The Inter-services Public Relations (ISPR) directorate of the Pakistan military confirmed on June 21 that the army had arrested a serving brigadier by the name Ali Khan on May 6¶four days after the killing of Osama Bin Laden (OBL) in an operation by U.S. Navy SEALs. Khan was arrested on suspicion of his links with the banned extremist organization Hizb-ut-Tahrir (HT). He is not the first high-ranking army officer arrested for connections with HT. In May 2009, Col. Shahid Bashir was also arrested along with a retired Air Force officer and a U.S. Green Card-holding engineer for links with HT.[1] At the time of his arrest, Col. Bashir was serving at the Shamsi airfield in the Kharan district of Balochistan. The base had been under use of the American / NATO troops for drone as well as other aerial operations in Afghanistan and Pakistan tribal areas.
It is likely that the two arrests of high-ranking officers in a span of exactly two year are not the last ones. A senior military official told CRSS that more officers are probably being questioned for suspected links with HT. The arrests indicate the presence of a radical mindset within the armed forces. On the other hand, it probably also reflects a new thinking: greater attention to all those who might be influenced by organizations such as HT. Moreover, if the army can demonstrate that it has gone after suspected militant officers successfully, it might be able to release some of the pressure it currently faces from the U.S., which is demanding that Pakistan do more to fight extremist elements in and outside the military.
HT is a pan-Islamic organization with a reported membership of over a million in several countries.[2] It is very strong in UK and is banned in many Islamic countries. HT was first banned in Pakistan in 2004 by former president, Pervez Musharraf. The proscription was overruled, however, by the Multan Bench of the Lahore High Court (LHC) in 2005.[3] The organization was presumably banned again and featured on the list of banned organizations of the Punjab government issued in 2010. While HT claims to be non-violent, the messages on the website of its Pakistan chapter are pretty strong.[4] Besides its rich website, HT sends out SMS messages, emails, and faxed statements to newspapers, columnists, writers and television journalists almost on daily basis and urges them to correct their path, shun friendship with the United States, and follow the Quran. Its narrative is virtually indistinguishable from that of other Islamist networks, such as al Qaeda and the Muslim Brotherhood.
HT has consistently targeted Pakistan armed forces with its extremist messaging as well. One of its leaflets posted on the website on June 3, is with the title, ‘O sincere officers within Pakistan armed forces!’ which calls on the ¿sincere officers– to stand up against the pro-U.S. policies of the government and the military. ‘And whilst you look upon the Muslim humiliation, misery and despair, this Ummah looks upon you as the sincere officers of the most powerful armed forces in the Ummah that can make Pakistan the starting point for that Khilafah,’ says the leaflet. In another press release dated May 31, the HT spokesman, Naveed Butt, says, ‘O sincere officers! Fulfill your oath and liberate this country from the traitors. Remove the traitors amongst the military and civilian leadership and give Hizb ut-Tahrir the Nussrah (Material Support) so that the Khilafah is established which will end the American presence in the region.’
While there is no direct evidence against HT for its involvement in any terrorist activities in Pakistan, its candid exhortations on its website indicate toward a strong revolutionary ideology and planning of the organization. HT concentration on messaging for the Pakistani military officers is another source of worry for both the Pakistani and the U.S. governments. Quoting a senior Obama administration official, Seymour Hersh wrote for the New Yorker in 2009 about HT, ‘They–ve penetrated the Pakistani military and now have cells in the Army,.’[5]
Though it is not a secret that the war on terror is generally unpopular in Pakistan, news has also recently surfaced about this overall unpopularity of the war on terror converting into a general discontentment within the military, not only with the U.S. and the war on terror but also with its own leadership. “Gen. Ashfaq Parvez Kayani, who has led the army since 2007, faces such intense discontent over what is seen as his cozy relationship with the United States that a colonels– coup, while unlikely, was not out of the question,” wrote The New York Times.[6] The Washington Post went a step ahead by declaring that the Corps Commanders were also strongly anti-U.S.[7] The arrest of Brig. Khan on the direct orders of Gen. Kayani, the Chief of Army Staff (COAS) of the Pakistan army,[8] is also an indication of the general sense of insecurity of the general.
Brig. Khan’s arrest suggests that the army will have to intensify its hunt for officers in key positions for possible links with extremist groups like HT or those with radical religious inclinations. The arrests of high-ranking military officers, however, might not only negatively impact the morale of the army, it might also aggravate the existing discontent within the ranks of the armed forces. The incident has presented the likeminded extremists of HT with another ‘hero’, which may become worrisome for both the government and the military. The wife of Brig. Khan¶while rejecting the allegations against him¶said, ‘It a fashion here that whosoever offers prayers and practices religion is dubbed as Taliban and militant,’[9] an argument that many in Pakistan would tend to embrace.
[1] Shah, Sabir: ‘A colonel was earlier held for contacts with Hizb ul-Tahrir’ in The News Islamabad, June 22, 2011.
[2] Shah, Sabir: ‘A colonel was earlier held for contacts with Hizb ul-Tahrir’ in The News Islamabad, June 22, 2011.
[3] Ahmad, Gulmina Bilal: ‘Hizb ut-Tahrir and terrorism in Pakistan’ in Daily Times Lahore, October 29, 2010.
[4] The website of the Pakistan chapter of HT can be accessed at http://www.hizb-pakistan.com/home/ last viewed on June 22, 2011.
[5] Hersh, Seymour M.: ‘Defending the arsenal: In an unstable Pakistan, can nuclear warheads be kept safe?’, The New Yorker, November 16, 2009 available at http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2009/11/16/091116fa_fact_hersh?currentPage=all last viewed on June 22, 2011.
[6] Perlez, Jane: ‘Pakistan Chief of Army Fights to Keep His Job’ in The New York Times, June 15, 2011, available at http://www.nytimes.com/2011/06/16/world/asia/16pakistan.html?_r=2&scp=2&sq=jane+perlez&st=cse last viewed on June 22, 2011.
[7] DeYoung, Karen and Witte, Griff: ‘Pakistan-U.S. security relationship at lowest point since 2001, officials say’ in Washington Post, June 22, 2011, available at http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/national-security/arrest-indicates-pakistan-leaders-face-rising-pressure-to-curb-us-role/2011/06/12/AGrSi2VH_story.html last viewed on June 22, 2011.
[8] Anjum, Shakeel: ‘Serving brigadier held for links with banned outfit’ in The News Islamabad, June 22, 201.
[9] Anjum, Shakeel: ‘Serving brigadier held for links with banned outfit’ in The News Islamabad, June 22, 2011