LAHORE: The Pakistani intelligence agencies probing the September 20, 2008 Marriot Hotel suicide bombing say the responsibility claim made by a hitherto unknown jehadi group Fidayeen-e-Islam has given credence to their earlier suspicion that the deadly attack was carried out by the Harkatul Jehadul Islami (HUJI) led by al-Qaeda-linked jehadi leader Qari Saifullah Akhtar.
On Monday night, a shadowy group, calling itself Fidayeen-e-Islam had claimed responsibility for the Marriott attack in a telephone call to Al-Arabiya television. The Dubai-based television’s correspondent in Islamabad said he received a text message on his mobile phone showing a telephone number, which he called and then heard a recording in which the group admitted launching Saturday’s attack. The caller, who spoke in English with South Asian accent to claim responsibility for the Marriott Hotel attack, identified himself as Ahmad Shah Abdali and made a few conditions to stop attacks against the US interests in Pakistan, including an end to Pak-US cooperation. Ahmad Shah Abdali said the attack was carried out by a suicide bomber while 250 US Marines and NATO officials were inside the Marriott Hotel.
However, the intelligence sleuths probing the September 20 terrorist attack insist that the telephonic claim was essentially meant to confuse the investigators and to divert their attention from the actual culprits who indeed belong to the HUJI. The intelligence sources pointed out that the HUJI never claims responsibility for any of its terrorist acts. In sharp contrast, they added, the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan led by Commander Baitullah Mehsud always claims responsibility for its terrorist operations and has already denied its involvement in the Marriot bombing besides condemning the incident. Intelligence sleuths pointed out that the name of the person who has made the responsibility claim for the Marriot attack – Ahmad Shah Abdali – has given broad hints about Qari Saifullah’s involvement in the Marriott attack.
Elaborating their contention, they recalled that the Qari was arrested on February 26, 2008 from Ferozwala near Lahore and subsequently grilled by a joint interrogation team comprised of operatives from the Punjab Police, Inter Services Intelligence (ISI) and the Special Investigation Group of the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA). During interrogations, Qari claimed that he had already adopted the path of Sufism since his release in May 2007 and was living for the past few months in the secluded khanqah (memorial) of a renowned sufi cum militant of the 18th century, Syed Ahmad Shaheed (b.1786 d.1831). Although Syed Ahmed’s tomb is situated in Balakot, his followers have established a khanqah in his name near the Sagian Bridge in the Ferozwala area, close to Lahore, from where Qari was seized along with his three sons on February 26, 2008 in connection with the investigations of the October 18, 2007 suicide attack on the welcome procession of Benazir Bhutto in Karachi.
During interrogations, Qari Saifullah Akhtar told his investigators that upon his May 2007 release, he went to Masjidul Huda lane Hamza Town, Lahore to meet his pir (mentor), Syed Nafees Shah, also a follower of Syed Ahmed Shaheed, who ordered him to stay in the Ferozwala Khanqah and work for the spiritual guidance of the people. The Qari told his investigators he is a staunch follower of Syed Ahmed Shaheed and Ahmed Shah Abdali who fought and laid down their lives for the creation of an Islamic state. He conceded that his failed ‘Operation Khilafat’ of 1995, which was meant to topple Bhutto’s second government and take over the General Headquarters of the Pakistan Army with the help of his like-minded army officers, was meant to introduce Khliafat system in Pakistan and to enforce Islamic Shariah in accordance with the teachings of Syed Ahmed Shaheed.
Exploring Syed Ahmed Shaheed’s link with Ahmad Shah Abdali by referring to the history books, the intelligence sleuths reminded that the great Muslim cleric of his times, Shah Wali Ullah (1703-1763), in a bid to revive puritan Islam, had launched a movement to re-establish Islamic supremacy in India. In 1761, Shah Wali Ullah invited Ahmed Shah Abdali, a mighty Muslim warrior of his times who is also described as the founder of modern Afghanistan, to storm India and to re-establish Darul Islam (Islamic State). The victory at Panipat was the high point of Ahmad Shah Abdali’s power. His empire was among the largest Islamic empires in the world at that time. He died at Murghah, in Afghanistan, in June 1773, in the fiftieth year of his age.
Later, Shah Wali Ullah’s son Shah Abdul Aziz (1746-1824) declared India a Darul Harb (Abode of War) since around 1800 Muslims had practicality lost all political power. Abdul Aziz declared that all Muslims should either fight back against the Marathas, Sikhs and British or emigrate from India. After Shah Abdul Aziz’s death in 1824, his disciple Syed Ahmed Shaheed (1768-1831), another Muslim warrior from India, raised the banner of jehad and rallied the Pashtun tribes to his banner. His movement posed a serious threat to Ranjit Singh’s Sikh Kingdom after it inflicted several defeats on Sikh troops. However, he was betrayed by some locals and was killed by the Sikhs along with hundreds of his troops and followers in Balakot district, the Mansehra District of the North West Frontier Province in 1831. His defeat ended the dream of establishing a true Islamic state in Peshawar, now Pakistan.
The Pakistani intelligence sleuths believe Qari Saifullah Akhtar and his followers are still vying to establish an Islamic state where they can enforce their version of Islamic Shariah. They recalled that during Qari Saifullah told his interrogators that his pir (mentor) Syed Nafees Shah had declared him ‘Khalifa’ in his place, shortly before his February 5, 2008 death and he was duty bound to fulfill his mission of converting Pakistan into a pure Islamic state, to be ruled by a Khalifa who has the traits of both Syed Ahmed Shaheed and Ahmad Shah Abdali whose name was used Monday night, 235 years after his death, to claim responsibility for the Marriot attack.
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* Lahore