Pakistan's universities are the new breeding ground for terrorists
Karachi University (KU) is among the top universities of Pakistan. Recently, some female students of the KU were beaten up by the Islami Jamiat-e-Talaba (IJT) - the student wing of the Jamaat-e-Islami (JI)- for playing cricket in their spare time. The JI is the pioneer of introducing religion-based politics in Pakistan, and has also unleashed terror in educational institutions through their student wing, the IJT. The JI has always been a strong supporter of the Taliban while criticising the liberal and secular political parties of Pakistan.
The IJT has a history of violence and involvement with extremist groups, providing them logistic support. Former JI leader Munawar Hasan had also declared Hakimullah Mehsud, the leader of Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), a martyr. The Pakistan Army had demanded an apology from Hasan.
The concept that terrorists are only products of religious seminaries and come from mountainous areas is not always true. According to initial investigations, the murderer of Sabeen Mahmood, a social worker, came from a prestigious business institute in Karachi. Saad Aziz, suspected of being involved in the killing of members of the Ismaili Shia community, was radicalised there.
According to Pakistani media reports, Raja Salman Aziz, an Al-Qaeda militant was killed in aerial strikes carried out by the Pakistan military this year. Salman was involved in many terrorist activities including twin blasts in Rawalpindi and murdering former minister Shahbaz Bhatti in 2011. He was the son of a female JI leader from Islamabad. The JI has always refuted the allegations of its connection with terrorist organisations around the world.
In 2014, Al-Qaeda in the Indian subcontinent (AQIS) spokesperson, Usman Mehmood released a statement in which he announced the deaths of Dr Sarbuland, along with his two young sons and his brother-in-law, Major Adil Qudoos, a retired Major in the Pakistan Army. They were killed in a drone strike carried out by the US on the Pakistan-Afghanisthan border. According to media reports, Dr Sarbuland was a medical doctor supported by the JI. Major Qudoos, and his family, including wife Farzana Qudoos were all active members of the JI. The mastermind of the 9/11 attacks in the US, Khalid Shaikh Muhammad, was arrested from the residence of Major Qudoos. Investigation reports of Pakistani intelligence agencies revealed that Major Qudoos’s father was a medical doctor; met former Al-Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden when he was living in Sudan in the 1990s.
In November 2013, a leader of the IJT, Abdur Rehman from Karachi, was killed in a drone attack in North Waziristan. He was identified as a former student of an engineering university in Karachi. His presence in North Waziristan, which is the headquarters of the TTP and Haqqani network, gave a strong impression to the Pakistani security agencies that many JI and IJT activists actively participate in terrorist activities carried out by the Al-Qaeda and TTP. In September 2013, a suspected Al-Qaeda operative was arrested from a hostel in the Punjab University campus in Lahore. The hostel was illegally occupied by IJT members. Intelligence agencies raided the hostel following reports that a member of the Al-Qaeda “suicide squad” visits there. They found some documents about explosive materials in a room which belonged to a IJT member. An intelligence officer who led the operation told local newspaper Express Tribune that the JI had been “directly and indirectly involved” in providing accommodation to Al-Qaeda operatives in Pakistan. The Academic Staff Association (ASA), which represents the faculty members of the Punjab University told the provincial government: “It is shameful that a political party (JI) is giving refuge to those supporting militants belonging to banned organisations." The administration told the Punjab government that many more students of the university have links with the Al-Qaeda.
In August 2012, another member of the JI, Engineer Ahsan Aziz, was killed in a drone attack in North Waziristan. The then JI chief Qazi Hussain Ahmad led his funeral prayers.
In December 2010 an afternoon prayer in Karachi University led by Shia students was hit by a low intensity bomb attack in which five students were severely injured. In 2011, the special investigation unit of the police arrested three terrorists who were allegedly involved in the attack. Further investigation revealed that the three attackers were former members of the IJT and were trained in Waziristan. They were running their own groups as “Punjabi Mujahidden”.
In July 2004, Dr Arshad Waheed and his brother Dr Akmal Waheed were arrested from Karachi in connection with an attack on the then Corps Commander Karachi Lt Gen Ahsan Hayat. Ten security personnel were killed in that attack. Further investigation revealed that Dr Waheed was the president of the Islamic Medical Association, a tendril of the JI and a recruiter for the Afghanistan War at Al-Qaeda-operated camps in Waziristan. They also confessed of the recruitment of a large number of IJT students from different institutes in Karachi and shifted them to Waziristan. The judiciary in Pakistan set them free for not having enough evidence and in March 2008 Dr Waheed was killed in a drone strike in Waziristan with a bunch of Al-Qaeda members, which confirmed his links with the terrorist organisation. The then chief operational commander of Al-Qaeda, Abu Yazid, in a documentary, featured Dr Waheed as a role model for young jihadis.
The link of the JI with the international terrorist organisations like Al-Qaeda can be traced through Steve Coll’s book Ghost Wars. He wrote, “On bin Laden’s first trip to Pakistan, he brought donations to the Lahore offices of Jamaat-e-Islami, Zia’s political shock force.” Now that the Pakistani government has decided to freeze Jamat-ud-Dawa's account, it should also take steps against the IJT, which has been serving as an incubator for terrorism in the country. Their activities are destroying the atmosphere of the prestigious education institutions.