Anti-Iraq moves a trigger for Bali explosion<\/p>\n
B. Raman, Institute for Topical Studies Chennai, India,
\nThe Straits Times, Asia News Network, Singapore<\/p>\n
The Bali blasts represent the second terrorist strike probably
\nconnected to the anniversary of the beginning of the United
\nStates air strikes in Afghanistan on Oct. 7, and the preparations
\nfor a possible U.S.-Britain intervention in Iraq to have
\nPresident Saddam Hussein overthrown.<\/p>\n
The first was the ramming by a boat filled with explosives
\nagainst a French supertanker off Yemen on Oct. 6. A terrorist
\ngroup in Aden is reported to have claimed responsibility, but its
\nclaim is yet to be verified.<\/p>\n
While the Yemen incident was apparently a suicide attack, it
\nis not clear yet whether the Bali explosions were.<\/p>\n
For many months now, Indonesia has been developing into a
\nmajor hub of Southeast Asia-based Islamic terrorist groups with
\ntwo motivations -- a pan-Islamic one aiming to achieve a
\ncaliphate in Southeast Asia covering southern Thailand,
\nSingapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, southern Philippines and Brunei,
\nand an anti-Christian one targeting the Christian community, many
\nof whose members happen to be ethnic Chinese.<\/p>\n
The developments in Indonesia have an interesting parallel in
\nthe pan-Islamic and anti-Christian motivations operating in
\ntandem in Pakistan and the pan-Islamic and anti-Hindu motivations
\noperating in tandem in India.<\/p>\n
The pan-Islamic organizations of Pakistan, which are members
\nof Osama bin Laden's International Islamic Front for Jihad
\nagainst the U.S. and Israel -- the Harkat-ul-Mujahideen (HUM),
\nthe Harkat-ul-Jihad-al-Islami (Huji), the Jaish-e-Mohammad (JEM)
\nand the Lashkar-e-Toiba (LET) -- seek to achieve an Islamic
\ncaliphate in South Asia and look upon Hinduism as a corrupting
\ninfluence on Islam, not only in Pakistan but also in Indonesia.
\nThey blame Hinduism for making Islam soft in Indonesia.<\/p>\n
Against this background, the selection of Bali, with its
\npredominantly Hindu population, for this most devastating
\nterrorist strike is disquieting.<\/p>\n
Indonesian President Megawati Soekarnoputri's mother was a
\nMuslim of Balinese Hindu origin, and Islamic extremist elements
\nin Indonesia referred to this before her election.<\/p>\n
However, there is no evidence to show that the explosions had
\nanything to do with the predominantly Hindu nature of the island
\nor Megawati's family background.<\/p>\n
Bali seems to have been chosen for the terrorist strike mainly
\nbecause security precautions there were very relaxed as it was
\nnot considered by the Indonesian intelligence and security
\nagencies as a likely trouble spot.<\/p>\n
In an assessment prepared in April, the security agencies had
\nidentified six security \"trouble spots\" in Indonesia from the
\npoint of view of the fight against Islamic terrorism -- Aceh,
\nMaluku, Papua, Sampit in Central Kalimantan, Poso in Central
\nSulawesi and West Timor.<\/p>\n
Indonesian intelligence officials say foreign terrorist groups
\nhad used Poso as a training ground in recent years. The
\nattraction of Bali to the terrorists also arises from the fact
\nthat it gets a large number of Australian and Western tourists.<\/p>\n
Among the foreign nationals who fought in the International
\nIslamic Front as members of its Pakistani components were
\nAmerican Muslims (mostly Afro-Americans), nationals\/residents of
\nWest European countries, Thais, Malaysians, Singaporeans who
\nprojected themselves as Malays from Malaysia, and Indonesians.<\/p>\n
Their total number was estimated at 200. Practically all of
\nthem had been recruited by HUM, Huji and LET teams.<\/p>\n
There were about 400 foreign students recruited by the HUM,
\nthe Huji and the LET from Malaysia, Indonesia and Thailand, who
\nwere studying at the various madrasah in Pakistan before being
\ninducted into the jihad.<\/p>\n
Of the 190 being trained in Sindh, 86 were from Malaysia, 82
\nfrom Thailand and 22 from Indonesia.<\/p>\n
Of the 151 being trained in Punjab, 61 were from Malaysia, 49
\nfrom Thailand and 41 from Indonesia. Of the 59 being trained in
\nthe North-west Frontier Province, 21 were from Indonesia, 20 from
\nMalaysia and 18 from Thailand.<\/p>\n
Thus, there were 167 Malaysians, 149 Thais and 84 Indonesians
\nbeing trained in the various madrasahs of Pakistan. Evidence
\navailable indicates that while the terrorists from Malaysia and
\npossibly Singapore were trained in the headquarters of the JEM in
\nthe Binori complex in Karachi, those from Indonesia were trained
\nin the Muridke complex of the LET, near Lahore.<\/p>\n
The HUM had always been training recruits from southern
\nPhilippines and Myanmar, in addition to those from Xinjiang,
\nChechnya, Dagestan and the Central Asian republics. The Huji
\ntrains those from Bangladesh.<\/p>\n
Before Oct. 7 last year, the training camps of the HUM and the
\nHuji were located in eastern Afghanistan. It is not known where
\nthey have been moved since then. However, it is known that, in
\nthe past, they had used the infrastructure of the Tablighi Jamaat
\nin Raiwind, in Punjab, for training purposes.<\/p>\n
Since July, unconfirmed rumors have been circulating in
\nKarachi and elsewhere about a large number of members of the al
\nQaeda, including some leaders such as Ayman Al-Zawahiri, Osama's
\nNo. 2, having escaped to Bangladesh, with the help of the Huji,
\nwhich has an active branch in Bangladesh assisted by the
\nBangladeshi military-intelligence establishment.<\/p>\n
What seems to have happened and is still happening is that
\nmany Bangladeshis, Arakanese, Malays from Singapore and Malaysia,
\nIndonesians and Filipinos, who had fought as members of the HUM,
\nthe Huji and the LET against the Northern Alliance and
\nsubsequently against the U.S. in Afghanistan, have been finding
\ntheir way, with the help of the Huji and the Jamaat-e-Islami of
\nBangladesh, which is a member of the ruling coalition in Dhaka,
\ninto Bangladesh.<\/p>\n
Unconfirmed reports also mentioned the presence in Bangladesh
\nof Riduan Isamuddin of Indonesia, better known as Hambali, the
\n36-year-old cleric wanted by the U.S. and four Southeast Asian
\ncountries as the terrorist mastermind of the Asian operations of
\nOsama's al-Qaeda network.<\/p>\n
It is likely some of these terrorist dregs have since sneaked
\nback to their countries of origin. The Bali explosions probably
\nmark the return to Indonesia of some of the dregs from
\nAfghanistan and Pakistan.<\/p>\n
The talk in the Pakistani madrasahs has been that members of
\nthe International Islamic Front would be carrying out a well-
\norchestrated series of terrorist attacks against Western
\nnationals and interests in different parts of the world as
\nwarning signals to pre-empt U.S.-British military strikes against
\nIraq.<\/p>\n
The attacks on the French tanker off Yemen and in Bali were
\napparently part of this planned series, and more are likely as
\nthe U.S. and Britain go ahead with their preparations for an
\nattack on Iraq.<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/anti-iraq-moves-a-trigger-for-bali-explosion-1447893297",
"image": ""
},
"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
"sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com"
}