The Taliban and al-Qaida have opened a bloody new front in their war against liberal democracy. They are engaged in a guerrilla war not only in the mountains of Afghanistan, but also on the streets of Pakistan’s cities. Hundreds of people have been killed by Islamist terrorists in Pakistan this year. In the past few days there have been major bomb attacks In Lahore, Peshawar (where the terrorists killed a child), and Kohat, where 11 people where killed by a car bomb.
The terrorists’ targets have often been police and security forces, but they have killed civilian women and children too. The Islamists’ victims have been Muslims. They have used a range of tactics, from car bombs to suicide bombers, to hostage-taking as at the Rawalpindi army base, where 19 people were killed. There is some sense of unity between Pakistan’s politicians, the army, and the civilian population, displayed by their backing for the successful offensive in the Swat Valley. But there is evidence from the recent attacks of penetration of the army by Islamist extremists, providing intelligence to the bombers.
The offensive in Swat displaced more people than at any time since partition in 1947. The chaos of migration on this scale, and the establishment of huge refugee camps, creates the conditions for the Islamist terror groups to recruit more fighters and suicide bombers.
Since clearing the Swat Valley of terrorist bases in September, the Pakistani army has now focused its efforts on a major offensive into South Waziristan. These efforts will be hampered by the so-called ‘peace agreements’ the local Islamist groups, part of the al-Qaida affiliated Haqqani network, have with the local army commanders.
As well as being the new frontline, Pakistan is also the launch-pad for attacks on other countries. Most of the Islamist terror plots against the UK currently being monitored by Britain’s security forces have their roots in Pakistan.
The Daily Telegraph reported on 14th December 2008 that
‘Officials confirmed that the Security Service was aware of around 30 serious plots at any given moment, while suggesting that at least 21 of them are tied to Pakistani groups.’
In March 2009 Gordon Brown wrote in the Observer: ‘We know that there is an al-Qaida core in northern Pakistan trying to organise attacks in Britain. We know also that there are a number of networks here…more than two-thirds of the plots threatening the UK are linked to Pakistan.’
Yesterday in Sydney, Australia, five men were convicted on terrorism charges. They were planning to plant bombs in civilian areas. The court heard that their cause was ‘jihad’. Prosecutors said one defendant had attended a training camp in Pakistan run by the Lashkar-e-Taiba group and had set up a terrorist training camp in the outback of New South Wales to train three of the other defendants.
It is not only in Britain’s interests for there to be a stable, democratic Pakistan, free from terrorist training camps, bases, extremist madrasahs and Islamist dominance on college campuses. It is in the interests of every democratic country under assault from international terrorism. It is obvious that the Islamists’ attempts to destablise and control Pakistan are because Pakistan is a nuclear power. The prospect of a fundamentalist Taliban-style government with its finger on the nuclear trigger is terrifying, but not fanciful. An ‘Islamist nuclear bomb’ is just about the biggest foreign policy nightmare there is. I hope it keeps David Miliband up at nights.
When the director of the Quilliam Foundation (Britain’s only counter-terrorism think-tank) Maajid Nawaz was a member of Hizb ut-Tahrir, he was dispatched to Pakistan to establish a branch of the Islamist party.
He writes: ‘In 1999 I came to Pakistan, imbued with the ideas of Islamism propagated by Hizb ut-Tahrir and a strong desire to extend its reach. I was one of the founders of Hizb ut-Tahrir in Pakistan, there to bring Pakistan and its nuclear strength under the banner of Islamist ideology.’
So, just as we have to tackle Islamist terrorism in Iraq and Afghanistan, to protect people in London, Birmingham, Leeds, Glasgow and Cardiff, so the fate of the people of the UK and the people of Pakistan is now entwined like the ribbons round a maypole. Yesterday Jonathon Evans, the director of the security service MI5, told an audience at Bristol University that events in Pakistan, Somalia and elsewhere have as much impact on the UK’s domestic security as what goes on in London or Manchester.
A new publication by the Quilliam Foundation makes useful and interesting reading. I hope copies are being dispatched (by courier, not Royal Mail) to the Foreign & Commonwealth Office (FCO). In Pakistan: Identity, Ideology & Beyond by Fatima Mullick & Mehrunnisa Yusuf the authors make the argument that the fight against Islamism in Pakistan must be viewed as an ideological struggle, not a matter of faith or religion. The framing of the debate cannot be whether Pakistan should be a religious or a secular state. It should be about disentangling Islamism (the political movement) from Islam (the world religion), and defeating the arguments of the Islamists without offending or alienating Muslims. They call for a citizen-led effort to challenge Islamism, and a renewed commitment to democracy and a promotion of pluralistic values, with young people being armed with the facts and confidence to stand up to the extremists.
There is now an urgent need to tackle extremism in Pakistan. Their struggle is our struggle, because Islamist terrorism is international, and can strike anywhere, from Sydney to Surrey.
As in Britain’s ‘Contest 2’ counter-terrorism strategy, the struggle in Pakistan has a political as well as a military dimension.
The military in Pakistan have a great deal of experience in fighting extremists. In their recent operations, their tactics have been refined. But they shouldn’t have to fight alone. Britain, and the other coalition partners, should offer military support to the Pakistan government. In co-operation with the Pakistan military, British and American troops can share their expertise, and provide practical support to operations in the Waziristan region and elsewhere.
But Islamist terrorism will only be defeated by defeating the political ideas that lie behind it, and this dimension is one where the UK can give more help. The Quilliam Foundation report is based on their work on the ground. This kind of activity should be dramatically increased. There should be enhanced links between our two countries’ civil services, security services, and political parties.
The bombs on the streets of Lahore, Peshawar and other cities across the globe will stop when the ideology which underpins terrorism is eradicated. That remains a political task, for the Labour party and other forces of democracy.