By Zafar Iqbal
I found Ilyas Kashmiri relatively different from other
radical commanders and fighters whom I managed to chat during my journalistic
career. Kashmiri was the only prominent militant leader who was always in a commando
uniform. He was not a perfect
communicator. Most of his answers, which were embedded with traditional
assertion of ‘fight against the infidels’, were supported and supplemented by
his spokesperson and fellow guerillas. However, Kashmiri was an incredibly proficient
militant and strategist and his future plans and actions proved this capability
and tactical expertise.
In spite of his global notoriety and tarnished
publicity, apparently his personality was not so impressive. He is believed to have lost his eye and an
index finger in battle in Afghanistan fighting for Afghan militants to repel
Soviet Union.
Those days the existence of any foreign militants was
uncommon in Kashmiri militant cadres, therefore, the mysterious appearance of
some foreigners, especially white Europeans in a Kashmiri training camp was reasonably
bizarre for me. The officials of 313 Brigade, which was a Muslim fighter group
formed and led by Kashmiri, stopped me to have any interaction or communication
with foreign ‘Mujahedeen’. It was obvious that some of them were Chechens or Arabs
who were shifted to disputed Kashmir region with their trainer Ilyas Kashmiri after
the end of fight with Soviet Union in Afghanistan where Kashmiri had developed robust
relationship with Afghans and non Afghan mercenaries during 1970s to 1980s.
Since the beginning of insurgency in Indian Kashmir in
1989, the center of most of Kashmiri origin militants’ organizations has been
Indian held Kashmir; nonetheless, Kashmiri’s 313 Brigade had a different agenda.
“Kashmir is merely a small laboratory of our wider struggle, which we will
launch against Americans and their collaborators in Muslim world,” Kashmiri vowed.
‘We are waiting for the right time to mount Jihad against
the Westerners, specially the imperialist designs of the US.’ he narrated with unyielding
conviction.
When former Pakistani president General Musharraf
started a crackdown against extremists groups, Kashmiri was arrested in
connection with an attempt to assassinate Gen Musharraf in December 2003, but
released due to a lack of evidence. After the release, Kashmiri relocated his
base to Pakistan’s semi-autonomous
tribal belt in 2005 and started fighting against Pakistani and the US
targets along with other Jihadist groups.
Earlier, besides Lashker Taiba (LeT), Kashmiri has
been valuable asset for Pakistani establishment effectively used in a proxy war
in Indian Kashmir. Ilyas Kashmiri was
described once a member of the Pakistani Army’s elite Special Services Group
(SSG). Former Pakistani president and then Army chief General Musharaff rewarded Kashmiri with Rs 1 lakh for
beheading “the head of an Indian officer” in 2000 along disputed region of
Kashmir. Consequently, Kashmiri got enormous publicity in local press and his
image carrying the head of a 24 year Indian solider in his hand was widely
published on the title pages of many pro-Jihad publications.
In recent years Kashmiri has been blamed for numerous
attacks in Pakistan, including the two most embarrassing assaults on the
military – a siege on a naval air base in Karachi last month and in October
2009 on the national army headquarters in Rawalpindi. Kashmiri was thought to be having been killed
in 2009, but resurfaced a year later.
47-year-old Kashmir was one of five most-wanted
militant leaders in the country accused of a string of bloody attacks in
Pakistan and India as well as aiding plots in the West, including a planned
attack on a Danish newspaper that published cartoons depicting the Prophet
Muhammad in 2005. Kashmiri is also said to have ties with David Coleman
Headley, the American citizen who confessed to helping scout targets for the Mumbai
attack in November 2008 which claimed 164 lives.
Considering his extraordinary role in anti-Western Jihadist
network, Washington had offered a $5 million reward for information about the
whereabouts of Kashmiri. While, analysts had labeled Kashmiri a possible Osama
bin Laden successor describing him as one of Pakistan’s most dangerous,
strategic and capable militants.
No doubt, the death of Kashmiri is an enormous blow
for Al-Qaida, which already is besieged under inescapable series of drone
attacks and due to the death of its chief Bin Laden. However, time will prove
how followers of Kashmiri respond and tackle to this irrecoverable loss.
(The writer is freelance
journalist and researcher. He could be accessed at: zafarjournalist@gmail.com
)