Lal Masjid Update

Hezbul Mujahideen (Khewra), al-Badr (Ugi), Harkatul Mujahideen (Batrasi), Jaish-i-Muhammad (Attar Sheesha), al-Barq (RawlaKot), Lashkar-i-Taiba (Batrali), Tehreekul Mujahideen (Muzaffarabad), Harkatul Jihad-i-Islami (Kotli), Harkarul Jihad Islami (Plandri), Hezb-i-Islami (Gulpur, Kotli) and Hezbul Momineen (Muzaffarabad)

Little Green Footballs has an update on Lal Masjid here.

The political fallout will continue for a while as everyone will seek to politicize this to their gain, however the source of the evil is what I will continue to track here.

Harkatul ul Jihad al Islam aka HJI aka Harkut ul Jihad al Islam aka Jaish-e-Muhammed aka Harjut al Mujahadeen along with TNSM are really part of a council of Jihadi organizations all tied together and allied with Al Qaeda. They are very active in the Kashmir, and if you delve their history you see that they are sometimes the same group going by different names. For instance there’s this article from last October that really was the precursor of this all, from the Frontier Post:

14 jihadi training camps wound up

By Aqeel Yousafzai PESHAWAR: The government has snapped all links with the 17 organisations of the AJK-based Jihad Council, an alliance wedded to the cause of Indian-held Kashmir’s liberation. Fourteen training camps of various jihadi outfits have been wound up and intelligence agencies are trying to widen the gulf between these organizations, a knowledgeable source said on Sunday. In an angry reaction to the U-turn, the Jihad Council comprising Harkatul Mujahideen, Harkatul Jihad-i-Islami and Jaish-i-Muhammad have decided to support activities against the activities. Not these organisations have parted ways with the Establishment, they have also declared any move against the Musharraf-led government will be deemed legitimate, an official told The Frontier Post. Requesting not to be named because of the sensitive nature of his job, the official said the government had withdrawn incentives to 14 training camps, with a history spanning almost 40 years. Apparently, he believed, the decision on closing down the facilities had been taken under mounting pressure on Islamabad from the United States and India to stop cross-border incursions into Indian-occupied Kashmir. Camps run by Hezbul Mujahideen (Khewra), al-Badr (Ugi), Harkatul Mujahideen (Batrasi), Jaish-i-Muhammad (Attar Sheesha), al-Barq (RawlaKot), Lashkar-i-Taiba (Batrali), Tehreekul Mujahideen (Muzaffarabad), Harkatul Jihad-i-Islami (Kotli), Harkarul Jihad Islami (Plandri), Hezb-i-Islami (Gulpur, Kotli) and Hezbul Momineen (Muzaffarabad) have been shut. According to the source, these camps enjoyed government’s patronage up until the first quarter of the current year and various cells were working to strengthen them. A recent survey shows Hezb-i-Islami, a pro-Jamaat-i-Islami organisation, received Rs.15 million a month besides other incentives like daily allowances and operation costs. Special Operation Intelligence Unit (SOIU) and Refugees Management Cell (RMC), responsible for extending financial, logistic, arms and training assistance to the camps, were dealing with the jihadi organisations. RMC recently withdrew vehicles from these outfits and huge funds – meant for daily allowances of the commanders and fighters – were frozen. Protesting the unexpected twist in government’s policy, several jihadi organisations recently staged a sit-in and chanted anti-government slogans in front of the RMC Headquarters near Kana Pul. Until 2002, different retired army officers headed the RMC. After the government abolished the 14 training camps, the source said, freedom fighters shifted their ammunition to safer places.

The reality is that this is the old guard ISI rebelling at Musharraf’s real attempts to make peace with India and really solve the Kashmir dilemma. This is why his itinerary was leaked, this is why the assassination attempts.