Militant Islam's Burgeoning Borders
by Jonathan Schanzer
FrontPage Magazine
August 20, 2002
Once a primarily Middle East phenomenon, militant Islam has
become a world epidemic. As allied troops fight to rid
Afghanistan, Yemen, Georgia and the Philippines of its radical
Islamic elements, new movements gain strength elsewhere around
the globe. Today, its roots are growing in Indonesia, Bangladesh
and Nigeria, proving that hard work lies ahead, if militant Islam's
burgeoning borders are ever to be contained.
Nigeria:
With a teeming population of 126 million, Nigeria is struggling to
stabilize both politically and economically. Recently, instability
has been made worse by religious tensions between Christians
(40%) and Muslims (50%). An estimated 13,000 Nigerians have
been killed in internecine violence since 1980. Most were hacked
by swords and knives.
The problem stems from militant Muslims that have attempted to
impose Shari'a in several states in recent years. Since 1999, 12 of
Nigeria's 36 states have adopted or plan to adopt some version of
Shari'a. These developments prompted Freedom House, a
watchdog group, to note that Nigeria is exhibiting symptoms of
"Talibanization."
It began on August 25, 1999, when Zamfara state announced its
adoption of Shari'a after a successful campaign by fundamentalist
Muslims.Indeed, Islamism was a popular alternative among those
opposed to the largely corrupt national government.
Other states have since followed suit, enforcing restrictions that
include a moratorium on new churches, performing music,
wearing pants, drinking alcohol and riding in co-ed taxis. Forced
conversions have been reported, as well as forced divorces in
Muslim-Christian intermarriages. Punishments for varying crimes
include stoning, flogging, and chopping off hands.
Meanwhile, President Obasanjo won't take steps to halt these
"injustices lest he further upset Muslim officers" in the military
that could pose a threat to his authority. To put it another way, he
has forfeited his authority to violent vigilante groups patrolling
these newly Islamized states, illegally enforcing Shari'a. These
groups burn churches, loot government offices, and destroy cars
and homes.
More worrisome, perhaps, is that Nigeria has become a staging
ground for the forces of militant Islam in their efforts to expand
worldwide. Some states, for example, have received solidarity
visits from Sudanese, Pakistani, Saudi, Palestinian and Syrian
Islamists. Further, Usama bin Laden has become a hero among
many Nigerian Muslims who have taken to the streets with anti-
American sentiment on numerous occasions.
"The entire Moslem Ummah in Nigeria has come or is coming
about the Shari'a bandwagon," writes one concerned Nigerian
newspaper publisher. "How this is handled by Moslems and
Christians will now determine the future of Nigeria."
Indonesia:
Indonesia is the most populated Muslim country in the world.
With a population of 228 million, 88% (more than 190 million)
are said to be Muslim, while only 12% are Protestant, Catholic,
Hindu or Buddhist.
After the country experienced major economic troubles in 1997,
and then political upheaval in 1999, Indonesia became fertile
ground for the spread of militant Islam. Mainstream Islamist
groups have since emerged with increased popularity, including
the traditional Nahdlatul Ulama, with perhaps 40 million
members, and the modernist Muhammadiyah, with 28 million. In
the 1999 elections, Islamists took 86 of a possible 462 seats, and
will likely take more in 2004.
But what is not accomplished through legal channels is sought
through violence. In their campaign to institute Shari'a, Islamists
have systematically targeted Christians, forcing them to convert,
forcibly circumcising children, and burning churches. Other
violence includes raids on gambling halls and shops selling
alcohol. At one estimate, vigilante attacks have taken the lives of
more than 10,000 Christians since January 1999, leaving more
than 300,000 displaced.
In the first three months of 1999, more than 1,000 people in the
Maluku Islands there were killed in internecine violence. In April
of this year, radical groups threatened to deploy 10,000 volunteers
to "liberate" that area of Christians, and create a pure Islamic
region. Muslim-Christian tensions have since led to a full-blown
religious war. In the last two years, 9,000 deaths have been
reported in the Malukus alone.
Meanwhile, on the Sulawesi islands, armed with rocket launchers
and automatic weapons, radicals set up roadblocks, plastered the
walls with bin Laden posters, and have isolated the Christian
community, numbering 60,000 or more. Last December, the
government brokered a pact, but violence flared again in August
2002,with five Christians killed, and hundreds of Christian homes
burned to the ground. Indonesian intelligence now believes that
the radicals there are likely funded by al-Qa'ida.
Perhaps the highest profile area of conflict, however, is Aceh,
which has seen decades of conflict between Islamist separatists
and government forces. In the last decade, more than 6,000 people
have been killed in fighting between the Free Aceh Movement
and government forces. In January 2001, Indonesia finally granted
Aceh autonomy to enforce Shari'a law, a move seen as placating
the separatists. Since then, Aceh's government has destroyed
churches and forbade the practice of Christianity.
Asian intelligence sources have since asserted that the Free Aceh
Movement works with al-Qa'ida, and that al-Qa'ida even
considered moving to Aceh after the launch of Operation
Enduring Freedom. Bin Laden's lieutenant, Ayman Al-Zawahiri,
reportedly visited Aceh in June 2000.
Another group with links to al-Qa'ida and Usama bin Laden is the
10,000-strong Lashkar Jihad (Jihad Army) founded in April 2000,
and led by Jaffar Umar Thalib, who recently ordered every "jihad
soldier" in Indonesia to "write out their wills" and "welcome their
fate as martyrs." In a separate interview after September 11,
Thalib said, "Allah be praised, the Muslims continue their jihad
against America, and it is our obligation to support them as best
we can."
According to one analyst, the goal of Thalib and other Islamists in
Indonesia is "to turn the world's most populous Muslim country
into an extremist Islamic state by 2003." While next year is an
exaggerated projection, there is no question that militant Islam is
rapidly gaining ground.
Bangladesh:
Bangladesh is roughly the size of Illinois, but has an estimated
131 million citizens “ or half the population of the U.S. Plagued
by political and economic instability, Bangladesh is also prime
turf for the spread of militant Islam.
According to one report, the major problem stems from radical
Islamists' "dissatisfaction with the ˜pseudo-Islamization' of the
country and want it to be renamed the "Islamic Republic of
Bangladesh" ruled by Shari'a."
The result has been violence, prompted by Islamist groups like
Jama'at-a Islami, against Christians for about a decade. Examples
are many. In 1995, a Catholic school was burned down by
Islamists. In 1998, Muslims took to the streets, attacking churches
and other Christian property. In one like case, a 13-year old
Christian girl was raped and had to face up to her "crime" or
produce four Muslim witnesses for her defense.
Buddhists and Hindus have also been "subject to a systematic
policy of rape, torture and killing, and the destruction of their
cultural and religious identity at the hands of Muslims," according
to one report. Hindu women have reportedly been forced to dress
like Muslims; their traditional garb has been forbidden.
One writer notes that Buddhists and Christians are "terrorized
collectively¦ hundreds of temples desecrated and statues
destroyed; thousands of homes and businesses looted or burned¦
One man's fingers had been cut off, another's hand was amputated,
still more were blinded and others had iron rods nailed through
their legs or abdomen¦women and children who had been gang-
raped, often in front of their fathers or husbands."
Not surprisingly, al-Qa'ida has "tentacles" in Bangladesh." The
largest satellite (15,000 cadres) is Harakat ul-Jehad-i Islami,
Bangladesh (HUJI-BD), which was established with direct aid
from Usama bin Laden in 1992. Trained in the camps of
Afghanistan, HUJI-BD calls itself the "Bangladeshi Taliban." The
group made headlines when its leader Fazlur Rahman signed al-
Qa'ida's declaration of jihad against the U.S. in 1998. HUJI-BD
plotted to kill Bangladeshi poet Shamsur Rahman in January
1999, and then-Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina in August 2000.
Since September 11, anti-American and pro-al-Qa'ida sentiment
has soared. More than 10,000 Islamists took to the streets of
Dhaka after Friday prayers in September, protesting the allied
actions in Afghanistan. In other demonstrations, Islamists touted
posters saying "Bush: Enemy of Mankind" and "Usama is our
Hero," burning effigies of U.S. President George W. Bush. They
chanted, "We are with Laden, we will fight the U.S." One
prominent Islamist stated, "America and Bush must be destroyed.
The Americans will be washed away if Bangladesh's 120 million
Muslims spit on them."
On January 22, 2002, the Bangladeshi faction of Harakat-ul-
Jehad-i Islami attacked the U.S. cultural center in Calcutta, India,
killing five guards and wounding 20. Six people were detained
from the attack, including three madrasa teachers.
The head of Jamaat-i-Islami, notes that the goal is to "pursue a
slow but steady policy towards Islamization of the country." This
goal may be attainable, given there are an estimated 64,000
madrasas in Bangladesh (most of which teach radicalism), that
one civil servant calls "a ticking time bomb."
This dangerous combination of factors, notes one analyst, is that
"economic collapse and political crisis can galvanize support for
extremists very quickly¦ Bangladesh could deteriorate and
become a new nest for terror."
What to Do?
According to Dr. Ajai Sahni, director of India's Institute for
Conflict Management (ICM), Bangladesh is an area of "potential"
rather than "imminent" threat. The same can be said for Nigeria
and Indonesia.
It is clear, then, that militant Islam continues to proliferate around
the globe. And while the solution to this growing world epidemic
is not clear, steps should be taken.
First, the U.S. government must acknowledge that militant Islam
(not simply "terror") is a problem of global, and epidemic
proportions. Indeed, this dangerous ideology has already spread
from the Middle East to southeast and central Asia, as well as
West Africa. To properly combat the problem, the Pentagon, State
Department and executive branch must resolve to stop its growth.
Reluctance to identify militant Islam, as such, will only postpone
policies designed to directly tackle the problem.
Second, rather than waiting for the "potential" threat to become
"imminent," the United States should act quickly to neutralize the
dangers posed. The right steps must be taken now. This includes
closer cooperation with these governments, anti-terror assistance,
increased financial aid, and closer surveillance as a means to
identify and offset these dangerous developments before military
intervention becomes a necessity.
Government mouthpieces harp on the importance of top-secret
intelligence intercepts as the key to preventing future militant
Islamic attacks. Top U.S. military brass, meanwhile, focuses on
dismantling the militant Islamic infrastructure already in place.
More emphasis, however, must be placed on the prevention of
future radicalism around the globe, as a means to preempt future
attacks. Such a strategy might even prevent future battle theaters
in America's war on terror.
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