Earthquake in South Asia, the Hand of God?

Submitted by Swahili Dinaz (India), Oct 8, 2005 at 13:00

Dr. Pipes, it would be important to understand from you the ramifications of the latest S. Asian earthquake on international terrorism, once all the (top secret) details are in. Part of the stupidity of the terrorists may have been in putting all their eggs in one basket, under US pressure on Pakistan, by shifting wholesale to the capital of Pakistan Occupied Kashmir in Muzaffarabad, epicentre of the earthquake, apparently wiped out in the earthquake and cut off from Pakistan by landslides. Communications have been completely disrupted there.

The collapse of the 19-storey towers in Islamabad resembles to a little extent the collapse of WTC in NY. Musharraf had to climb that hill of concrete slabs to survey the damage in his capital city!

How this will affect the Islamists, only time will tell. And what about the Bin Laden group of Al Qaeda, bunkered down in the network of underground tunnels in the Hindu Kush mountains, which are a part of the epicentre of the earthquake?

Recently there was news of Pakistan opening new terrorist training camps in Muzaffarabad. Here's the latest list from SATP on terrorist organizations with HQ in POK -- moved from Pakistan under pressure of US and India!!! You have cited this link in your recent article. A couple of organisations in Srinagar or Karachi are not included in the excerpts below.

http://www.satp.org/satporgtp/countries/india/states/jandk/terrorist_outfits

Excerpts:

The outfit (Al Badr) is headquartered at Mansehra in Pakistan. It is also reported to have a camp office in *Muzaffarabad*, PoK. Reportage of the past five years has indicated that the Al Badr is active in the Anantnag, Baramulla, Budgam, Srinagar and Kupwara districts of the Kashmir Valley. It also has a presence in the Poonch and Rajouri districts of Jammu region.
Headquartered at Muzaffarabad in Pakistan occupied Kashmir (PoK), the Hizb-ul-Mujahideen with an estimated cadre strength of at least 1500, is presently headed by Syed Salahuddin. The patron of HM in PoK is Ghulam Nabi Nausheri.

Based in *Muzaffarabad*, the Harkat ul-Ansar has participated in insurgent and terrorist operations in Kashmir, Myanmar, Tajikistan, Bosnia and Herzegovina. In Kashmir, the outfit had carried out several operations against Indian troops besides attacks on civilian targets. In the process, several of its top leaders including Masood Azhar (General Secretary and top idologue), Sajjad Afghani (Commander of the Harkat ul-Ansar in Jammu and Kashmir) and Nasarullah Manzoor Langaryal (commander of the erstwhile Harkat-ul Mujahedin) were captured by Indian security forces.

An unconfirmed news report on December 10, 2001, citing a Lashkar spokesperson, said that the outfit had shifted its headquarters from Muridke to *Muzaffarabad*. The report quoting the outfit's spokesperson indicated that the LeT was shifting its headquarters since it has acquired more space in Muzaffarabad. Furthermore, the report added that unnamed observers in Islamabad had claimed that LeT was forced to move its offices due to pressure from the Pakistan government. The MDI has claimed that the LeT has shifted all its facilities and offices to PoK and the outfit has formed a new General Council under the leadership of Maulana Abdul Wahid Kashmiri, with Mr. Zaki ur Rehman Lakhwi as the 'Supreme Commander' within Jammu & Kashmir. Other members of the the General Council are - Mr. Abdullah of Anantnag (Islamabad) - Mr.Haji Mohammad Azam of Poonch - Mr. Muzammil Butt of Doda - Mr. Mohammad Umair of Baramullah - Mr. Chaudhri Abdullah Khalid Chauhan of Bagh - Mr. Rafiq Akhtar of Muzaffarabad - Mr. Aftab Hussain of Kotli - Mr. Faisal Dar of Srinagar - Mr. Chaudhri Yusuf of Mirpur - Mr. Maulana Mohammad Sharif Balghari of Baltistan - Mr. Raja Mohammad Irshad Advocate - Mr. Masood Lone Advocate.

The headquarters of the MJC (Muttahida Jehad Council) is at *Muzaffarabad*. At the time of inception, all the terrorist outfits operating in J&K were required to register with the MJC. The council aims at joining forces and resources to augment the terrorist operations in J&K. The Muttahida Jehad Council also acts as the primary public voice of the terrorist outfits currently active in the State of Jammu and Kashmir.

The following terrorist outfits are currently members of the Muttahida Jehad Council: Hizb-ul-Mujahideen, Jammu Kashmir Liberation Front, Harkat-ul-Ansar, Tehrik-e-Jehad, Tehreek-ul-Mujahideen, Jamiat-ul-Mujahideen, Al Jehad, Al Umar Mujahideen, Jammu Kashmir Islamic Front, Muslim Janbaz Force, Hizbullah, Al Fatah, Hizb-ul-Momineen, Lashkar-e-Toiba, Jaish-e-Mohammed, Al-Badr Mujahideen.

The AuM (Al Umar Mujahideen) headquarters is located at the Narul locality in *Muzaffarabad*. It is primarily active in the Srinagar, Baramulla, Kupwara and Pulwama districts of the Indian State of Jammu and Kashmirr.

TuM (Tehreek-ul-Mujahideen) operates primarily in the Kashmir Valley, especially in the Beeru belt of Budgam district, Ganderbal and downtown localities of Srinagar, Pulwama and Anantnag districts. In year 1990, it opened an office at *Muzaffarabad* in PoK and sent its cadres for arms training. Ghulam Mohammed Ghani and Mohammed Shah Wani maintained that office for a considerable period of time.

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