Major jihadi groups go under cover: Pak paper

NEW DELHI: A coalition of several major Jihadi organizations , headed by terrorist Syed Salahuddin, has simply disappeared. It has temporarily dissolved itself, closed its offices, removed all signs and asked its leaders to stay quiet, reports a prominent Pakistan daily on Saturday.

The United Jihad Council (UJC), formed in 1994, comprises of top terror groups such as Harkat-ul-Ansar , Hizbul Mujahideen, Jamiat-ul-Mujahideen , Al-Jihad , Al-Barq , Ikhwan-ul-Mussalmin and Tehrik-ul-Mujahideen . ������ Following the Mumbai attacks and the subsequent tension between Pakistan and India, the United Jihad Council has decided to remain silent,������ reports ���The News International��� quoting a commander of one of the UJC member organizations who requested anonymity.

In its editorial, the ���News��� also says that ������ the current action against the Jamaat-ud-Dawa may not be enough��� ��� and that ������ while the arrests and the ban represent solid first steps, more needs to be done to remove the hold JuD has established within society.������ The editorial further says: ������ If there is a true commitment to doing away with forces like the JuD, much more needs to be done.

We need to expose the true nature of these forces before people; to reveal how they have lured vulnerable young teenagers away from homes and families only to turn them into killers; how they have exploited religion to further their own interests.������

The ���News��� elaborates on JuD���s shadowy activities beyond charity. ������ There has long been a suspicion that it (JuD) does far more than that. The outfit���s website and its publications reflect a stance in favour of militancy and a virulent hostility to India. The immaculate efficiency with which the group ran its affairs is rooted in its past. In the mid-1980 s, the LeT and Hafiz Muhammad Saeed enjoyed the backing of the CIA and the ISI to battle Soviet troops in Afghanistan.������

Several newspapers are highlighting the need to introspect in their editorials. The Karachi-based daily, ���The Dawn��� says on Saturday: ������ What the Mumbai assault has done in this country is divert attention from the internal threat to an external ���enemy��� . This must not be allowed to happen. Soul-searching is in order, and an acceptance of the fact that Pakistan is indeed a hub of militancy and terrorism.

It is sad, on one level, that it has taken external pressure to stir the government into acting against those who are besmirching our name in the world. We face isolation, and internal ruin, if the common enemy is not brought to book. We have a collective responsibility to look inwards.������

The ���Frontier Post��� editorial points that Pakistan is getting isolated diplomatically . It adds: ������ The rightist leadership, if it views the situation objectively, would surely agree that Jaishes, Lashkars and jihadis have not only brought infamy to this country globally and disrepute internationally.������