The subject of armed jihad runs right through the writings and
pronouncements of the Lashkar and is, in fact, the most prominent theme in
its discourse. Indeed, its understanding of Islam may be seen as determined
almost wholly by this preoccupation, so much so that its reading of Islam
seems to be a product of its own political project, thus effectively ending
up equating Islam with terror. Being born as a result of war in Afghanistan,
war has become the very raison d'?tre of the Lashkar, and its subsequent
development has been almost entirely determined by this concern. The
contours of its ideological framework are constructed in such a way that the
theme of armed jihad appears as the central element of its project. In the
writings and speeches of Lashkar spokesmen jihad appears as violent
conflict (qital) waged against 'unbelievers' who are said to be
responsible for the oppression of the Muslims. Indeed, the Lashkar projects
it as the one of the most central tenets of Islam, although it has
traditionally not been included as one of the 'five pillars' of the faith.
Thus, its website claims that 'There is so much emphasis on this subject
that some commentators and scholars of the Quran have remarked that the
topic of the Quran is jihad'. Further, a Lashkar statement declares,
'There is consensus of opinion among researchers of the Qur'an that no other
action has been explained in such great detail as jihad'.
In Lashkar discourse, jihad against non-Muslims is projected as a
religious duty binding on all Muslims today. Thus the Lashkar's website
claims that a Muslim who has 'never intended to fight against the
disbelievers [+] is not without traces of hypocrisy'. Muslims who have the
capacity to participate or assist in the jihad but do not do so are said
to 'be living a sinful life'. Not surprisingly, therefore, the Lashkar
denounces all Muslims who do not agree with its pernicious and grossly
distorted version of Islam and its hideous misinterpretation of jihad˜Sufis,
Shias, Barelvis and so on˜as being 'deviants' or outside the pale of Islam
or even in league with 'anti-Islamic forces'. The Lashkar promises its
activists that they would receive great rewards, both in this world and in
the Hereafter, if they were to actively struggle in the path of jihad. Not
only would they be guaranteed a place in Heaven, but they would also 'be
honoured in this world', for jihad, it claims, is also 'the way that
solves financial and political problems'.
Astoundingly bizarre though it is, the Markaz sees itself as engaged in a
global jihad against the forces of 'disbelief', stopping at nothing short
of aiming at the conquest of the entire world. As Nazir Ahmed, in-charge of
the public relations department of the Lashkar, once declared, through the
so-called jihad that the Lashkar has launched, 'Islam will be dominant all
over the world'.* *This global war is seen as a solution to all the ills and
oppression afflicting all Muslims, and it is claimed that 'if we want to
live with honour and dignity, then we have to return back to *jihad'. * Through
jihad, the Lashkar website says, 'Islam will be supreme throughout the
world'.*
In Lashkar discourse, its self-styled jihad against India is regarded as
nothing less than a war between two different and mutually opposed
ideologies: Islam, on the one hand, and Hinduism, on the other. It tars all
Hindus with the same brush, as supposed 'enemies of Islam'. Thus, Hafiz
Muhammad Saeed, Lashkar chief, declares: 'In fact, the Hindu is a mean enemy
and the proper way to deal with him is the one adopted by our forefathers,
who crushed them by force. We need to do the same'.
India is a major target for the Lashkar's terrorists. According to Hafiz
Muhammad Saeed, 'The jihad is not about Kashmir only. It encompasses all
of India'. Thus, the Lashkar sees its self-styled jihad as going far
beyond the borders of Kashmir and spreading through all of India. Its final
goal, it says, is to extend Muslim control over what is seen as having once
been Muslim land, and, hence, to be brought back under Muslim domination,
creating what the Lashkar terms as 'the Greater Pakistan by dint of jihad'.
Thus, at a mammoth congregation of Lashkar supporters in November 1999,
Hafiz Muhammad Saeed thundered, 'Today I announce the break-up of India,
Inshallah*. We will not rest until the whole of India is dissolved into
Pakistan'.
