"All You Wanted to Know About Lashkar-e-Tayyeba"

Wilson John has been following terrorist groups in Pakistan and India for some time, and he's got a primer on Lashkar-e-Tayyeba, also written as Lashkar-e-Toiba.  Excerpts:

"Lashkar-e-Tayyeba (LeT), or the Army of Pure, is the only Islamic terrorist group in Asia with links to al Qaida, which has not only survived the global sanctions but, has also managed to expand its network across the world in the last six years with generous funds from the Middle East, particularly Saudi Arabia, and the support of the Pakistan Army and its intelligence wing, the Inter Service Intelligence (ISI) directorate. LeT is suspected to have masterminded the Mumbai terror attacks."

Hafiz Saeed openly says what Andrew Bostum and Robert Spencer are criticized for noticing:

"...This objective was articulated by its Amir or leader, Hafiz Muhammad Saeed, in an interview given to a respected and widely circulated Pakistani English monthly, Herald. 'Many Muslim organisations are preaching and working on the missionary level inside and outside Pakistan,' it read, 'but they have given up the path of jihad altogether. The need for jihad has always existed and the present conditions demand it more than ever'."

"...these groups, over the years, more so during the regime of President Pervez Musharraf, have successfully managed to lay the ground work for an extensive terrorist infrastructure in Pakistan which includes newspapers and magazines, charitable trusts and madrasas (religious schools) to funnel funds and enlist and indoctrinate new recruits, new training facilities across the country and sleeper cells in the US, India, Australia, Iraq, Spain and Britain."

Hmm, sleeper cells in the U.S.  That's why I'm concerned that three close relatives of Hafiz Saeed have come to Massachusetts as imams in mosques, in Lowell, Worcester and Sharon.  Quelle coincidence, eh?  Two have since returned, one "voluntarily", the other was deported.  Still a brother-in-law n Lowell, MA.  And possibly another relative of Saeed at a university. 

India Times online has a news video on Hafiz Saeed's denial that Pakistan had anything to do with the Mumbai bombings.  About three minues in is film footage of Saeed rallying his thousands of young male followers.  Saeed is famous for his fiery Friday lectures, calling for jihad and encouraging men to sacrifice themselves. Hmm, wonder why he doesn't expect his own sons and nephews to sacrifice themselves.   This website describes an annual meeting of Jamaat ud Dawah, Saeed's other group started after LeT was banned in 2002:

"A large number of parents and relatives of the martyrs were also present in the congregation. They were like chief guests of the event. A special session had also been arranged for them in which Hafiz Muhammad Saeed received them personally. There were also parents whose more than one sons had offered the sacrifice of their lives in the noble cause of Jihad while another was still active in this regard. They were satisfied over these sacrifices. According to them, their homes were now more peaceful and prosperous than ever."

"....There was a moving scene when mothers sent their infants and underage children along with their fathers to the rostrum with the message they had devoted their dear ones for Jihad and Hafiz Saeed must accept them among the ranks of Mujahideen. Women participants also offered their jewelry and cash amounts for Jihad fund."

Culture of death. 

 
 

Comments

[john]

thanks for this great site. There cant be enough information out there on these issues.

[Awais]

Now they have been banned it will be great to ban Indian terror groups too, including RAW. So india could be better place for minorities.

[Former Bostonian]

Has anyone in the mainstream or right media in Boston (or the Boston Phoenix) asked ISNE, ISGW, and ISGL about these connections? Asking isn't accusing, but at the same time, did people really not know that these imams were related to a terrorist? I was shocked when I learned about them via your blog, and it really makes me wonder what they were up to - are up to.

[Miss Kelly]

As far as I know, only a reporter from the Patriot Ledger ever asked anyone (in this case, Muhammed Masood) about his connection to Hafiz Saeed. I haven't seen this information reported in any other Boston newspaper, although it's been published in Pakistani and Indian newspapers, and was also mentioned in a LA Times article on LeT.

Absolute f**kin' silence from Boston Globe, Boston Herald, or any Boston TV station on the Hafiz Saeed connection. Blind? Afraid? Stupid? The topic is a downer?