New Trend Magazine (www.newtrendmag.org)

(Print sample: $1 to P.O. Box 356, Kingsville, MD 21087)

[This is a special from our Pakistan desk. We are also working on interviews with Pakistan's jihad leader, Hafiz Saeed, of Lashkar Taiba, before his arrest, and Syed Munawar Hasan, Secretary General of Jamaate Islami, who leads JI when Qazi Hussain Ahmad is under Musharraf's arrest..]

[First some local news: Three Muslim groups are preparing national conventions: ICNA, ISNA and Imam W.D. Muhammad's followers (now known as MAS). The Islamic status of these groups is not clear. They support President Bush's "war on terror" and are isolated from the Muslim ummah, worldwide and within the U.S., which opposes Bush's moves. Many young people who attend these groups' conventions have no idea what these groups stand for. We urge Muslims to ask these groups a simple question: DO YOU ACCEPT the QUR'AN and the SUNNAH as BINDING SOURCES OF GUIDANCE ? The three groups should make a simple announcement: We accept the Qur'an and the Sunnah as binding guidance and are willing to be held to these standards. If ISNA, ICNA and W.D. Muhammad already take Qur'an/Sunnah as guidance, they should publish their affirmation so that young people would not be confused.]

[More local news: June 28, 2002. Pakistanis selling jewelry in American malls are being investigated, in case they might be transmitting funds to Al-Qaidah.]

[While Jews continue to fund the terrorist state of Israel, two Lebanese brothers in Charlotte, North Carolina have been convicted of sending $3500 to Hezbollah in Lebanon, an authentic Islamic movement, legal in Lebanon, to help school children. The two could get up to 55 years in prison]

[A Jewish Federation member finds the teachings of Dr. Kaukab Siddique and Imam Badi Ali "unbelievable." She was monitoring the Saudi newspaper ARAB NEWS of June 28 when she saw the complete New Trend report on Dr. Siddique's khutba in Greensboro, NC, published therein. She alerted her group and has questioned Greensboro's newspaper about it.]

[Imam Badi Ali's BOYCOTT LIST of Jewish businesses which support Israel include McDonalds, Disney, and Coca Cola. Join the boycott movement. Don't support Israeli murders of Palestinian children with your own money.]
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Gen. Pervez Musharraf Taking Pakistan down with him: Pakistani forces hunt Mujahideen
Slick Game with U.S. and India Helped to Contain Islamic Movement, destroy Taliban
Violent Incidents Indicate Assailants Consider Pakistan part of U.S.-U.K. Coalition

Pakistani coup leader Pervez Musharraf inherited pro-American anti-Islam policies from the governments of Benazir Bhutto and Nawaz Sharif. The difference was that pre-Musharraf governments kept a low profile in their deals with the bosses in the White House. After 9/11, Musharref decided to cash in on the American desire to topple the Taliban. It was a calculated decision in which American money was weighed against loyalty to Islam, brotherhood with Afghanistan, support for Kashmir, the aspirations of the Pakistani people. American money won. Musharref was promised ONE BILLION DOLLARS and a write-off of Pakistani debts.

MUSHARREF's BLUNDER NUMBER ONE was loss of Afghan support for Pakistan. Thus Pakistan lost the strategic depth it had gained by the victory of the Taliban in Kabul.

During the earlier stage of the American intervention in Afghanistan, Musharref behaved a little coyly, as if he still had some shreds of honor left. Within that context, he "advised" Bush not to continue the BOMBING DURING RAMADAN. His "advice" was ignored. America dropped a 500 kg bomb on a mosque in Ramadan WHILE TARAWEEH PRAYERS WERE ON.

BLUNDER NUMBER TWO. Induction of American forces into Pakistan. Jacobabad became a U.S. military base. The FBI spread out from Islamabad (where it was in place during the Nawaz Sharif regime) into Karachi and other cities. The Americans are also said to be monitoring Pakistani nuclear facilities and have reached "close up" positions. A first in dishonor for Pakistan, AFGHAN AMBASSADOR ABDUS SALAM ZAEEF WAS HANDED OVER TO THE U.S. No Muslim government has ever carried out such a despicable act.

BLUNDER NUMBER THREE. As the protests against Musharref grew in the streets, the coup leader took the line that these are mere "extremists" and that most people are with him. The protests grew to 50,000 people (conservative estimates) per city and took place almost DAILY in major Pakistani cities. Thus several million people were demonstrating on a given day in Pakistan. [Jamaate Islami and Jamiat ‘Ulema-e-Islam took the lead.] Here was a chance for Musharref to withdraw from the U.S.-British (covertly Israeli) coalition. He could have said that Pakistanis do not support my pro-U.S. moves and I can't go against the people's wishes. Or HE COULD HAVE CALLED FOR A REFERENDUM ON SUPPORT FOR THE WAR ON TERROR. Instead he decided to go 100% with Bush and kept claiming that the demonstrators (STILL VERY PEACEFUL) were just a "bunch of extremists."

[Important note: The movement remained peaceful. The only blood drawn was by Musharref's police which killed a number of people in Karachi. Neither Musharref nor his police were punished for these murders of peaceful demonstrators.]

BLUNDER NUMBER FOUR. Musharref sent Pakistani military forces to seal of the Afghan border to help American troops looking for Al-Qaidah and Taliban guerrilla forces. Thus he opened a second front against Pakistan.

BLUNDER NUMBER FIVE. Musharref accepted the Indian-American idea that Pakistani volunteers going into Kashmir to help stop Indian atrocities were "terrorists." Hundreds of Kashmir-oriented mujahideen have been arrested by Musharref to help stop what India calls "cross border terrorism." Thus Musharref effectively gave up the Pakistani right to intervene in Kashmir. (The K in Pakistan is for Kashmir.) Musharref has indicated that Pakistan will support Kashmiri rights only on the diplomatic, political and "moral" fronts. Not surprisingly India's extreme right wing (KKK type) government has declared that it has won against Pakistan without fighting.

BLUNDER NUMBER SIX. Musharref decided to hold a referendum to get himself legitimized as Pakistan's president. This was a personal blunder for him and indicates that he is surrounded by secularist advisers who do not realize the depth of the resurgent Islamic awakening in Pakistan. Most observers agree that Musharref got only 5% of the vote. Hence Pakistan has an illegitimate regime hanging on with U.S. (Israeli) support against the will of the people.
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MUSHARREF's INDIA CARD:

In his very first speech in support of the war on "terrorism", Musharref claimed that he must go along with America because India might take advantage of the situation if America becomes angry. He also claimed that Pakistani support for the U.S. would be mainly "logistic."

However, the demonstrations showed that masses of people did not buy his story. But the demonstrations ended in Ramadan as people went back to traditional late night prayers (taraweehs) in mosques after day long fasting. [Obviously Pakistanis are not ready for Jihad. Hadith indicate that fasts can be broken during Jihad.] This gave Musharref's secular coterie a whole month to plot and plan. After Ramadan, the a well-organized move was made to divert attention from the war in Afghanistan. There was a raid on the Indian parliament in which a few policemen were killed. This raid was used as a pretext to mass Indian troops on the Pakistani frontier. It appeared as if India was planning to move against Pakistan. However, it was only a feint and successfully stopped the movement against Musharref.

[THERE WERE MASS MURDERS OF MUSLIMS IN INDIA, including rapes of hundreds of Muslim women in Gujarat. Musharraf could have brought up the issue of Indian Muslims to world forums or at least shown intense concern. He did nothing. He was preparing the "referendum." Thus confrontation with India is definitely NOT part of Musharref's agenda though it is part of his tactics to deflect internal pressure.]

After the "referendum", Musharref felt very vulnerable. Had he been an honest man, he would have resigned. In that context of his vulnerability, we can understand the current standoff between India and Pakistan.

Some ISLAMIC GROUP seems to have understood that if India can actually be goaded into attacking Pakistan, that would help to unite the people. The attack on an Indian military camp in occuppied Kashmir caused a hundred Indian military casualties, though Indian propaganda focused only on the few civilian deaths (families of occupation troops). India was furious and Indian strategists saw it as an opportunity to work with Bush and Musharref to delegitimize Pakistani intervention in Kashmir. The Indian strategy won because Bush and Musharref were working with India. The Islamic group did not succeed because an actual Indian attack did not take place. In fact the confrontation erased some of the mud on Musharref's face which came from the failed "referendum."

ERUPTIONS OF VIOLENCE WITHIN PAKISTAN

The peaceful Islamic movement could not budge Musharref from his pro-American entanglement. Pakistanis feel humiliated and enraged that the Islamic regime in Afghanistan was toppled and they could do nothing about it. Thousands of ill-armed and untrained Pakistanis actually crossed into Pakistan to help the Taliban. Many of them were slaughtered in U.S. bombing raids. Others were captured and imprisoned by the "northern alliance" in steel containers. [Musharref would not allow Pakistanis martyred in Afghanistan to be given a public funeral in Karachi.] [How many Pakistanis were killed by the "northern alliance?" The Musharref regime is not interested.]

Incidents in Pakistan indicate that some, as yet unknown/concealed, groups have started a campaign of violence aimed at damaging the Musharref government's relationships and prospects. First there was the kidnapping of Daniel Pearl. The demands of the kidnappers indicated that they opposed the transfer of Al-Qaidah prisoners to Cuba (a violation of international law) and condemned the bombing of Afghanistan. Pearl's hideous murder sent shock waves throughout the world. Pakistanis were surprised to learn that Pearl was an Israeli. Though there can be no excuse for such a killing, Pearl's visit to Pakistan indicates that Israelis much more subtle than him, with U.S. passports, could well be operating in Pakistan, monitoring Pakistan's nuclear capabilities and preparing for a strike. [Readers may not remember that ISRAEL BROKE ALL INTERNATIONAL LAWS TO BOMB THE IRAQI NUCLEAR FACILITY IN OSIRAK at a time when Iraq was America's friend. Much preparation on the ground went into the actual strike.]

Then for the FIRST TIME we have martyrdom operations in Pakistan. A busload of French specialists was blown up while they were preparing to set up a naval facility for joint Pak-U.S. use. It was a setback for investments in Pakistan as it took place in the best hotel area and a visiting cricket team decided not to tour Pakistan. Obviously the assailants consider Pakistan a target because of its inclusion in the U.S.- British (Israeli) coalition.

Then assailants attacked the American consulate in Karachi. Although the explosion was powerful, it seemed to be an amateurish attack as the casualties were largely Pakistani passersby. The real target, the Consulate, was not hit, though it was closed down for a week and now operates at a minimal level. Thus the hit-and-miss assailants killed innocent people and were only successful to the extent of cutting off Pakistan-U.S. traffic.

These acts of extreme violence are still not traceable to specific sources. If these were carried out by Pakistanis, they are very disturbing in that they herald the transfer of leadership from the peaceful movement to the violent groups.

Though most Pakistanis (more than 80%) support (even love) Osama bin Laden and the Taliban, they are peaceful people who do not envisage a physical conflict with Musharref's troops or even with U.S. or pro-U.S. elements in Pakistan.

However, as Musharref continues to fight America's battles, the internal situation can only get worse as more and more Pakistanis decide to fight force with force.

LATEST BATTLE: On June 26, Pakistani mercenary troops, at Musharref's orders, working with the U.S. decided to capture a handful of Islamic fighters from Chechnya who had taken refuge in a village on the Pak-Afghan border. Obviousy the Chechens, who have given up everything for the sake of Islam, are welcome in Pakistan and were being treated as members of the family by Pakistani villagers, when Musharref's troops (backed by American ‘observers') attacked the refugees.

In this battle, the Pakistani troops were routed. Ten Pakistani mercenaries were killed and 30 injured. Two of the Chechen mujahids were martyred and one captured.

Thus we see the final fruits of Musharref's "strategy": Pakistani troops fighting Islamic mujahideen. The Pakistani armed forces drain the Pakistani economy to maintain their vast establishment. Money is not available for HEALTH, EDUCATION or AGRICULTURE because of this vast military system. The Pakistani people make these sacrifices to liberate Kashmir (the bone of contention with India). The Pakistani armed forces have proven themselves incapable of liberating Kashmir. Instead the Muslim world is aghast at the phenomenon of Pakistani soldiers helping America, sealing off the Afghan border, and now getting into an actual fight with the mujahideen from Chechnya who are the pride of Islam, the pride of the whole ummah.

EVEN WHEN PAKISTAN WAS NOT IN EXISTENCE AND THE BRITISH RULED INDIA, THE BRITISH HONORED THE RIGHT OF PATHAN TRIBES TO GIVE SANCTUARY TO REFUGEES. Musharref, by going into frontier sanctuaries, has taken Pakistan to a depth lower than that of British rule.
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2002-06-28 Fri 12:17ct