जिया उल हक की प्रेतात्मा अपने पाकिस्तान की दुर्दशा पर शांति से सो नहीं पा रही होगी .जो आतंकवादी कांटे उसने भारत के लिए बोये थे वाही अब त्रिशूल बन कर पाकिस्तान के गले मैं चुभ रहे हैं . कबीर ने ठीक ही कहा था कि 
हो तोये कांटे बोये तोय बोय तू फूल
तोहे फूल ही फूल हैं बाको है तिरशूल
हालाँकि भारत भी मुंबई हमलों के बाद अब गांधीगिरी मैं विश्वास कम करता है फिर भी आज भी वह आतंकवाद का उपयोग एक सैन्य शक्ति के रूप मैं नहीं करता .यदि पाकिस्तान बँगला देश की दुहाई देता है तो उसे भी अपने लिए हुए कश्मीर के औचित्य पर ध्यान देना चाहिए . परन्तु भारत की जनता पाकिस्तान की निर्दोष लोगों की ह्त्या के विरुद्ध है क्योंकि आतंकवाद किसी का सगा नहीं होता . आज लाहौर तो कल अमृतसर भी हो सकता है . इसलिए भारत को हर तरह के आतंकवाद का विरोध ही करना चाहिए . पाकिस्तान की सेना सदा से बुद्धि हीन अफसरों के हाथ रही है .वह देश की रक्षक नहीं भक्षक है . उसने अभी भी अछे व् बुरे आतंकवाद की रट नहीं छोड़ी है .भारत से दुश्मनी उसके औचित्य का एक मात्र साधन है .
अन्यथा यदि आज तक मालदीव व् भूटान स्वतंत्र हैं तो पाकिस्तान को भारत से इतने खतरे क्यों दीखते हैं .
KNOCK, KNOCK, KNOCK : ISIS ENTERS LAHORE
– Ram Kumar Ohri, IPS (Retd)
By bombing Lahore on the occasion of the Easter festivities the ISIS has announced its arrival in Lahore. A militant Islamic outfit, Jamaat-ul-Ahrar, claimed responsibility for the murderous mayhem in the Gulshan-e-Iqbal in Lahore during the Easter celebrations in which nearly 72 persons, mostly Christians, were killed.1 The number of the injured is reported to be around 300 and the death toll is expected to rise further, according to a local official. A journalist working with the television channel Geo News posted a facsimile of the ID card of the suicide bomber found on the spot.
The attack at Lahore conveyed a loud message by jihadis. While the Pakistan government insisted that Christians were not the target, the JuA countered that statement. Let us not forget that the ISIS too has been targeting Christians largely with the intention of sending a message that Islam is superior to Christianity. This is a part of their propaganda for uniting the Islamic world.2
The Jamaat-ul-Ahrar (also known as JuA) is a notorious jihadi group which broke away from the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) more than one and a half-year ago. It had pledged support to the ISIS in 2014 after Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi proclaimed the establishment of the caliphate. The ideology of the JuA is the same as that of the ISIS. Previously it had claimed several bombings including the attack in Charsadda on 7th March, 2016, to avenge the hanging of Mumtaz Qadri the slayer of Salman Taseer, the former Governor of Punjab. Prima facie the dastardly attack on Christians at Lahore on Sunday was a clear indicator of the troubled times ahead for Pakistan’s tiny minority of Christians. In the aftermath of Lahore bombings the Pakistani Prime Minister. Nawaz Sharif has cancelled his visit to the United Kingdom.
Meanwhile the Pakistani Army and Rangers have been directed to conduct operations across Punjab to locate and target the militants and their facilitators. According to the Pakistani newspaper, The Dawn, the decision was taken during a high-level military huddle, chaired by Army chief . The crackdown would give paramilitary Rangers extraordinary powers to conduct raids and interrogate suspects similar to those the Rangers have used for more than two years in the troubled city of Karachi a senior security official based in Lahore told Reuters on condition of anonymity. A number of “suspected terrorists and facilitators” were arrested during the five raids which were conducted in Lahore, Faisalabad and Multan after the Lahore suicide explosion, according to reliable sources .
The Jamaat-ul Ahrar has made it clear in no uncertain terms that their target were Christians. According to Ehsanullah Ehsan, a spokesman of the JuA, “We want to send this message to Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif that we have entered Lahore. He can do what he wants, but he won’t be able to stop us. Our suicide bombers will continue these attacks.”3 Jamaat-ul-Ahrar has a history of violence and bloodshed. Some instances of jihadi attacks are given below.
- On 2nd November 2014, the Jamaat-ul-Ahrar spokesman Ehsanullah Ehsan had claimed responsibility for the attack on a Pakistani Post at Wagah border by making a phone call to The Dawn newspaper. He claimed that the attack was meant to avenge the killing of innocent people in North Waziristan by the Pakistani army
- The Jamaat-ul-Ahrar claimed responsibility on 7th November, 2014, for twin bombings that killed at least six members of the Peace Committee in Chinari village of Mohmand Agency.
- On 21 November 2014, Jamaat-ul-Ahrar claimed responsibility for a grenade attack on a camp of the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) in Orangi area of Karachi injuring 50 persons.
- Last year on 15 March 2015, Jamaat-ul-Ahrar claimed responsibility for twin bombings of churches during Sunday service at Youhanabad town of Lahore. In the two bombings at least 15 Christians were killed and seventy were wounded in the attacks.
The ultimate goal of the JuA is to create an Islamic State across AFPAK and Pakistan. The jihadi group is inspired by the ideology of the Islamic State and remains focused on the brutal strategies practiced by al-Baghdadi. Its leader is Omar Khalid Khorasani who is a rabid kaffir-hater and was once close to the Al Qaeda leadership. Impressed by the creation of caliphate presided over by al-Baghdadi, the group changed its affiliation to the ISIS. Khorasani is reported to be working on a plan to implement the radical ideology across Pakistan. The task of establishing liaison with the Islamic State had been accomplished by Maulana Qasim Khorasani, the former head of JuA.
When the new jihadi faction was formed, Khorasani had said that the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan had become very indisciplined. Due to factional fighting within the Pakistan Taliban and ideological differences, we have decided to form the JuA, Khorasani had also said. Khorasani had always been an ideologically driven man. However many had doubted whether the JuA could get close to the ISIS considering Khorasani’s close association with the al-Qaeda. Khorasani however realised that the al-Qaeda was a fading outfit and the sooner, he pledged support to the ISIS, the better it would be.
The present chief of the Jamaat-ul-Ahrar Omar Khalid Khorasani had always argued that the fight should be to install an Islamic state. He was clearly unhappy with the manner in which the Pakistan Taliban was fighting the battle. He felt that the Pakistan Taliban was more interested in gaining control over the tribal belts rather than install an Islamic state in Pakistan. Khorasani had often urged the Pakistan Taliban to set up an Islamic state and said that the emergence of the same in the region must commence from Pakistan before spreading to the rest of Asia.
The Lahore attack has not come a day too soon. It is a wake up call to India. Khorasani has been saying that the rise of the Islamic State beginning from Pakistan should engulf the whole of Asia. The attack conveys a chilling warning to the Indian security agencies not to lower their guard and reinvent themselves to meet the Islamic challenge.
…………..
References :
- Vicky Nanjappa, ‘In the Lahore attack there is a loud message from the ISIS’, March 28, 2016, :http://www.oneindia.com/feature/in-the-lahore-attack-there-is-a-loud-message-from-the-isis-2053119.html?utm_source=daily-newsletter&utm_medium=email-newsletter&utm_campaign=28032016.
- Ibid .
- Eric Clinton, Pakistan Suicide Bombing: Dozens Killed in Lahore, IB Times, 27th March, 2016.
Copyright @ Ram Ohri
