Last night, the BBC's Security Correspondent Frank Gardner conducted a programme on BBC Radio 4 to establish whether support for the Jihadist view is falling in Britain given the organised broadside now being conducted by many Arab Islamic thinkers and intellectuals against Al Qaida's tactics and methods and their efforts to show how these are not only against Islam, but how they have deeply harmed the Muslim world. Indeed, these broadsides have even included a challenge to Al Qaida questioning its claim that it speaks for the Muslim world. Some of the people who have been leading this debate have even been former comrades-in-arms, one having fought the communists in Afghanistan in the 1990s and as recently as the summer of 2000 having attended the al-
Qaeda leader's 'summit' of jihadists in Afghanistan.
All that is very good, but the litmus test has to be whether any of it is having any effect on young British Muslims. To find out, Gardner visited the Active Change Foundation in East London. It is a movement set up to try to steer young men away from violent jihad. It was set up by Hanif Qadir, himself a former jihadi who turned back six years ago on the brink of going to fight alongside the Taliban in Afghanistan. Gardner asked him if all this ideological debate on jihadism is making any real difference at street level and Qadir replied that while some 'veteran' jihadists were coming back from theatres of conflict like Afghanistan and Chechnya bitter and disillusioned, the number of people queuing up for violent jihad was, in fact, growing. He blamed western foreign policy for playing into the hands of jihadi recruiters and said the UK government should do more to listen to Muslim grievances.
These grievances basically boil down to dissatisfaction over British foreign policy with regard to Palestine and the war in Iraq and Afghanistan. That is one thing the British establishment, and for that matter western governments in general, are loathe to accept, for the idea that any modification in something as basic as the determination of foreign policy in response to jihadist pressure is anathema. Thus it is that the root cause of religious extremism, at least as it exists here in the west among Muslim expatriates, is never addressed which means that the entire effort on counter-terrorism is focussed on what are really fringe issues.
That said, it is pertinent that the debate that Gardner referred to in his programme is actually taking place, for it does not appear to be happening in Pakistan where, one would have thought, such a debate is more acutely needed. Especially since the proliferation of the electronic media, the view that the unfortunately named 'war on terror' is not Pakistan's war has been often heard and has been allowed to go unchallenged. The presumption that this war is entirely and exclusively in the context of the war in Afghanistan is an erroneous one and obvious sympathisers of the jihadi viewpoint are seldom cornered on a justification for things like the burning of girls' schools, kidnapping of polio vaccinators, establishment of kangaroo courts which mete out barbaric punishments, etc, or asked how this may be allowed by any government and just what does one talk about with people who do such things. Try and burn down a school here in the UK and see if the government decides to talk to you.
In other words, there is a political context of the war on terror which has yet to be debated openly in the Pakistani media and that is important, for it is only an open debate that will give the so-called moderate majority an opportunity to come forward and make its views known. For too long the all-pervading anti-Americanism has found President Musharraf as its sole target and with him everything that he has done; that has included the war on terror and that is why the popular support deficit on this war has been so great. A few columnists are only now beginning to realise that the war on terror has a very specific Pakistan interest; one only hopes that it is not too little too late.
One a slightly different note but one which highlights the huge difference in values under which the governments of the UK and Pakistan operate, there was last week the case of a councillor of the Scottish National Party (SNP) who was suspended after it emerged he was caught on video firing a Kalashnikov assault rifle in Pakistan.
Mr Hanif made the trip in 2005 along with five of his children. A local newspaper in Scotland published still images from the video showing Mr Hanif firing the AK 47
According to Mr Hanif`s daughter Noor, the family had been visiting relatives in Pakistan in 2005, when they visited the mountains near the Line of Control in Kashmir. Noor was quoted as having said: “We were taken in a van with blacked-out windows. We were shown how to use the gun. We were shooting into the mountains. We all shot the gun.”
An SNP spokesman said the councillor would be given the chance to explain his actions. He added: “Cllr Hanif is currently in Pakistan, and has not had the opportunity to put his side of the story. On the face of it he has not broken the law, and there is no suggestion of any involvement in anything untoward. Nevertheless, this was very foolish and inappropriate conduct. He is well aware of the SNP's strong views against firearms, particularly involving children.
”Cllr Hanif has this afternoon been suspended from the party, and therefore the council group, pending a disciplinary hearing where he will have the opportunity to explain himself and this incident from 2005. Given this action, it would be inappropriate to comment further.”
In a statement issued by the party, Mr Hanif said that he regretted that this happened and offered his apologies admitting that the episode was “foolish and inappropriate”.
Scottish Conservative justice spokesman Bill Aitken said he has written to First Minister Alex Salmond demanding that he take action against Mr Hanif whose behaviour he described as “absolutely appalling”.
He said: “At a time when every right thinking politician is concerned about the levels of violence and gun crime this man is training his children in how to use a deadly assault rifle. Why was he doing this? This sends out the worst possible message and to my mind renders councillor Hanif quite unsuitable to hold elected public office. Mr Salmond needs to take decisive action or his own credibility will be very much under question.”
If senior political personalities in Pakistan were to be declared “unsuitable to hold elected public office” on the basis of being caught on video with a firearm in the vicinity, the entire political deck would probably be cleared. As the great bard would have put it, a consummation devoutly to be wished!
