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Book ReviewThe News on Sunday, 13th September, 2009

Evolution of a war

A book scripting the evolution of Pakistan military's ambition to usecivilian insurgents as an instrument of defence and foreign policy

By Nadeem Omar Tarar

Shadow War:The Untold Story of Jihad in Kashmir

By Arif JamalPublished by Melville House Publishing, 2009Pages: 352 (hardcover)Price: $26.95The Untold Story of Jihad in Kashmir is a myth-busting and brutalexpos of Pakistan's secret war against India. It provides crucialinformation on the key facets of militancy including recruitment,organisational structure, ideological base, and its transnationalcharacter. The author Arif Jamal, a journalist scholar from Lahore

and New York, has not only made use of his journalist acumen andscholarly skills but more importantly his personal courage andprofessional integrity.Jamal prefaces the book by validating the sources of his informationwhich, given the clandestine nature of the subject, are as importantas the findings of the study. He has been successful in interviewingmost of the key players in the jihad networks as well as accessorganisational and popular literature of jihad. His use of first handaccounts and selective use of secondary sources turns it into a

highly original work.

The author is especially well placed, to write such a book. Havingbegun his professional career in Pakistan in 1986 as a journalistwith leading national and international media organisations, ArifJamal has written hundreds of investigative and interpretive articlesin English, focusing on Pakistan army and militant Islamicorganisations. He holds a Masters in International Relations and hasbeen a fellow at distinguished institutions including Harvard

University and the University College of London, UK. He is presentlyassociated with Center for International Cooperation, New York

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University , USA.The book has broken the scholarly silence on military's involvementwith militant Islamic groups and Pakistan's establishment's proxywar with India as it analyses the history of the jihad in Kashmir andthe role of the Pakistan Army in shaping it since 1988. Scripting the

evolution of the Pakistan's military ambition to use civilianinsurgents/jihadis as an instrument of defense and foreign policyagainst India in Kashmir, the author provides a rather useful indexof the names of the 'principal characters' from the warring regions,India, Pakistan and Kashmir, who would play out the script of jihadin Kashmir, a story which can compete with the best known politicalthrillers of our times.In the first two chapters, the author outlines the formative phase ofthe Kashmir conflict and the evolution of the policy of using crossborder Islamic militancy as an instrument of foreign policy, byfocusing on Pakistan's first jihad under direct military command. Itled to partition of Kashmir into Pakistani and Indian occupiedKashmirs within a year of independence in 1947. Chapter 3discusses how CIA money, destined for the Afghan mujahideen inthe 80s, was funneled to Kashmiri jihadis under Zia, creating a vitalnexus of power and patronage of Islamic militants by the Pakistanimilitary. Jamat-i-Islami (JI), provided ideological strength and

human resource, in addition to coordinating jihadi network withvarious brands of Islamic militants across the world, fuelling a morethan twenty-five year insurgency. Pakistani government and ISIsupport for militant groups who left Afghanistan to fight Indian rulein Kashmir has been the cause of much friction with India.

Chapter 4 and 5 demystify the notion of jihad as a selfless strugglefor the glory of Islam by exposing the vicious competitions amongvarious militant organisations fighting for share in the spoils of holy

war. With the ascent of secular mission of JKLF, the Kashmirinationalist militants in the 80s, JI fought back to take a lead role inthe Kashmir Jihad with the help of ISI in post-Zia period. Chapter 5builds on the factional struggle within the jihadi network and thehegemony of Hizbul Mujihadeen and its allied organisations on thereign of terror that they unleashed in Indian held Kashmir. Theylooted shops, bombed cinemas, targeted unveiled Muslim womenand kidnapped, tortured and murdered Hindu businessmen andofficials. In the process of conflict, Kashmiri society, which largely

avoided communal riots at the time of partition, was convulsed intobrutal violence, rising fundamentalism and communalism, and the

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flight of nearly the entire Hindu population from the Valley.Chapter 6 outlines the military adventure of President Musharraf,the infamous Kargil war, as a logical corollary to Pakistan's policy ofusing jihadis as a strategic tool in the war against India. AsMusharraf claimed it in his biography, it was waged to

internationalise the Kashmir issue. On the contrary, it ended upisolating Pakistan internationally and for which Pakistan bore anenormous human cost. The financial cost of the war, met throughPakistani taxpayer's money, excluding the compensation rose to$700 million. Jamal analyses how the role of jihadis was overstatedby the military and the sacrifices of Northern Light Infantry (NLI)drawn from Gilgit Baltistan/Norther Areas were ignored by themedia.Musharraf wore Kargil as a badge of honour despite repeatedcriticism of professional failures even from his very own militaryquarters. Claiming a degree of success in highlighting the Kashmirissue through Kargil, Musharraf went on to initiate peace processwith India, epitomised by Agra Summit in 2001.Jamal argues in chapter 7 that the failure of Agra Summit to lead toa peaceful resolution of conflicts between India and Pakistanrejoiced Islamic militants. Acquiring another lease of life, theyattacked Red Fort and later that year on the Indian parliament, the

very symbol of Indian sovereignty. In post 9/11 world, when ArabIslamic militancy under al-Qaeda came under an US-ledinternational scrutiny, ISI tried to protect its jihadi networks inPakistan and Kashmir by asking them to keep a low profile andcamouflaging their organisational nomenclature. They were advisedto drop names that smack of al-Qaeda -- Laskar, Jaish, and Sepah-- thereby allowing them to survive despite Musharraf's pronouncedcommitments to be a close American ally in international war onterror.

Extending the discussion of jihadi network further, the last chapterprovides a substantiative account of ISI's official involvement informing All Parties Hurriyat Conference (APHC) in 1993 in a bid togive a political face to jihad. Tracking its career over a decadeJamal, with profound penetration, analyses its impact onaggravating the Kashmir conflict, while counting its failure to live upto its original mandate.A net result of shadow war with Kashmir has meant that Pakistanimilitary has trained nearly half a million insurgents as a matter of

defence policy, who now pose a grave threat to the peace andsecurity of Pakistan. The nexus of power and patronage that was

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built up over Kashmir jihad fuels the militancy on Pakistani soil andabroad.Coupled with threats of increasing "Talibinization" that mar thedemocratic future of Pakistan, the infrastructure of Jihad factorycan not be effectively dismantled without finding solutions to

Kashmir conflict. Despite numerous attempts in continuing formalpeace talks between India and Pakistan in the last five years,militant attacks continue to hinder progress towards a sustainablesolution on Kashmir. Talks are effectively put on hold since 2008after India accused the ISI and Pakistani authorities of beingcomplicit in the Mumbai Attacks.Through a thick description of jihadi network, Arif Jamalunderscores the global implications of a regional conflict. He arguesthat global jihad is an off-shoot of Kashmir conflict. Withoutpeaceful resolution of Kashmir conflict, the international terrornetworks cannot be uprooted. In the light of Jamal's book, BarackObama's singular focus on battling Taliban in Afghanistan and theirsympathisers in Pakistan inherited from Bush administration canprove to be disastrous policy oversight for Pakistan as well as theinternational community.