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Exposing the role that Islamic jihad theology and ideology play in the modern global conflicts

Pakistanis rage at Motoons while jihadists grow in power and influence

May 21, 2010 4:50 am By Robert Spencer

Priorities: Pakistani is a hub of international jihad terrorism, but no one in Pakistan is demonstrating against the Tiny Minority of Extremists. Their rage is reserved for the Motoons. “U.S. Links Reveal Rising Pakistani Terror Hub,” by Farhan Bokhari for CBS News, May 21:

More recently, the arrest of Faisal Shahzad in the attempted bombing of Times Square forced American officials to look closely at links between the suspect, an American citizen of Pakistani descent, and militants in the thriving southern port city, which is closer to the border with India than Afghanistan.

One of Shahzad’s Pakistani contacts — a member of the Jaish-e-Mohammad militant group called Mohammad Rehan — was subsequently picked up by Pakistani intelligence officials in Karachi. Jaish-e-Mohammad is among the Islamic groups with a history of sending volunteers to fight for the Taliban in Afghanistan, as well as with Islamic separatists in India’s predominantly Muslim border state of Kashmir.

Rehan is being questioned on his role in facilitating a visit by Shahzad in the summer of 2009 to the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province, previously known as the north west frontier province (NWFP), along the Afghan border. Investigators believe he met there with hardcore Taliban militants who taught him how to build crude bombs. A senior Karachi police official says the arrest of as many as eight suspects, including Rehan, is at the center of Pakistan’s ongoing investigation into Shahzad’s Pakistan links.

“We all want to know exactly how these people facilitated Faisal Shahzad,” the official told CBS News on condition of anonymity. “Once we have a solid knowledge of the way these people operated in Faisal Shahzad’s case, and in other cases of militancy too, our ability to penetrate militant groups will undoubtedly improve.”…

Combined with these practical, if circumstantial, red flags, is strong anti-U.S. sentiment in parts of Karachi, particularly in the poverty stricken neighborhoods. Though statistics on the number of poor people in Karachi have not been compiled formally in recent years, local officials say anywhere between a quarter to a third of the city’s residents live in poverty.

Typically, these are people who face daily electricity cuts that can last eight hours, many are unemployed, and there’s no air conditioning in their homes as summer daytime temperatures in Pakistan’s tropical south soar above 104 degrees.

That’s why there are so many suicide bombers in Haiti.

On Thursday, protesters gathered in Karachi’s streets to demonstrate against Facebook, the social networking site which has infuriated many Muslims by hosting a web page featuring caricatures of the Prophet Muhammad. Images of Muhammad are strictly forbidden by the tenets of Islam, and illegal under Pakistan’s Islamic government.

The rage expressed by the Karachi residents underscored the anti-Western sentiment, and the deep tension festering in the city.

“America is against Muslims and we are now protesting because Facebook, which is based in America, has insulted Muslims,” Sabir Umar, a Karachi shopkeeper, told CBS News. “I am a poor man, but I shut down my shop to join this protest because it is time for us to demonstrate against the Americans.” he said.

That’s not poverty-breeds-terrorism, which is what CBS News is trying to establish here. That’s terrorism-breeds-poverty.

Sami Khattak, a bicycle store owner who also joined the protests, went a step further. “If I had to help my brother Muslims from Afghanistan or Iraq, where the U.S. has attacked Muslims, I will of course do everything to help them. That is my right and also my duty.”

That’s standard and universal Islamic doctrine: if a Muslim land is attacked, defensive jihad becomes an obligation of every individual Muslim.

Such feelings show a potential sympathy for Islamic hardliners prevalent in many Karachi neighborhoods….

No kidding, really?

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Filed Under: Pakistan


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