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Militant Islam Monitor > Articles > The Mumbai Conspiracy - Pakistan and Jamaat -e- Islami

The Mumbai Conspiracy - Pakistan and Jamaat -e- Islami

December 22, 2008

The Mumbai Conspiracy
By Joe Kaufman
FrontPageMagazine.com | Monday, December 22, 2008

Since the Mumbai attacks took place, some Muslim leaders have issued claims that all Muslims around the world have condemned what transpired, but this has not been the case. Jamaat-e-Islami, the Muslim Brotherhood of Pakistan, has called the attacks an "international conspiracy." The group's leader, Qazi Hussain Ahmad, has laid blame for the attacks on the United States and India. These ignorant and offensive messages are indicative of an organization rooted in hatred and violence.

On November 26, 2008, Islamic terrorists laid siege to the city of Mumbai, India, murdering close to 180 individuals and injuring hundreds of others. The horrific event was said to be perpetrated by Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), a Pakistani fundamentalist group with ties to the government of Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) agency.

Pakistan has been a breeding ground for terrorists for decades. A high point in this was reached during the 80s, when Osama bin Laden and his mentor, Abdullah Azzam, brought jihad fighters (mujahideen) from across the world into Pakistani terror training camps with the goal of fighting the Soviets, who had invaded Afghanistan.

Apart from the perceived enemy, now which includes the United States, little has changed from that time. Indeed, Muhammad Ajmal Kasab, the Mumbai attacker who was caught by Indian authorities, admitted under questioning that he personally attended at least four such terror camps.

The ideological forefather of every one of Pakistan's terror entities is the Muslim Brotherhood (MB), al-Ikhwan al-Muslimun, an extremist movement founded and headquartered in Egypt. In 1941, the Ikhwan was brought to Pakistan by Syed Abul Ala Maududi, who launched the group under the name Jamaat-e-Islami (JI).

While JI has not been labeled a terrorist organization, the group actively supports terrorists. JI has provided leaders of al-Qaeda, including 9/11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, with safe haven. As well, in recent years, JI has financed Hamas with tens of thousands of dollars. Indeed, right on the homepage of JI's site is a graphic link to the official website of Hamas, the ‘Palestinian Information Center.'

Another terror organization JI supports is LeT. When it was brought to light that LeT was responsible for the Mumbai attacks, JI immediately moved to defend the group. After receiving pressure from the U.S. and India, the Pakistani government, which has had affiliations with LeT, took action against LeT. JI stated that this "crackdown" by Pakistan was a "cowardly act." In fact, JI has said that LeT, a.k.a. Jamaat-ud-Dawah (JuD), wasn't even involved in the attacks.

On December 1st, JI issued a statement in the name of JI head Qazi Hussain Ahmad on its site calling the Mumbai attacks an "international conspiracy." The statement read, "Qazi termed the Mumbai incidents an international conspiracy to victimize Pakistan, like the 9/11 incidents which [were] engineered to target Muslim movements. Qazi said the Mumbai drama was staged and Pakistan was held responsible without any investigation or proof, which was exactly the same which happened in [the] case of 9/11. He said the Mumbai drama was staged to capitalize on the internal disturbances faced by Pakistan."

Besides its ignoring of who the real victims were, JI placed the blame for the attacks on the United States and India, herself. The group stated, "Qazi warned the rulers not to underestimate America and India in the perspective of Mumbai incidents…." JI described information about the attacks as "baseless Indian propaganda."

Much of the Jamaat's negative feelings towards India are derived from the fact that the majority of India's citizens practice Hinduism, a religion that JI has exhibited disdain for. JI's website links to a tract titled ‘Hinduism: Inside and out,' which dehumanizes the faith, defining Hindus as "a group of polytheists with a sick fetish for cattle."

Concerning the United States, JI's other Mumbai "co-conspirator," the group has referred to her as "the biggest terrorist in the world." JI, in its preoccupation with American influence over Pakistan's government, has described Pakistan's leaders as "U.S.-slave rulers."

It is this type of rhetoric that has provided a context for Islamist militants who are looking to wreak havoc on the Western world, specifically the United States and India. One should keep in mind that JI has operatives in both the United States and India, respectively the Islamic Circle of North America (ICNA) and the JI-Hind.

JI, in its crude language and its denial of reality with regard to those who committed the horrific terror acts in Mumbai, has laid the ideological groundwork for future attacks. If the Pakistani government truly is interested in getting rid of the terrorist threat from its country, it will not just arrest members of one of the symptoms of the problem, LeT, but it will, as well, go after the source of the problem. In Pakistan, that source is Jamaat-e-Islami.

Beila Rabinowitz, Director of Militant Islam Monitor, assisted with this report.

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