The Fight Against Lashkar-e-Toiba
Dated 26/9/2005
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India is no longer alone in the fight against the Lashkar-e-Toiba (LET), the Pakistani jihadi terrorist organisation, which is an active member of Osama bin Laden's International Islamic Front (IIF) and has been providing volunteers of Pakistani origin for acts of suicide terrorism by the Al Qaeda in different parts of the world.
Since 9/11, sleeper cells or secret members or associates of the LET have been unearthed in many countries such as Australia, Singapore, the United States and France and the international community has been taking increasing notice of its activities and their implications for its counter-terrorism campaign.
Just as India has been taking notice of the activities of regional and international jihadi terrorist organisations in Indonesia, the Philippines, Southern Thailand and other countries of South-East Asia and their implications for its own national security, other countries of the world have been paying increasing attention to the activities of the pro-Al Qaeda Pakistani jihadi terrorist organisations such as the LET, the Harkat-ul-Mujahideen (HUM), the Harkat-ul-Jihad-al-Islami (HUJI) and the Jaish-e-Mohammad (JEM) in Indian territory and their implications for their national security.
This became evident during the fifth International Conference on the Global Impact of Terrorism organised by the world-famous Institute for Counter-Terrorism (ICT) of Herzliya, Israel, from September 11 to14,2005. One of the main highlights of the conference was a panel discussion on " the Ramifications of the London Bombings", which was chaired by Mr.Shabtai Shavit, former Director-General of the MOSSAD, Israel's external intelligence agency from 1989 to 1996 and presently Chairman of the Board of Directors of the ICT. The other members of the Panel were Dr.James M.Hart, Commissioner of Police, City of London, Dr.Bruce Hoffman, Corporate Chairman, Counter-Terrorism and Counter-Insurgency and Director of the Rand Corporation's Washington DC Office, Mr.Michael Whine, Director of Communications, Community Security Trust, UK, Dr.Boaz Ganor, former Director of the ICT and presently Deputy Dean, Lauder School of Government, Herzliya, and B.Raman, Distinguished Fellow, International Terrorism Watch Programme, Observer Research Foundation (ORF), and Convenor of its Chennai Chapter.
In his introductory remarks at the Panel on September 14, 2005, Mr.Shavit made a reference to the activities of the LET in the context of the international fight against the Al Qaeda and Dr.Hoffman, who is considered the world's leading authority on the Al Qaeda, inter alia highlighted the role and the activities of the LET during his presentation.
The interest taken by India in the activities of international terrorist organisations in South-East Asia and the increasing concern of the rest of the world over the Pakistan-based activities of the LET not only in Indian territory, but also in other countries of the world are indicators of the way counter-terrorism agencies and experts of different countries, which have been victims of international jihadi terrorism, have been networking with each other in order to effectively counter the international jihadi terrorist network.
"It takes a network to beat a network" is the motto of the ICT of Herzliya , Israel . This motto has become the the guiding principle of all counter-terrorism agencies of the world since 9/11. The UN Security Council Resolution No.1373 against international terrorism unanimously passed immediately after 9/11 has laid the basis for such networking.
The importance of making this networking of the interational community an effective tool in the fight against international jihadi terrorism was the underlying theme of the speeches made at a function held on September 22,2005, at the India International Centre Annexe under the joint auspices of the Singapore-based Pearson Longman Publishers and the International Terrorism Watch Programme (ITWP) of the ORF to mark the release of the first publication of Pearson Longman in collaboration with the ORF titled "International Terrorism in S.E.Asia: Implications for South Asia".
The publication contains the various papers presented by well-known experts of India , Thailand , Singapore , Malaysia , Indonesia , the Philippines , Australia , the US and Turkey at a two-day Workshop organised by the ITWP at the ORF headquarters at New Delhi in April,2004. The publication has been edited by Mr.Wilson John, Senior Fellow, ORF, New Delhi , and Ms.Swati Parashar, Associate Fellow, ORF. Miss Parashar, who had paved the way for the start of the ITWP with a detailed paper on the non-governmental capabilities for a study of terrorism available in India , had co-ordinated the Workshop.
The book was released by Mr.G.C.Saxena, former head of the Research & Analysis Wing (R&AW), India's external intelligence agency from 1983 to 1986, former Governor of India's Jammu & Kashmir State, and former Chairman of the Special Task Force appointed by the Government of India in 2000 to make recommendations for the revamping of the Indian intelligence apparatus, and he handed over the first copy to His Excellency Mr. Chak Mun See, the High Commissioner of Singapore in India. Mr.Chak Mun See, who joined the Singapore Foreign Service in 1966, had previously served twice as Singapore 's Permanent Representative to the UN at Geneva and as the head of the Singapore diplomatic missions in Australia , the Federal Republic of Germany and a number of other important countries.
Speaking after the release, Mr.Saxena narrated India 's experience in dealing successfully with terrorism of various kinds and particularly with the terrorist activities of Pakistan-based organisations allied with the Al Qaeda. While complimenting the publishers and the ORF for their important contribution to strengthening the available data-base and expertise on the subject through the publication of this book, he underlined the importance of trans-national networking of counter-terrorism agencies in their fight against terrorism
While underlining that the Al Qaeda itself has not so far been able to gather any significant support in India's second largest Muslim community in the world after Indonesia's, he stressed the important role which moderate leaders of the Muslim community could play in countering the activities of terrorist organisations, which exploit the grievances of the community for their own purpose.
Vice-Admiral (retd) Premvir Das, former Commander-in-Chief of the Indian Navy's Eastern Fleet Command, former member of the Special Task Force set up by the Government of India in 2000 under the Chairmanship of Shri Arun Singh, former Defence Minister, to make recommendations for re-vamping the defence management system, co-chair of the Working Group of the Council on Security Co-operation Asia Pacific (CSCAP) on Maritime Security and an acknowledged international expert on Maritime Security, spoke on "Terrorism in S.E.Asia: The Maritime Dimension".
Vice-Admiral Das, who traced the maritime terrorist activities of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), the Al Qaeda and other organisations, drew attention to the likely impact on the global trade and economy and on energy security if effective action, through regional and international co-operation, is not taken to develop a capability for preventing and pre-empting possible acts of maritime terrorism.
He explained the maritime security architecture which has already come into being in the S.E.Asian region and India 's association with the architecture through bilateral and other agreements concluded with some of the countries of the region.
The Singapore HC, referring to a paper on Singapore's Perspective of the problem presented at last year's Workshop which is included in the book, highlighted the relevance of some of the techniques followed by Malaysia during it counter-insurgency campaign against the Communist insurgency for providing an ideological dimension to the counter-terrorism campaign in addition to the security dimension.
While explaining the counter-terrorism co-opreration mechanism, which has come into being under the Association of South-East Asian Nations (ASEAN), the ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF) and the Asia Pacific Economic Co-Operation (APEC), he referred to the latest understanding reached by Singapore, Malaysia and Indonesia for "an Eye in the Sky" aerial surveillance mechanism for strengthening the security of shipping in the Malacca Strait area.
In his concluding remarks, B.Raman, who chaired the function, referred to the future projects of the ITWP in the fields of "International Terrorism in Central Asia and Its Likely Implications for South Asia", "Future Terrorism: Likely Scenarios and Capabilities Required" and a follow-up Workshop on "Maritime Counter-terrorism". This follow-up Workshop, when held, would focus on threats of maritime terrorism to India 's trade and energy security from the Gulf area. A Workshop focussing on threats of maritime terrorism from the South and the South-East Asian regions was held in November,2004, at the ORF headquarters in New Delhi and its proceedings, as already edited by Miss Swati Parashar, are expected to be published by the ORF with the collaboration of the Pearson Longman by the end of this year.
Raman also mentioned that the ITWP, under the leadership of Commodore (retd) R.S.Vasan, former head of the Indian Coast Guard in the Southern and Eastern sectors, has started bringing out on a trial basis a Maritime Terrorism Monitor. This Monitor, brought out in the PDF format, is available electronically for those interested. They should write to rsvasan@orfonline.org.
Further details of the book released by Mr. Saxena are available at www.orfonline.org.
