Terrorism Who Leads the Group

Terrorism

WHO

Leads the group and who makes up the chain of command

Is the group affiliated with?

Makes up the majority of their group? (ethnicity)

WHAT

Is the personal and criminal background of leader?

Is their belief system?

Is their stated purpose?

Countries if any, support them?

If any is their relationship with Bin Laden?

F. Type of crimes have they committed?

G. Types of weapons do they use or hope to use?

H. Is their method of operation?

Is/was their level of success?

WHEN

Were they formed and by whom?

Did they commit crimes?

WHERE

Is their home base?

Did they committ their crimes?

Did they expand their operations?

WHY

Do they dislike the United States of America

HOW

A. Do they justify their acts?

Do they raise money?

C. Are they recruited?

D. Do they get their people to give up their lives?

E. Active is their group in the United States of America

There are many terrorist organizations in the world today, many of them responsible for crimes against the United States, as well as the countries in which they live. One such terrorist organization, found in Bangladesh and Pakistan, is that of the Jamaat e-Islami or the Jamaat Muslimeen. This paper will discuss the Jamaat e-Islami organization of Bangladesh and Pakistan, and will examine the leaders of the organization. Additionally, this paper will describe the activities, both of the group in general, and of their leadership. This paper will also describe the funding activities of the organization, their recruitment, their crimes, and their operations.

Until the year 2000, the Jamat was led by Gholan Azam. In December of 2000, Azam resigned, and was replaced by Motiur Rahman Nizami, who took over the position as Amir of the party. Additional leaders include Motiur Rahman Nizami (Ameer-e-Jamat and President of Central Executive Committee), Maulana a KM Yousuf,

Maqbul Ahmed, Professor AKM Nazir Ahmed, Ali Ahsan Mohammad Mujahid, Muhammad Shafiq Ullah, Maulana Abdus Subhan, Delwar Hussain Saidi, M Kamaruzzaman, Abdul Kader Mollah, ATM. Azharul Islam, Badre Alam, Abu Naser, Muhammad Abduzzaher, Meer Kashem Ali, Maulana Rafiuddin Ahmed (Muktadhara, 2001). Although there is no real chain of command after Nizami, it is clear that all these individuals are involved in the operations of the Jamat (Kidwai, 2004).

The Jamat organization has ties to many other organizations, both political and religious in nature. The political organizations include the Taliban, the Pakistan army, and the Muslim Brotherhood. They are also closely tied to the Islami Chhatra Shibir, a youth organizational branch of the Jamat, and the Awami League. They are also closely tied to the Al-Quida network and other terrorist organizations (Swami, 2004).

Generally, members of the Jamat organization are devout Muslims, worshiping Allah. They are Arabic, Egyptian, Pakistani, and Bangels. According to their stated beliefs, any Muslim can become part of the Jamat organization, but most are male (Rajput Express, 2003).

The leader of the Jamat, Maulana Motiur Rahman Nizami, has a colorful personal and criminal history. Born into a small village inn a poor district, Nizami took up the title (Nizam means aristocrat) to hide his lowly beginnings. He was president of the Jamat youth front, the Islami Chhatra Sangha (now the Islami Chhatra Shibir). In addition, Motiur was directly involved in the development of the al-Badr, the killing forces of the liberation movement of 1971 (Muktadhara, 2001b).

Involved in both the Mujahedin forces movement and the Jihadist terrorist cells in 1971, Nizami was the chief of operations for the al-Badr forces. These forces were responsible for the murder of thousands of Behali people during the liberation movement of 1971. Afterwards, the people of his modest village hated him so badly they continue to call him Moitya Dalal, or traitor, since his actions on the death squad involved the killing of many of his old neighbors (Muktadhara, 2001b).

Among the many crimes of Motiur, the killing, rape, looting and extortion he is accused of in his home village stands out. Additionally, Motiur is accused of torture during 1971, and a blatant disregard to human life. He is rumored to have brutally murdered a many young freedom fighters in his own army who disobeyed his orders (Muktadhara, 2000b).

The Jamat organization has a firm belief in the obedience and submission to Allah, their Almighty. The Jamat believe that Allah alone is the authority over them, both in this life and any other life after. They believe that he alone has the power to guide men. Additionally, they believe that Mohammed is the last of the Messengers for Allah (Jamat e-Islami, 2002). It is important to note that the Jamaat does not practice Mohammedan Islam, but rather Maududi, a version of Islam which combines aggressive tribal values with equality for its members (Muktadhara, 2001).

Politically, the Jamaat believed that Jihad, the struggle against those who defy and do not believe in Allah, is a duty of their people. The Jihad is one of the most important duties of the Jamaat organization, who make it clear that defending the Islamic Order can be done using any means necessary. Further, the Jamaat believes that while Islam may stand for peace, it is also always ready to repulse aggression with aggression (Jamat e-Islami, 2002).

In order to fully defend Islam nation, the Jamaat develops defense potentials, using any means necessary to defend their beliefs. Additionally, they are willing to cooperate with any organization, terrorist or otherwise, whose belief system includes that of the defense of the Islamic tradition. The Jamaat believe that any aggression against any Muslim is an aggression against all Muslims, and should thus be punished by all Muslim communities (Jamat e-Islami, 2002).

The Jamaat is supported by the Pakistani government, as well as the Bangladeshi government. In addition, the organization receives funding from Saudi Arabia, Iran, Libya, and the Al-Quaida network. Still further, the group is funded by private organizations in their areas of operations, including universities and private clinics (Muktadhara, 2001).

The group's relationship with Bin Lauden and the Al-Quaida network is extensive. Jamaati terrorists are trained by the military of Pakistan, who trains based on the Al-Quaida model of combat. Jamaati terrorists are usually paired with Al-Quaida operatives, both in Bangladesh and Pakistan to learn battle strategies. Al-Quaida videos are used to train as well (Muktadhara, 2001).

The crimes committed, or suspected to have been committed, by the Jamaat organization are numerous. Since 1999 alone, over 1000 injuries and 100 deaths can be attributed to Jamaat organized activities in Pakistan and Bangladesh. Those activities include time bombs placed in movie theaters in Mymensing, which killed 30 people and wounded over 300. Another incident in January of 2004, in which a bomb was placed in a Shrine, wounded over 50 and killed 5 (Muktadhara, 2001).

In addition to the above crimes, the Jamaat are also responsible for execution-style deaths of over 50 secular, intellectuals in the region. The Jamaat organization keeps hundreds of intellectuals on the payroll, in order to ensure that the academic world in the region is established as a Jamaat ideology. Those who refuse to join the Jamaat are often gunned down or bombed, and killed (Muktadhara, 2001).

The Jamaat armies use many different type of weapons and tactics in order to succeed. Their weapons of choice include sub-machine guns, sniper rifles, time bombs, anti-aircraft explosives, dynamite, and other explosive materials. Additionally, they use contaminates such as bacteria to sabotage water supplies (Muktadhara, 2001).

The Jamaat method of operation differs from many terrorist organizations. Their primary method is the use of planted academic instructors to teach their form of Islam to students. Their use of intellectual battle helps their organization both to recruit new members, and also to convince authorities and other organizations to support their cause. Those institutions unwilling to employ members of the Jamaat organization are often the targets of bombings and bomb threats, and those instructors unwilling to teach the Jamaat method of Islam are often killed. Additionally, the group uses torture and extortion to gain political and educational power (Muktadhara, 2001c). The success of the Jamaat organization has been well documented, in that membership in the organization has increased drastically in the last 10 years, and many educational organizations are lead by members of the Jamaat. Additionally, governments in both Pakistan and Bangladesh are filled with members (Jamaat e-Islami Bangladesh, 2002b).

The Jamaat organization was founded in 1941 by Maulana Abul Ala Mauddudi. It came about in response to the liberation movement, as Bangladesh and Pakistan were being used to protect against the advancement of India. The Mududi was installed and operated by the British, and originally created by the CIA to fight communism in the region composed of Bangladesh, and Nepal. When the Mududi accepted Pakistan as the Islamic state, they refused to accept Bengali nationalism, and fought with the Pakistani government against nationalists of Bengali (Muktadhara, 2001).

The Jamaat organization originated in Bangladesh and Pakistan, but has spread throughout the world. There are Jamaat organizations throughout the Middle East, in Saudi Arabia, Libya, Iran, Afghanistan, Iraq, Israel, and many other countries. While the main bases are still located in the Bangladesh area, there are branches in almost every country (Muktadhara, 2001).