The Hindu : Osama, Mullah Omar safe: LeT chief

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Sunday, Sep 22, 2002

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National

Osama, Mullah Omar safe: LeT chief

By Amit Baruah

NEW DELHI Sept. 21. The Lashkar-e-Taiba chief, Hafiz Muhammad Saeed, has asserted that Osama bin Laden, Mullah Muhammad Omar and the Taliban are ``safe'' despite the latest surveillance technology available to the United States. In a recent article posted on www.jamatdawa.org, Saeed has written extensively on ``9/11: A turning point for the Ummah'' where he claims that the Mujahideen have been able to regroup. After their ``failures'' in Afghanistan, the Americans had turned their attention to Pakistan. ``Tired of operation (sic) in Afghanistan, they started their action in Pakistan. The allegation was that Al-Qaeda and Taliban fighters were assembling in Pakistan. Raids were conducted in the tribal belt. US troops accompanied Pakistani (intelligence) agencies in these operations. International media was utilised to propagate that Osama bin Laden was in Pakistan.'' Saeed's bizarre conclusion one year after September 11 is that the U.S. had been ``badly defeated'' in Afghanistan. ``The patience and endurance shown by the Taliban and the Arab Mujahideen and the tyrannies of the U.S. and its allies from Tora Bora to Guantanamo (Bay) has proved Muslims are victims and the U.S. is a tyrant.''

In surprising praise for the leadership of the Pakistani President, Pervez Musharraf, the Lashkar chief said: ``Even Pakistan, the most reliable ally of Washington in the Muslim world, has refused to support America in its aggression against Iraq clearly saying that it will be an attack on an Islamic country.''

However, he said that ``Muslim leaders'' (which includes Gen. Musharraf) should have taken a stand against the American operations against Afghanistan. ``We also request the secular class of Pakistan and politicians to mend their ways. Their enmity and hatred against jehad and Mujahideen has enabled the U.S. and Jews to make inroads into the country,'' he wrote.

``If the disbelievers have come in(to) the battlefield after naming jehad as terrorism, then the thinking of Muslims has also changed.

``Their hatred against the disbelief is changing fast into anger.

``Fidayeen missions in Kashmir and Palestine where Muslim women are offering sacrifice of their lives along with young boys is a mark of a new light,'' he said in a clear attempt to boost the morale of ``jehadi'' elements.

``Jehad news are (sic) pouring in from Afghanistan. Mujahideen have recomposed themselves and have initiated their favourite job. They are also dominating in Kashmir, adding to the helplessness of occupying Indian forces....'' he added.

\In the long article, there is no direct criticism of the Pakistani establishment for providing active support to the American war against terrorism.

At best, there is a soft reprimand — not the usual attacks by a senior ``jehadi'' leader.

The criticism of the United States and India, of course, is sharp.

The active website of jamatdawa.org can only go to show that ``jehadi groups'', despite the pressures they face within Pakistan today, are able to do many of the things they could do before September 11.

Saeed's ability to utilise the worldwide web for propaganda underlines that the extensive links between groups like the Lashkar and the Pakistani establishment are still active.

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