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The Jordanian-Chechen jihadi
connection
By B Raman
As the
frequency and ferocity of the suicide bombings by
foreign jihadis in Iraq has increased, there has been a
decline in the frequency and ferocity of similar
bombings in Chechnya.
Usually well-informed
religious sources in Pakistan say that it is due to the
fact that under the instructions of Osama bin Laden's
International Islamic Front (IIF), whose activities are
now coordinated by the Lashkar-e-Toiba (LET), many
foreign jihadis operating in Chechnya, including some
Jordanians and Saudis of Chechen origin and six members
of Pakistan's Harkat-ul-Jihad-al-Islami, have proceeded
to Jordan from where they are coordinating the
activities of the jihadis in Iraq.
The sources
also say that Saudi Arabia and Jordan - and not Syria
and Iran - are emerging as the rear bases for the Iraqi
jihad and warn of a destabilization drive in Jordan
shortly similar to the ones in Saudi Arabia and Turkey.
The jihadis want to teach a lesson to the Jordanian
government for its perceived support of the United
States and Israel and for training police officers of
the US-led occupation regime in Iraq.
According
to them, most of the Chechen members of the IIF, who had
earlier taken shelter in the Waziristan area of
Pakistan, have also since gravitated toward Saudi
Arabia, Jordan and Iraq, leaving their Pakistani wives
and children back in Waziristan. They are being taken
care of by the LET and the Taliban.
Jordan has
an estimated Chechen population of about 15,000,
practically all of them Jordanian nationals. Many of
them serve in the government, including in the armed
forces, the intelligence agencies and the palace guards.
In the past, the Chechen community has remained
very loyal to the royal family and won its trust and
confidence. Before 1999, some non-governmental
organizations in the community had expressed moral
support for the Chechens in Russia fighting for
independence, as well as collected funds and sent them
to the Chechen groups in Russia, which had taken to
violence. This was tolerated by the Jordanian
government.
From 1999, the Russian government
started alleging that foreign jihadi terrorists,
including some holding Jordanian, Saudi and Pakistani
nationalities, had arrived in Chechnya and were helping
the local terrorists. Incidents of suicide terrorism in
Chechnya increased after the arrival of these foreign
jihadis. Moscow also alleged that the contingent of
foreign jihadis was led by Ibn al-Khatiab (since
reported dead), a Jordanian national.
Following
this, the Jordanian authorities strongly advised the
people of Chechen origin living in their territory
against extending any support - moral or material - to
the Chechen terrorists. They were also worried that the
Jordanian nationals fighting against the Russian troops
might later return to Jordan and turn against the royal
family. There is now a danger of these fears proving
true.
Meanwhile, the LET and other Pakistani
jihadi organizations set up a number of fund collection
camps all over Pakistan at the end of the fasting period
of the holy Muslim month of Ramadan to collect funds for
supporting the jihad in India's Jammu and Kashmir,
Palestine, Afghanistan and Iraq and for looking after
the families of those jihadis who had died in these
places. The need to defeat the US in Afghanistan and
Iraq was the major theme of the speeches to mark Id (the
end of the fast) on November 26.
Addressing a
large Id congregation (150,000) at Lahore, Hafiz
Mohammad Saeed, the leader of the LET, which now calls
itself the Jamaat-ud-Dawa, said: "We will continue jihad
without any fear or pressure and will not stop it on the
asking of anybody. Jihad is inevitable for the glory of
Islam. The jihad process is continuing in Kashmir,
Bosnia, Palestine and Iraq. Jihad has made Jews and
Christians worried. They call jihad terrorism."
B Raman is Additional Secretary (ret),
Cabinet Secretariat, Government of India, and presently
director, Institute For Topical Studies, Chennai; former
member of the National Security Advisory Board of the
Government of India. E-Mail: corde@vsnl.com. He was also
head of the counter-terrorism division of the Research
& Analysis Wing, India's external intelligence
agency, from 1988 to August, 1994.
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