According to documents obtained by the Hindustan Times, a terrorist program launched by the Pakistani military for a self-proclaimed terrorist organization is an Islamic hooliganism in which leaders of extremist groups such as Jamaat-e-Islami are part of training courses.
The confirmation and rehabilitation program launched by Lieutenant General (retd) Asim Salim Bajwa in 2018 also appeared to be aimed at changing the ethnic Baloch identity of the militants as revealed by the secret documents.
Bajwa, who was at the center of controversy recently after a report on a Pakistani news website that his family had built a business empire of 99 companies in four countries – including a ਪੀ 40 million pizza franchise – Was the guide. The program began when he was leading the Pakistan Army’s Southern Command.
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To implement this program, the existing de-decentralization center in Quetta was renamed Umed-e-Naw and renamed ‘Darepash’, a Balochi word meaning “light”. To. Documents show that the program has so far managed at least two groups of dedicated terrorists – 50 fighters who were part of the course from December 2018 to March 2019, and 128 fighters who completed a course during April-July 2019.
While the program seeks to link both military and civilian psychologists to the psychological and social training of dedicated Baloch fighters, about 20 percent or one-fifth of the training is dedicated to the “religious-patriotic program,” and Among the guest speakers was Jamaat-e-Islami state president Abdul Haq Hashmi.
Jamaat-e-Islami had close ties with jihadist groups during the war against the Soviet occupation forces in Afghanistan in the 1980s and was active in the years leading up to the terrorist movement in Jammu and Kashmir, with close ties to Hizbul Mujahideen. The Jamaat also has close ties with the Pakistan Army.
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Documents show that surrendering fighters are taught to “reject terrorism” during religious-patriotic programs, but they are also taught “jihad, ethics, patriotism”.
The documents also match the total number of fighters who surrendered and the number of those who completed the de-deregulation program. According to a brief history of the program included in the documents, 2,500 in 2018 as a result of “efforts in a non-dynamic domain isolating terrorist / Baloch sub-nationalists, as well as selected campaigns based in Balochistan” More than a dozen fighters surrendered. ”.
However, only 178 surrendered fighters were part of the two disability and rehabilitation courses conducted so far. Many of these fighters were drawn from Dera Bugti, Sibi and Kohlu areas of Balochistan.
Those familiar with the developments also pointed to similarities between the degradation camps in Balochistan and the so-called re-education camps for Chinese Uyghurs in Xinjiang. “Objectives, layouts and vocational training modules meet closely with camps in Xinjiang. One of the main objectives seems to be to remove all traces of caste identity and nationalism, ”said one of the above people.
Importantly, a slide that is part of the documents cites a key issue raised by civil society and human rights groups regarding the activities of Pakistani security and intelligence agencies in Balochistan – the issue of “missing persons” or victims. . Missing
Some of the nine points raised by the surrendering Baloch fighters during the de-declassification program include “trying to find the missing purse” in the first place in the slide. The surrendering fighters also demanded payment of financial assistance to some fighters who did not receive assistance while carrying weapons.
In recent years, the bodies of many carelessly missing victims have been dumped on the side of the road, many of them with signs of torture.
Sameer Patil, an international security studies fellow at Gateway House, said it was “surprising” that the Jamaat-e-Islami, known as the “mother organization for most jihadists”, had such a corrupt program.
“This program also reflects the wrong priorities of the Pakistan Army – such a program should focus on Khyber Pakhtunkhwa or Punjab, where deadly groups like Lashkar-e-Toiba are based. But then groups that do not engage in activities against the Pakistani state have always been given priority. ”
“Pakistan’s military is using its own forms of Islam to crush groups that identify and form Islam that are not compatible with them,” he said.
