Initially viewed as a terrorist organisation operating on the fringes of the anti-India spectrum, the Huji has slowly succeeded in upstaging its coalition partners.
Security experts Wilson John and Ajai Sahni analyse the Huji phenomenon
Initially viewed as a terrorist organisation operating on the fringes of the anti-India spectrum, the Harkat-ul-Jihad-al-Islami (Huji) has slowly succeeded in upstaging its coalition partners. Top terrorism experts assert that Huji has emerged on the centre-stage with jihadi organisations like the Lashkar-e-Tayyaba (LeT) and Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) having to take the backseat.
Wilson John, an expert on terrorism at the Observer Research Foundation, New Delhi, says the image of JeM took a battering after the group's abortive bid on Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf's life. "Also, the LeT has paled a bit — not appearing interested in diverting money and manpower to execute terror operations — with its top commanders deciding to uphold the group's image as primarily a religious charity," says John. All these developments have turned the tide in
Huji’s favour.
According to John, Huji has successfully regrouped in Bangladesh in the recent past and using the porous border between Bangladesh and India, Huji operatives have managed to establish pockets of influence in West Bengal as well as some of the northeastern states.
In another development, Huji was adjudged the leading group in the United Jihad Council — a body formed by Pakistan's Inter Services
Intelligence (ISI) directorate as a springboard for global jihad. Huji is a loose network of individuals, which believes in a common jihadi theology and allied ideological commitments.
According to Ajai Sahni of the Institute for Conflict Management, Huji is going through a process of augmenting its operational capacity to strike in a more lethal manner. Mumbai and Maharashtra are, in a way, fertile ground for the group because of the politics of communal polarisation practised by some parties in the state.
The Muslims are a discontented lot vis-à-vis the more privileged pro-Hindu groups. So terrorist recruiters find willing cadres amid a groundswell of disaffection, says Sahni. “Most of the terror attacks these days are multi-group operations in which diverse elements rely and bank on a symbioitic relationship,” he explains. “A structure of collaboration is evolved in the multi-step terror process.”
Also, at present, for the Pakistani establishment, Huji is a better choice as it gives the ISI that much more scope to deny its involvement. Headquartered in Karachi, Huji runs its operations from at least 50 seminaries, including the Binori madrassah, the place where it was born.
Huji was initially led by Fazlur Rehman Kahlil and the organisation's top commander in Bangladesh was Shaikh Farid. It has had close links with the Harkat-ul-Ansar and the Harkat-ul-Mujaheedin. Also, Huji, which was earlier known as the Bangladeshi Taliban, has proven ties with al-Qaeda and the Taliban in Afghanistan. And with the blessings of the Pakistani establishment, the operational depth and scope of Huji have gone up a few notches in recent times.
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
)
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
)
)
)
)
)
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}