Share this story!            

500,000 militants in Pakistan, say Pak experts

Daily Times Monitor

ISLAMABAD: Many Pakistani security experts doubt that the government has the will or the means to neutralise what has become a huge network of violence, says a report New York Times.

In recent days, Pervez Musharraf, has resolved to strengthen a 1997 anti-terrorism law to make it easier to prosecute extremist acts by Islamic militants, and he is pushing for changes to allow longer detention of suspects without trial.

According to Pakistani experts, there are as many as 500,000 militants in Pakistan, including many thousands committed to the cause of forcing India out of Kashmir. One expert said that as many as 3,000 fighters trained in Pakistan are operating in Indian-controlled territory.

“The terror structure built up in the 1980’s is very much intact, and the jihadi groups are functioning the same way they always have, recruiting, training and fund-raising,” said Arif Jamal, a Pakistani author who has spent years studying Islamic militancy here. “This government does not have the political will to crack down. The only thing new is that since December, these groups are not visible. They have changed their names, their telephone numbers and they have moved out of Islamabad.”

“If the army is with Musharraf, he can neutralize these groups, but it will take a long time, and a terrible amount of violence in Pakistan first,” said one Pakistani with intimate knowledge of the security services, but he added that he did not see that happening. “How do you get rid of 500,000 people,” he questioned. “With Pakistan’s support for the American attacks against the Taliban, President Musharraf is already their enemy,” said Dr. Rasul Baksh Rais, director of the Area Studies Centre.

Home | National

Share this story!