Sohail Choudhury
Democratic Party’s presidential candidate Hillary Clinton recently said Islamist militants may get hold of chemical weapons and even nuclear weapons. Hopefully this remark from the former Secretary of State should be based on specific information. And of course, it would put all of us into serious thoughts and grave concern. We must understand the degree of threats that each of us would face, if the jihadists really get hold of nuclear weapons. What may happen, if the jihadists from nuke suicide squad? Before analyzing this possible threat, let us first of all, try to understand, what really is happening in the Muslim world, which are the breeding grounds of jihad.
On September 18, 2016, four commando-style jihadists, suspected to be members of Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammed (Spirits of Mohammed, the prophet of Islam), armed with Russian-made AK-47 rifles and explosives burst into the Kalapahar Brigade headquarters in Uri, Kashmir at 5:30am. There had been a three-hour gunfight between these four jihadists and Indian soldiers, 17 soldiers were killed and the gunfight ended when all of the 4 jihadists had been killed.
Following this attack, Indian Home Minister Rajnath singh tweeted: “Pakistan is a terrorist state and should be identified and isolated as such.”
Indian army’s director general of military operations, Lieutenant General Ranbir Singh said the jihadist attack bore the hallmarks of Pakistan-based militant group Jaish-e-Mohammed and he had informed his Pakistan counterpart of his findings, which linked the attack on Uri (Kashmir) to a similar jihadist attack in January 2016 on an Indian Air Force base in Punjab that India also blames on Jaish-e-Mohammed.
Indian Home Minister chaired a crisis meeting in New Delhi and said, “There are definite and conclusive indications that the perpetrators of Uri attack were highly trained, heavily armed and specially equipped.”
In less than two weeks, Indian army carried out Surgical Strikes in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir on September 29 targeting seven launchpads of the jihadists killing at least 37 militants. Pakistan denied this claim of Surgical Strikes while India said the entire operation were filmed, including some footage obtained through drones.
Pakistani Defence Minister Khawaja Muhammad Asif told local TV channels SAMAA and Geo TV that his country is open to using tactical nuclear weapons (that Pakistan is believed to possess) against India. He said, “Tactical weapons, our programmes that we have developed, they have been developed for our protection. We haven’t kept the devices that we have just as showpieces.”
India already has started diplomatic efforts to isolate Pakistan. Faced with growing pressure of global isolation, Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif recently has bluntly asked the military leadership including spy agency – Inter Service Intelligence (ISI) to act against terrorist and jihadist outfits, and conclude probes into the 2008 Mumbai and 2016 Pathankot attacks soonest.
On October 7th, the US said it does not support declaring Pakistan a terrorist state. This statement came only hours after Pakistani Prime Minister’s special envoy on Kashmir affairs, Mushahid Hussain Syed, (who is in the US as part of Islamabad’s efforts to apprise the global community of the current situation in Kashmir and allegations of human rights violations in the valley) during conclusion of an interaction at the Atlantic Council, an american think-tank said, “The US is no longer a world power. It is a declining power. Forget about it.” He further said, Pakistan would move towards China and Russia, if United States ignores Islamabad’s views on Kashmir issue.
Pakistan may not use tactical nuclear weapons directly against India. But the growing feud between Nawaz Sharif and Pakistan’s military establishment, especially ISI would create a situation where the spy agency may handover nuke weapons to the jihadists and establish a total reign of terror. On the other hand, notorious jihadist outfits like Islamic State had been making frantic bids in possessing chemical and nuclear weapons. There already are some countries that may handover both the items to the jihadists in exchange of huge cash. Now the question is – can the Islamist jihadists really get nuclear weapons? Answer is – YES!
Next question is – where from they would manage such huge fund for buying nukes? Let me try to give an elaborated reply to this point.
Since 2014, Islamic State earned hundreds of millions of dollars by selling petroleum products using Syria-Turkey borders with the help of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his Islamist government. It is simply unwise to think that all of such money had been stockpiled in warehouses within ISIS captured areas. Most definitely a large portion of this fund had gone into secret bank accounts in various countries. Handlers of ISIS would have deposited these amounts under various disguise.
Islamic State also control more than half of the narco-deals as they have spread wings from Afghanistan to Myanmar. They also have connections with drug rackets in Mexico, the Philippines etc. According to an investigative report published in Weekly Blitz, the annual sale of Ice Pill, a kind of raw material required for producing a drug called Yaba (it is also known as Meth or Shabu), stood at US$ 30 billion in 2015. Islamic State owns factories producing Yaba in Myanmar under so-called joint-venture with Rohingya Muslims. So, only from drugs, Islamic State continues making few billion dollars each year.
While we already are facing the dangerous threats of Islamist jihad, Militant Islam, anti-Semitism and religious extremism, are we prepared facing the future threats of nuclear jihad? We even don’t know how many hundreds or thousands of lone wolves are secretly planning jihadist or suicide attacks – be it in Asia, Europe, Africa, Australia or America. What will happen, if, God forbid, a suicide bomber wearing vest with nuke bomb just blow-up, all of a sudden? Let’s not ignore such serious issue!
No comments:
Post a Comment