afghan Taliban leadership
that was assisting them in conducting militant activities in the Muslims areas
of China. Some of them reached the tribal areas of Pakistan. Afghanistan under
the Taliban rule became part of a global militancy school supported by al Qaeda.
So the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan (IMU) also moved it base to Afghanistan
when it was pushed out by the Uzbekistan government. Meanwhile, a popular
leader of the Uighur militants, Hasan Mahsum established Eastern Turkistan
Islamic Movement (ETIM) in 1998 in Kabul and began recruiting and training
Uighur militants while expanding ties with the emerging jihadist movement in
the region. It dropped “Eastern” from its name to reflect these deepening ties.
With the US attack on Afghanistan in October 2001, TIM was routed, and
its remnants fled to Central Asia and Pakistan. In 2005, a new Uighur Islamist
militant group, the Turkistan Islamic Party (TIP) established a robust presence
on the Internet, posting histories of the Uighur/Turkistan people in western China
and Central Asia and inspirational videos featuring Hasan Mahsum. In 2006, a
new video surfaced calling for jihad in Xinjiang, and later that year there
were reports that remnants of ETIM had begun regrouping and moving back into
far western Xinjiang from Pakistan after getting training and resources from
the Pakistani Taliban.
Security observers believe that Chinese militants get support, training,
and inspiration from TTP and have a base in the tribal areas of Pakistan. They
have transnational linkages in Turkistan, Uzbekistan, parts of Kazakhstan,
Kyrgyzstan, and Tajikistan. Observers claim that Chinese intelligence agencies
had credible information in the past that Afghan, Middle Eastern and Central
Asian migrants and tourists were spotted carrying out surveillance of schools,
hotels, and government buildings in Beijing and Shanghai which indicates that
global jihadis are supporting jihad against China. The alleged activities seem
to fit a pattern within the international jihadist movement of paying more
attention to China.
Islamists are now giving special attention to destabilising China which
spearheaded the launch of the SCO. This organisation is harming China’s
interests in the entire Central Asian region. China has raised the issue of the
presence of anti-China militants in the tribal areas of Pakistan with the
Pakistan government in the past, but no action was taken to eliminate these
militants. The United States, European Union, and now Russia have been crying
that the tribal areas of Pakistan are safe havens for top world terrorist
groups that are directly or indirectly linked with al Qaeda. Iran has been
claiming that militants are going to Syria, Iraq, and Egypt from Pakistan to
fight along with Salafis (Tafrikis) but successive governments of Pakistan have
denied these allegations. Political observers claim that this denial was due to
intense pressure of religious groups, religio-political parties, and civil and
military bureaucracy, or the so-called establishment, because these militants
have served as strategic assets of the Pakistani establishment.
Direct confrontation of TTP with the
Pakistan Army provided a chance for the government to eliminate these militants
by taking ground action against them in the tribal areas of Pakistan, but Prime
Minister Nawaz Sharif is known for his tilt towards right-wing elements and his
close relations with the Saudi Arabian royal family that is allegedly
supporting Salafis in the Middle East, Afghanistan and Pakistan
against Shia elements.
hub. Political observers claim that TTP helped PTI to win the 2013
elections because its chief Imran Khan is a TTP sympathiser and a strong
criticiser of the US. Imran Khan virtually stopped NATO supplies from entering
Pakistan, because he believes that the US drone strikes are killing innocent
people in the tribal areas. Whenever the Pakistan Army decided to initiate
action against militants in tribal areas, Imran Khan strongly objected, forcing
the government to consider the option of dialogue with TTP. He believes that militants
are sons of the soil, and they should not be killed. Rather the government
should provide them with the chance to leave militancy and join the mainstream.
He never accepted allegations that Uzbeks, Chechens, Chinese, and Arabs are
living in and operating from tribal areas with the support of TTP. Peace talks
were initiated with TTP on his demand, but talks failed to bring any meaningful
results.
Now it looks like the morale of
militants is very high, but the Pakistan Air force is striking their hideouts,
and the US drones are following them. There are fears that they may move out of
the tribal areas to avoid losses, and then move to Xinjiang or to Tajikistan by
crossing through the Nooristan/Kunar route, as Nooristan is under the virtual
control of TTP chief, Mullah Fazlullah, who is living in Kunar Afghanistan.
There are fears among security analysts that they will try something big if
they reach Xinjiang, because IMU is dead set against China for SCO formation
that is stopping it from wreaking havoc in the Central Asia. It wants to
establish a Turkman Islamic region covering the entire Central Asia and ending
at the Indus River in Pakistan. -Uyghur Joint Information Center
The writer is ETN US correspondent in
Pakistan and Chief Editor, Dispatch News Desk http://www.southasianmedia.net/blog/karachi-airport-attacks-implications-for-china/
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