Growth Of Islamic Fundamentalism In South Asia History Essay

Growth Of Moslem Fundamentalism In southerly Asia History Essay Moslem fundamentalism is non a new phenomenon. In recent times, it has acquired a militant and jehadi framing. It has grown because of the failure of the reigning elite in southwestward Asian countries in commonwealth building and in constructing democratic polities. consequent administrations, both civilian and military, in almost of the countries in the region pee used Islam as a means to legitimise their rule.As seen in previous chapter that the Muslim fundamentalism has been well(p) entrenched in Pakistans business office structure for the last 2 decades or so, ever since the military rule of Gen durationl Zia-ul Haq. Pakistan militarys alliance with the Mullahs was organise during this consummation. The conglomerate of six fundamentalist softenies, the Muttahida Majlise Amal (MMA), controls the provincial regimen in the strategical NWFP, where it has already enforced a kind of Taliban rule. The MMA is excessively part of the government in Baluchistan. Subsequently Gen. Musharraf strengthened the Mullah-Military alliance. In the subsequent paragraphs we exit study the Moslem fundamentalism in various separate asian countries and pak role in spreading this fundamenatalism. image I ISLAMIC FUNDAMENTALISM IN AFGHANISTAN Afghanistaniiistan and the Rise of TalibanDemography. Afghanistan is a landlocked unsophisticated in Central Asia, environ by Pakistan, Iran, Turkmenistan, Uzebkistan and China. Its world approximately stand somewhere between 15 and 20 million people. The overwhelming major(ip)ity of its world is Moslems, although a significant pincerity -between 10 and 20 per cent adheres to heterodox Sunni confession. The cosmos is besides diverse in both ethnic and linguistic terms. While two Indo- Iranian languages Persian and Pustho- atomic number 18 the ones most widely heard in the unsophisticated, one as well encounters speakers of Turk, Dravidian, Nuristani, and other languages. Afghanistan besides ethnicaly and linguistically, is same(p)wise divided economically and spatially.Shaping of FundamentalismPower Struggle the Root Cause. The Afghanistan is in turmoil since 1973. In 1973 Mohammed Daoud caravanserai gunpointd a coup, deposing his cousin king Zahir Shah and appointing himself as president. Daoud captured power with the help of Soviet- trained military officers, who were members of the Peoples classless Party of Afghanistan (PDPA). On 27 Apr 1978, the leftist military officers overthrew Mohammed Daoud Khan in a surprise coup and Noor Mohammed Taraki came to power. Due to internal disputes within the Taraki Camp thither was widespread killing of tribal leadership to trouble control over them. Thus Amin overthrew and killed Taraki and do overtures to the USA.Russian Intervention. The Russian Intervention in Afghanistan played a crucial role for its subsequent control and a s cut ratee of anarchy in the region. T he reason for Russian intervention in Afghanistan were as under-Iranian Connection. During Oct 1974 The Shah of Iran offered aid worth $ 2 billion to capital of Afghanistan and also give secure access to Iranian port of Bandar Abbas to the sea via Iran, there by cut down the Soviet leverage as the lonesome(prenominal) alternative route for Afghan overland trade. The change magnitude overtures of iran towar farthereds Afghanistan increased Soviet apprehensions.Inclination to USA. The Amin after assuming the power from Taraki made overtures towards USA. This caused Moscow panic and at this stage the Soviets decided to intervene militarily to stabilize the situation, instead the soviets got sucked into the war.Situation after Soviet Withdrawal. After the disengagement of Soviet forces from Afghanistan in 1989. The number of mujahedin faction who fought their Jihad against Soviet forces and communist regime of capital of Afghanistan tried to capture the power in capital of Afghani stan. The Afghan society was highly divided on tribal and ethnolinguistically lines at that time. The mujahedin warlords were also confused along these lines. As their communities interests were involved and so a consensus government could non be formed and neither a power sharing agreement could reach between them. The end result was anarchy in Afghanistan. Pakistan, which was a front line offer for Americans and western nation for arms supplies to mujahideen during Soviet occupation of Afghanistan had now its own interest in keeping the Afghan disintegrated as it wanted it establish its own puppet government there, so it backed number of mujahideen groups just now when they failed to capture the power in capital of Afghanistan, it started the Taliban movement with Saudi money and US planning and Pakistans manpower.Pakistans Objectives. Pakistan objectives in Afghanistan atomic number 18 two fold. The first was to secure a receptive leader ship in Kabul which would ensure th e transformation of Afghanistan into a Pakistan dominated, Pushtun ruled enclave and assist Pakistans goal of wider regional influence, and broader regional political, economic and strategic gains. The other was to enable Pakistan to enmesh the identity of Pakistans and Afghanistan Pushtun into one and settle once and for all the longstanding Afghanistan -Pakistan bump into dispute in line with Pakistans interests. These considerations assumed greater urgency after the collapse of the Soviet Union, which not only signalled the imminent end of communist rule in Kabul, but also opened up the potentially resource rich Central Asian Republic( CAR).Growth of TalibanBirth of Taliban. It is worldwidely accepted by Afghanistan watchers that the Taliban had its birth in the rugged mountains of the Pak-Afghan exhibit, inside Pakistan territory some time in Aug 1994. By wee 1994 it became obvious to the ISI that the Burhanuddin Rabbani regime, not very friendly to Islamabad, was slowly co nsolidating itself in Kabul. While they were looking for alternative s, Maj Gen (Retd) Naseerullah Babar, the inside Minister in the second Benazir Bhutto government floated the idea of creating a students militia along with some veterans from the Afghan mujahideen who had fought the Red host and who had taken shelter in Pakistan. Gen Babar started his search for suitable leaders from slightly April-May 1994. In the process, he came crossways a certain Mohammad Umar Mujahid. Later widely known as Mullah Umar. By the end of May 1994 the basic infrastructure for launching the Taliban was in place. Around this time, the meeting with the Jamait Ulema Islam headed by Maulana Fazlur Rahman started bearing fruit in terms of deputing its students for the proposed outfit, which it proposed to call Taliban.Most of the Taliban argon the children of the Jihad against Soviet Union. numerous were born in Pakistani refugee camps, educated in Pakistani madrassas and learnt their fighting skill from Afghan Mujahideen parties based in Pakistan. Their families continued to live in Pakistan as refugees even after the fall of Kabul to the Mujahideen in 1992. The Taliban the Army of Islamic students -was raised from the madrassas on the Afghan Pakistan border. Sociologically, Pakistan had based this new rotation upon the segment of the fanatical and illiterate village mullahs- the land less and weakest section of Afghan society. They are generally orphans who prefer to live in madrassas for terzetto square meals a day.Pakistani Connection. umpteen Taliban carry Pakistani identity cards, as they spent years in refuge camps in Pakistan, and thousand voted in the 1997 elections Baluchistan for their favored Pakistani caller- the Jamiat -e Ulema-I Islam. Moreover the Taliban recruited hundreds of Pakistani Islamic fundamentalist students to fight for their causes and were closely linked to Pakistans fundamentalist Islamic parties such as the Jamait -e Uleama Islam led by Mau lana Fazular Rahman. Their social history also allowed them to be extremely well connected to many Pakistani state institution, political parties and business groups in what was already an extremely fragmented Pakistani power structure. Thus the Taliban were never beholden to one exclusive Pakistani lobby.ISI Support to Taliban. It is believed that the Taliban Shura and Umer are only a front and the actual thinking and strategy is provide by the former and service of process members of the Inter Services Intelligence Agency (ISI) of Pakistan. It wold be difficult to explain otherwise how the students of madrassas, dedicated to ghostly learning as a way to life almost overnight became warriors. The improvised madrassas in the NWFP and Baluchistan would just be in a position to impart any military training, unless they befool sound and organise financial and military backing. In any event, over the last two years Lt Gen (Retd.) Hameed Gul, former main(prenominal) of the ISI, has emerged as an important spokesperson of the Taliban movement. Large number of former Pakistani military personnel a have been spotted in Taliban camps actively engaged in Taliban activities.PART II ISLAMIC FUNDAMENTALISM IN BANGLADESHBrief HistoryFormation of Bangladesh. Bangladesh emerged as a new state in 1971 after a protracted vie for autonomy, which evolved into a freedom movement against the Punjabi-dominated military bureaucratic establishment of Pakistan.Religion and Constitution. though the initial Constitution of Bangladesh unambiguously enshrined unconsecratedism, which was to be realised by eliminating communalism in all its forms, and the establishment of multi-party body politic as fundamental political values. Sheikh Mujibur Rahman had spelt out the meaning of secularism in the context of the Muslim society. He had explained that secularism does not mean absence of religion. The people of Bangladesh would have the right to religion but zip would be allowed to use religion as a political weapon. Islam in Bangladesh has been based on three types of religious beliefs modern, orthodox and popular. A majority of the Muslims of Bangladesh form popular religion that includes faith in pirs, set apart places, Hindu gods and local deities and spirits. The Jamaat-i- Islami had no appeal in the political environment in East Pakistan since 1947. In, the Jamaat-i-Islami had only one member in that part of Pakistan.Bangladeshs Drift Towards Extremism. only, after the military coup dtat of 1975, secularism was replaced by the words Faith in Almighty Allah in the revised constitution. A new era of the relationship with Middle east Muslim countries, brought Wahhabi ideology back home from Arabia and created a social fuse and support base for future fundamentalists in the plain. In 1988, another military dictator declared Islam the state religion of Bangladesh by amending the Constitution. To create an aura of political legitimacy as well as to net pro fit support from the oil-rich Middle Eastern Muslim countries, military regimes rehabilitated and eventually collaborated with Islamic political organizations, some of which were nucleotide and fundamentalist in nature. 43 Both military regimes tried to overcome their legitimacy crises by manipulating the political issue of Islamic identity. In this way, the military regimes not only created the opportunity for the Islamists to be a part of mainstream politics in Bangladesh, but they also made Islamization an agenda of the state and Islam the de facto state ideology.44Subsequent democratic governments could not overcome the religious ideology created by the military regimes. During the anti-military period of the 1980s, the two major political parties, the Bangladesh Awami fusion (AL) and the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), continued to maintain tactical relationships with fundamentalist political organizations. The party that won the general elections in 1991 and 2001 formed a coalition with fundamentalist political organizations. The two of the militant fundamentalist organizations of this period that shocked the country the most were the HUJIB and the JMB. The mother organization of the HUJIB was located in Pakistan.Fundamentalist Acts in Bangladesh. mingled with March 6, 1999 and January 27, 2005, militant Islamists killed at least 156 people in Bangladesh. Bombs were thrown mostly at secular cultural gatherings, courthouses, and Sufi shrines. Worst among them were the bomb attacks at Udichi programs (a secularist cultural organization) programs, the Ahmadiyya mosque (a minority Islamic religious sect), Bengali new year celebrations, churches, movie theatres, the Bangladeshi born British High Commissioner to Bangladesh, and at the rally of the party of opposition. The bomb attack that shocked the country most was the blast of August 17, 2005, where 459 bombs were exploded in 63 of the 64 districts in the country between 1100 and 1130 am. There were also several(prenominal) attacks on secularist NGO (Non-Government Organization) activists and newspapers. Two militant religious fundamentalist organizations, Harkatul Jihad al-Islam Bangladesh (HUJIB), and Jamaatul Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB), carried out these attacks. These two groups alone exploded hundreds of bombs throughout the country during this period in order to establish an Islamic regime in the country. In addition to these two groups, other militant Islamist organizations, active in this period that were also involved in similar violent and terrorist activities included, Shahadat al-Hikma, Hizbut Tawhid, Bangladesh Islamic Manch, and Hifajate Khatme Nabuwat Andolon.Pakistan Link. The two of the major and active militant fundamentalist organizations of Bangladesh are HUJIB (Harkatul Jihad al-Islam of Bangladesh) and the JMB (Jagrata Muslim Janata Bangladesh). The mother organization of the HUJIB was located in Pakistan. The Pakistani HUJI had first appeared in the ear ly 1980s as a group of supporters of the Afghan resistance against Soviet aggression, known as Jamaatul Ansar (Group of the Helpers). With the support of Pakistans Inter-Services Intelligence Agency (ISI), the group renamed itself as Harkatul Jihad al-Islam (The Movement for the Islamic Jihad) in 1988.53 In the 1990s it expanded its operations beyond Afghanistan, especially in support of the struggle of Muslims in non-Muslim countries. Shafiqur Rahman, an Afghan war veteran, founded the Harkatul Jihad al-Islami Bangladesh in 1992. The organization officially declared its existence at a sign on conference at the National Press Club in Dhaka on April 30, 1992. Presently there are approx 27 militant outfits in Indias Northeast that have ties with Bangladesh and its various religio-political groups. The ISI and Bangladeshs DGFI coordinate with ULFA. The influx of migrants from Bangladesh across the border into north-east India and West Bengal for sure poses a threat of Islamic militan cy spreading in these regions of India as well. During the rule of the BNP-led four-party alliance between 2001 and 2006, militant Islamic groups such as the HUJIB and JMB sure significant material and moral support from Islamists within the alliance.PART IIITHE DANGER IN NEPALGen. Nepal is a Hindu kingdom but not a Hindu state and religious minorities have lived in the Kingdom without any discrimination. everyplace the last several years, the Kingdom, however, has been in turmoil. It has been plagued by Maoist insurgency and the struggle for end of monarchy and establishment of Democracy in the Kingdom. Both these major struggle were over by 2006. However the country had to think and work out the settlement before the maoist can be select and the new constitution can be enacted for the country. Though the country is pro India and anti Islamic Fundamentalism, but a disturbed situation has been exploited by the anti India countries over the years. The use of Nepal soil by the Isl amist for causing disturbance in India have been established time again.The presence of militant Islamists on the India-Nepal border has been causing concern in the contiguous Indian areas.Geographical Realities. It may be noted that India has an open, porous border with Nepal, which is 1,859 km-long. There are almost 20 Indian districts that share the border with 27 Nepalese districts. The open border provides a free field to all kinds of criminal activities, like drug trafficking, smuggling, cognizance activities, fake currency, fugitives, etc.Matter of Concern. What has caused concern is the emergence of numerous madrassas and mosques on both sides of the border. The number of mosques is certainly not justified by the number of Muslims in the area. The madrassas are largely funded from West Asia. These developments too have serious implications for India. The 1999 hijacking of the Indian Airlines plane on a flight from Kathmandu to New Delhi, which lastly ended with the release of three top Pakistani terrorist leaders, showed that the ISI had set up an active base in Nepal. Some Kashmiri groups belonging to Hizb-ul Mujahideen have been caught in Nepal trying to send money to Islamic separatists in Jammu and Kashmir. Pakistani presence in Nepal is reflected in the outgrowth of madrassas, increase in Muslim population, natation of fake Indian currency and is helped by an open border and lack of monitoring system.PART IV ISLAMIC FUNDAMENTALISM IN SRI LANKANOrigin and Growth of Islamic Fundamentalism. Muslims in Sri Lanka are the descendants of the Arabs, who came approximately a thousand years ago. The origins of Islamic fundamentalism in the country, however, are recent and can be traced to 1990 when the Sri Lankan ethnic Tamils brood away Muslims from the Eastern region under their control. This forced migration increased Muslim population in the districts to which they had migrated. No effort was made by the government to rehabilitate these uprooted Mu slim refugees, who had to live in poverty and misery. Over time, madrassas came up, funded by munificent Arabs. Frequent Sinhala-Muslim communal clashes began to take place. Shariat courts were set up and strict rules imposed on Muslim women in the Eastern areas. The situation in the Muslim areas deteriorated and Muslim- Buddhist clashes became a regular feature. aggressive camps were set up in the Eastern areas where volunteers were given arms and weapons training in the jungles and they called themselves jihadis fighting a holy war for protecting themselves. Ironically, the government itself had provided arms to the Muslims in the early 1980s to protect themselves against the LTTE. Also, attempts were made on part of the government to use Islamic militancy as a buffer against the LTTE. The country has been facing the threat of Tamil Eelam. The situation in the Eastern province is a potential bally(a) cauldron. There have been reports of two Islamic militant bases in Valaichchena i. The formation of an Osama Squad in Batticaloa has also come to notice. All this indicates growth of extremist elements in the community.Pak Involvement. The ISI is keenly interested to collect intelligence about developments in Indian nuclear establishments, many of which are located in Tamil Nadu and Kerala. In this background, the troth by Pakistan two years ago of a former director of the Intelligence Bureau as its High Commissioner in Colombo was not without significance. There has been an increase in the activities of Lashkar-e-Toiba in the Eastern province.PART V ISLAMIC FUNDAMENTALISM AND INDIAFundamentalist Parties Post Independence. After independence apart from some minor outfits, there were two main fundamentalist parties in the country, the Jamiat-al Ulema-i-Hind and the Jamaat-t-Islami. The Jamiat-al Ulema, which had opposed the creation of Pakistan till the end, withdrew from Indian politics after the freedom and the framing of the Indian Constitution. While the Ja maat-i-Islami was divided after the emergence of Pakistan in 1947 and some members of the Jamaat, including its founder, Maulana Abul Ala Maududi, migrated to Pakistan, with an bewilder of creating an Islamic country. While the, members of the Jamaat, who stayed back in India, formed a separate Jamaat in April 1948. The leaders of the Indian Jamaat opposed secularism in all walks of life and decided not to participate in elections, and decided to opt out of the Indian political system. However Jamaat accepted the secularism in 1960s, though with some reservations. The Jamaat members from Jammu Kashmir have not been part of the Indian Jamaat and formed a separate party in the state.Growth of Islamic Fundamentalism in India. India is marred with a plethora of terrorist/ insurgency re youngd problems, terrorism in Punjab, insurgency in its NE, Maoist insurgency in its Central Part, Islamic Fundamentalism in J K and till late LTTE influence in its southern part. However among all the se the threat from Islamic fundamentalism by large, poses the most thickening and significant threat to India. India comprises of largest Muslim population after Indonesia in south Asia. Islamic fundamentalism in the form of terrorism in India was initially limited to the region of J K, but today it has spread its tentacles to other parts of India too. The series of bombing episodes in Mumabai, Banglore, Hyderabad, Varanasi, the hijacking of Indian airlines, attack on parliament, mumbai 26/11, etc are testimony to the growing influence of Islamic fundamentalism in India. India clearly has become a target of jihad in the age of globalisation. Islamic fundamentalism is against democracy and equal rights for all citizens, irrespective of caste, creed, or gender. Its further growth will disrupt peace and stability in the country and in the entire region.Pakistan Invovement. It was well realised by various pakistani rulers and dictators that subdueing India with military might is near to impossible and a proxy war in the form of Jihad would accrue disproportionate result. Keeping this aspect in mind Gen Jia-ul-Haque apply this plan during his tenure. This plan of destabilising India, was implemented through the ISI, an intelligence agency whose officer cadre is drawn from Pakistan Army which is considered to be the state Instrument of this policy, Pakistan involvement in creating and fostering religious extremist groups and terror organisations in Kashmir and elsewhere in India is well documented.PART VI PAK INVOLVEMENT IN GROWTH OF ISLAMIC FUNDAMENTALISMIN SOUTH ASIAThrough our previous study it ha sbeen amply established that the rise of Islamic fundamentalism in Pakistan is not only responsible for the present situation in Afghanistan and in Jammu and Kashmir, but it also has far reaching consequences for all countries of the South Asian region. All South Asian countries are pluralistic and cause at different levels, internal tensions and conflicts based on caste, religion, ethnicity, language and community, and these distort their national integrity and unity. spiritual nationalism has made a great headway not only in Pakistan but also in Bangladesh and Sri Lanka. It has made Pakistan a haven for Islamic terrorists, including Al Qaida, and it inspires terrorist activity in Kashmir. Some of the features of Islamic extremism in South Asia are religiously defined national identity, undermining of democracy by promoting majoritarian theory and practice of non-liberal democracy and accentuation of international conflicts on ethno-religious lines, for example, between Hindu India and Muslim Pakistan and Hindu India and Muslim Bangladesh. The fundamentalists aim to turn the Muslim majority states of the region into Islamic states and start jihad in those countries where Muslims are in a minority. There is no accurate information about the exact number of madrassas in Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nepal and India. Many of these madrassas disseminate the militant ideology of Islamic fundamentalism and turn out militants. These contribute to the ongoing destabilisation not only in Pakistan but also in other countries of the region. The potential radicalisation of Indian Muslims is also a cause of concern.The Pakistan had the repercussions in other countries of the region. The major Islamic party, the Jamaat-i- Islami of Pakistan, and the Tablighi Jamaat and their militant offshoots has a strong presence in Pakistan, India and Bangladesh. There is a wide network of Deobandi and Wahabi madrassas in almost each South Asian country and many of them are being funded by Saudi and Pakistani sources. Pakistan has been sponsoring a militant terrorist campaign in the Indian state of Jammu and Kashmir for the last two decades. Pakistans official agencies have been active in promoting militant groups in all countries of the region. In India, there has also been a visible increase in the activities of Pakistani-sponsored militant groups, lik e Lashkar-e Toiba and Jaish-e Muhammad. South Asia is the most complex region of the world in terms of religion, and is inhabited by the pursuit of all major religions. Islam, after Hinduism, is one of the major religions of South Asia. It has the second largest following (29 per cent) after Hinduism (64 per cent). well-nigh four out of every 10 South Asians are Muslims, and they form the single largest Muslim population in the world. Islam in the region has had to co-exist, ever since its arrival in the Indian subcontinent in the first speed of light of the Islamic calendar, with a bewildering variety of religions and cults. All the countries in the region that emerged after Independence are hence multireligious, multi-ethnic and multi-linguistic. India is larger, both in size and population, than all the other countries of the region combined. It has also the largest Muslim population in the world after Indonesia.ConclusionMuslims constitute the majority of the population in thr ee of the sevensome countries in South Asia, i.e., Pakistan, Bangladesh and Maldives, and they are also a significant minority in India, Sri Lanka, and Nepal. But Muslims of South Asia are not a monolithic community. Even at the height of the Mughal Regional Implications of the Rise of Islamic Fundamentalism in Pakistan rule in India, the Muslims of the region did not constitute a single harmonious community. They are divided in different Islamic sects, subsects and schools of thought. Though a majority of them belong to the Sunni sect, each South Asian country has a substantial number of Shias and other minority sects and schools. Almost every country in the region also faces unresolved ethnic, communal and linguistic tensions that at times lead to major conflicts. The terrorist campaign in Jammu Kashmir- waged mainly by militant Islamic groups sponsored and trained by Pakistans agencies and the disruptive activities of the Islamic fundamentalist parties within Pakistan, therefo re have wider implications and pose a major threat to the region. The rise of Islamic fundamentalism in Pakistan has had serious implications for social and political stability in the region and a highly evaporable impact on relations among communities adhering to different faiths.References/End Notes