Source: Reuters
(For a Factbox on militant groups in Punjab, click on [ID:nSGE64R05G])
* Punjabi groups broaden ties with Taliban
* Links may enable Taliban to work outside strongholds
* Minister suggests there may be further attacks
By Faisal Aziz
DERA GHAZI KHAN, Pakistan, May 30 (Reuters) - The Pakistan Taliban is not the sole militant group threatening Pakistan and the region.
Punjabi groups are deepening their ties with the Taliban, representing a growing threat for a country already hit hard by militant violence.
This was highlighted by the twin attacks in Lahore on Friday - the capital of Punjab - which killed between 80 and 95 members of the Ahmadi sect. Initial investigations suggested a possible link to the Taliban operating from Waziristan. [ID:nSGE64O0AU]
Security officials in the region say while there are no "militant strongholds" in the province for them to enable them to operate independently - as is the case in lawless northwest Pakistan - their presence in the area, especially in southern Punjab, cannot be denied.
These militants are overwhelmingly members of banned organisations like the Lashkar-e-Jhangvi, Jaish-e-Mohammad and Sipah-e-Sahaba, long tolerated or even sponsored by Pakistan's powerful military and intelligence establishment. But now they are starting to turn on Pakistan, thanks to the growing influence of the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) and its ally al Qaeda.
"Those militants who were hiding in southern Punjab are now surfacing," Interior Minister Rehman Malik said on Sunday in Lahore as he visited one of the attacked mosques. "We have information they could attack the Shi'ite community." There are more than 20,000 madrassas, or schools, in Pakistan, he said, and 44 percent are in Punjab. The government has also banned 29 organisations and put 1,764 people on its wanted lists. Of them, 729 are from southern Punjab.
All these outfits traditionally have roots in Punjab and underscore the risk militants pose to Pakistan's economically most important province and its traditional seat of power.
"These are the people who took part in the Afghan war and got training there," said Mohsin Leghari, an opposition member of the provincial Punjab assembly.<^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
"This is the only thing they know, so it is no surprise if they develop links with the Taliban in the northwest," said Leghari, whose constituency includes the tribal belt of Dera Ghazi Khan in southern Punjab.
For full coverage of Pakistan, click on [ID:nAFPAK] ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^>
However, Leghari as well as security officials in the region denied that southern Punjab is a hub of militant activities.
"This is all rumour-based information. It's exaggerated," said Ahmad Mubarik, the police chief of Dera Ghazi Khan. "This is not the hub of militants. I don't think that is true."
But the recent surrender by Hanif Gabol, an alleged commander of the Taliban hailing from Dera Ghazi Khan, has once again highlighted the militants' operational network in the region.
Gabol has reportedly told police that he trained in Waziristan and led a group of about 25 men associated with the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan, and was involved in dozens of terrorist activities.
OMINOUS TIES
More ominous for Pakistan, these attacks in Lahore on Friday show that ties between Punjabi organizations and the TTP are not just increasing the southern groups' capabilities, but also providing cover for the Pakistan Taliban to operate outside their traditional tribal strongholds on the border with Afghanistan.
A security official in Bahawalpur, another town in southern Punjab and considered the headquarters of JeM, said there was no doubt that some of the dozens of madrassas there were involved in recruiting volunteers for the Taliban in the northwest.
Analysts and officials said Punjab's extreme poverty, as well as lack of education, makes people in the region more vulnerable to the lure of militancy.
But they also say that the presence of Islamist militants is not new, and not directly linked to the rise of the Taliban.
"There is a presence of militants in that area for sure. But it is a long-standing presence, and they were there even before the Taliban became Taliban," said security analyst Ikram Sehgal.(Additional reporting by Asim Tanveer; Editing by Chris Allbritton and Ron Popeski) (For more Reuters coverage of Afghanistan and Pakistan, see: http://www.reuters.com/news/globalcoverage/afghanistanpakistan)
Sehgal said the militants in Punjab had a good infrastructure on the ground, with many organisations involved in various feuds, including sectarian violence.
"The problem is that with the collapse of the Taliban in South Waziristan and Swat, and with them being pushed on the back foot in North Waziristan and Orakzai, there are chances they will try to reactivate these cells and make them effective," he said.
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FACTBOX-Major militant groups in Pakistan
30 May 2010 10:30:07 GMT
Source: Reuters
By Faisal Aziz and Zeeshan Haider
May 30 (Reuters) - Militants from outlawed groups in Pakistan's Punjab province are developing closer ties with the Taliban in the northwest, representing a growing threat for a country already hit hard by militancy. [ID:nSGE64Q056])
Here are facts about some of the major militant groups in Punjab and in the tribal regions.
LASHKAR-E-JHANGVI
Sunni Muslim Lashkar-e-Jhangvi (LeJ) is one of the most notorious al Qaeda-linked groups with roots in Punjab. It also has forged strong ties with the Pakistani Taliban groups operating in the tribal areas on the Afghan border.
LeJ emerged as a sectarian group in the 1990s, targeting minority Shi'ite Muslims, but graduated to more audacious attacks, like the truck bombing of Islamabad's Marriott Hotel in 2008 in which 55 people were killed. It is also blamed for an assault on Sri Lanka's cricket team in which seven Pakistanis were killed. Six team members and a British coach were wounded.
LeJ was outlawed in Pakistan in August 2001. Members are also involved in violence in Afghanistan.
It is believed to be behind last year's attack on the army headquarters in Rawalpindi, in which more than 20 people were killed.
SIPAH-E-SAHABA PAKISTAN (SSP)
SSP is a pro-Taliban, anti-Shi'ite militant group based in central Punjab. The group was banned in 2002, but officials say its members were suspected of involvement in attacks in the province, including the burning to death of eight Christians on suspicions of blasphemy last year.
JAISH-E-MOHAMMAD
Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM), or Army of the Prophet Mohammad, is a major militant group with links to the Taliban and al Qaeda and based in Punjab. It was banned in Pakistan in 2002 after it was blamed for an attack on the Indian parliament in December 2001.
The group initially focused its fighting on the Indian part of divided Kashmir, but later forged links with al Qaeda and the Taliban and is suspected of involvement in high profile attacks, including the murder of U.S. journalist Daniel Pearl in 2002.
Faisal Shahzad, the main suspect behind the failed New York bombing this month, reportedly had links with the JeM.
According to reports, Shahzad also visited South Waziristan, highlighting the JeM's links with the Taliban in the northwest as well as its capacity to carry out attacks on foreign soil.
JeM fighters are also involved in violence in northwest Pakistan and across the border in Afghanistan.
LASHKAR-E-TAIBA
Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), or the Army of Taiba. Taiba is the old name for the Muslim holy city of Medina in Saudi Arabia, the second-holiest city for Muslims. The group, founded in 1990 to fight Indian rule in Kashmir, is based in Punjab.
It was blamed for the coordinated attacks on the Indian financial capital, Mumbai, in November in 2008 that killed 166 people. LeT was also blamed for the late 2001 Indian parliament attack and was banned in Pakistan in 2002.
Pakistan's Supreme Court this week upheld a lower court's decision to release LeT leader Hafiz Mohammad Saeed, accused by India of masterminding the 2008 assault in Mumbai, dismissing a government appeal.
A U.N. Security Council committee last year added Jamaat-ud-Dawa, a charity headed by Saeed, to a list of people and organisations linked to al Qaeda and the Taliban.
TEHRIK-E-TALIBAN PAKISTAN (TTP)
TTP, or Taliban Movement of Pakistan, is the main Pakistani militant alliance which operates from Pakistan's northwest. It has links with al Qaeda as well as the Punjabi groups and is suspected of being behind most bomb and suicide attacks across Pakistan. Led by Hakimullah Mehsud, a brutal militant commander, Pakistani Taliban insurgents are also fighting the Pakistan army in the northwest. TTP also claimed responsibility for being behind the botched New York bomb plot.
Most recently, the TTP claimed responsibility for the attacks in Lahore than killed between 80 and 95 members of a minority Muslim sect. A spokesman said they worked with agents in eastern Punjab, illustrating the group's growing links, influence and reach.
AL QAEDA-LINKED MILITANTS
A large number of non-Afghan foreign militants, including Arabs, Chechens, Uzbeks and Chinese, as well as Muslim militants from the West, are also based in Pakistan's northwest, mainly in North Waziristan. [ID:nSGE64O0AU] (Editing by Chris Allbritton and Ron Popeski) (E-mail: chris.allbritton@thomsonreuters.com; Reuters Messaging: chris.allbritton.reuters.com@reuters.net; Islamabad newsroom: +92-51 2810 014) (If you have a query or comment about this story, send an e-mail to news.feedback.asia@thomsonreuters.com)
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