Farooq Ganderbali
Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT) is a global terrorist organisation, operating out of Pakistan,with the active connivance of Pakistan Army, which has been expanding its strength and operations not only in the real world but also in the virtual reality. The rapid growth of the terrorist group in the cyberspace has magnified the threat it poses to the world, and in many ways to Pakistan itself. Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif therefore has a tough task ahead to put the genie of LeT back into the bottle.
What makes LeT more dangerous than other equally violent groups in Pakistan is its ability and cunning, and patronage, to hoodwink the people and the world community and survive. It is the only terrorist group which has survived international sanctions and scrutiny for now over two and half decades. Not even the more powerful al Qaeda could survive the military onslaught launched by the US coalition; LeT did despite the fact that the terrorist group had been training hundreds to join the Taliban from where many had joined al Qaeda.
The bogey the terrorist group had created during the “global war on terrorism“ decade was that it was a charity group and that it had dismantled its jihadi wing. But that was a ruse as the world came to realise soon enough when terrorists attacked many places in India, the most serious attack being the one on Mumbai in November 2008.
But the group found a new ruse to save itself, albeit with the active connivance of its patron, Pakistan army. The terrorist group offered to help Pakistan, and the West, in negotiating with the Taliban and to hunt down certain terrorist groups which were essentially inimical to Pakistan. LeT for example tried to penetrate the ranks of Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan and help Pakistan Army to counter the terrorist blitz let loose by TTP since 2009. The group even took on TTP in certain pockets of Khyber Pakhtunkhawa but with little success.
The group, however, proved itself to be a loyal ally of Pakistan Army when other groups, once beholden to the army for the patronage, had turned against the country. This helped the terrorist group to save itself from any military action. Pakistan army ensured that even the US did not get close to the terrorist group. In fact, there is ample evidence to show that the CIA was aware of the LeT’s terrorist activities but had chosen to ignore it. The justification was that the LeT activities were not targeted towards the US.
Now the terrorist group has latched on to a new mission to help Pakistan army—to counter ISIS threat to Pakistan. This is being done largely through cyber space tools. The terrorist group has for some years been developing cyber capability. It has a dedicated Cyber Team and a team of young and enthusiastic technologists who are committed to the terrorist group’s cause.
The terrorist mastermind with a US $10 million on his head, Hafiz Saeed, said in a newspaper interview that his group was now taking on terrorist groups like ISIS or Daesh and preventing their use of social media to launch a psychological warfare against Pakistan. “It is our responsibility to counter threats of sectarianism and the negative portrayal of Islam, even by Muslim groups.”
Needless to say that it is merely an excuse to expand its jihadi footprint in the sub-continent. It already has a presence in over 45 cities and towns in Pakistan and draws recruits some of the most prestigious IT institutions and companies. The real cause is to counter India and keep Pakistan a religious extremist country. This becomes clear from a media statement by the LeT cyber team that their principle mission is to counter “supporters of TTP, Daesh or even those who want to make Pakistan a secular country or forget the Kashmir issue.”
This new agenda makes LeT even more useful for Pakistan Army which is concerned over the steady growth of Daesh in Afghanistan and Pakistan. This could make the task of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif in dealing with terrorism even more difficult. It is not yet very late for the Prime Minister—he can defang the group effectively by squeezing its funding and prosecuting it for running a terrorist campaign within the country and for harming the national interest.
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