Daily Times

They may have some
resemblance to the Ninja Turtle cartoons, but they are not harmless like them. These are persons clad in black, holding large batons (danda) and daggers, and they attack at will. They are aggressive and programmed into a ruthless warrior mode. They kill and get killed. It is said that these are females from the Laal Masjid, Islamabad, but it is possible that some males may have donned that attire as one of their leaders did in July 2007 to escape from the mosque.

They reappeared last week well-equipped and ‘supported’. There were pickups and ladders to support their action, the action being the destruction of the election campaign banners of two candidates, Dr Amjad and Syed Pervez Musharraf. They remained unchecked and the TV networks, particularly the new Capital TV network covered them at length. They were climbing the poles, they were supported by pick up vans, and they had large batons in their hands. They were beating the posters and the photographs, they were trying to pull these down and cut the ropes with the help of large daggers.

The black burqa brigade is not unfamiliar to Islamabad. It is also familiar to many outside Islamabad. A famous sculptor made life size sculptures of a group of these danda-bardar (baton-carrying) brigades at the inauguration of the National Art Gallery in Islamabad. These black burqa-clad persons played a prominent and very visible role in the support of the famous terrorist action from the Laal Masjid in 2007. These black brigades stood on the top of the roofs of the Laal Masjid and the adjacent Children Library. This black brigade had unlawfully captured the Children Library and refused to vacate it. They made it a part of the Laal Masjid terror camp. Said to be students, they were well-trained in combat.

In the month of July 2007, the Laal Masjid occupants had worked out their strategy against the government of Pakistan. The two brothers from the Laal Masjid, Aziz and Rashid, were in regular contact with al Qaeda leaders, particularly Tahir Yaldochiv and Sheikh Essa. Sheikh Essa was an Arab member of the al Qaeda who was fluent in Urdu and Pashto. The two brothers regularly received a flow of directives on strategy. By 2007, Laal Masjid had become an al Qaeda powerhouse in the federal capital of Islamabad, directly in the face of the ISI and the GHQ. All appeals to vacate or surrender met with deaf ears. The strategy of attacking video shops, Chinese workers, kidnapping of policemen, burning of video shops were all actions to test waters.

“…Pakistani intelligence sources were reporting to the Presidency that Laal Masjid was demanding the enforcement of the Islamic Sharia but in fact it was playing mind games under instruction from al Qaeda…” (Inside Al Qaeda, Salim Shehzad, Page 161).

By the time the Laal Masjid ‘Operation Sunrise’ started, the two brothers had severed relations with their spiritual head. They had refused to accept the appeals of the Imam Kaaba, Mr and Mrs Abdul Sattar Edhi; the head of the Wafaq-ul-Madaris, politicians like Chaudhary Shujaat Hussain, and of course, repeated appeals from the government, and particularly from President Musharraf.

The occupants inside included members of the Jamaat-ud-Dawa, formerly known as the Lashkar-e-Tayyaba, and Harkat-e-Jihad-e-Islami of the controversial jihadi leader, Qari Saifullah .The biggest grouping of militants belonged to the banned Jaish-e-Mohammed. The complex always had close affiliation with Jaish, but the first sign of its physical presence came when on the third day of the conflict the militants handed over the body of a man described as a journalist from a local newspaper. It was later revealed that he had been carrying a fake identity card and was identified as Maqsood-ul-Mehmood, who used to work for a Jasih-e-Mohammed publication and was cousin of the banned outfit’s supreme leader Maulana Masood Azhar.

The plan was to hold as many as possible from leaving the Laal Masjid complex in response to the government appeals and keep them as human shields. The Black Brigade was assisting ferociously. What happened during and after the operation is well known. Even Benazir Bhutto and the Afghan president Hamid Karzai supported the operation. The escapees joined the terrorists in Swat and the larger uprising as per the plans of the al Qaeda started.

Some years have passed and the memories are getting muddled. The actual newspaper archives still keep the records and are source of many truths. But politics has changed and it is found useful by several politicians to back off from their stands in July 2007. They are trying to gain sympathies of the rightists, the extremists, and the terrorists. The Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf, and the religious parties are all in the good books of the Taliban. Now it is the election time and the right moment to re-visit the pledges of the Laal Masjid. Therefore, the appearance of the Black Brigade, the Danda Brigade or Ninjas, whatever you like to call them, is no co-incidence. It is very likely a planned strategy. They hated the Pakistan People’s Party government as they hated Musharraf. Both resisted terror as best as they could. They also resisted the enforcement of the Salafi brand of Islam and the schools akin to it. No doubt there is a majority of Muslims in this country but they believe in the Quran and the teachings of the Prophet Muhammad (PBUH), and do not believe in sectarian divide and conflict.

The appearance of the Black Brigade needs a serious notice. Is it there to show its power to the political parties and to get their support? Are they testing the strength of the government and its will to control? Are they building, and regrouping, in the time available during the interim government with a limited mandate?

The reason can be any of these or all of these. Whatever the reason, the people of Pakistan and their law enforcement agencies will be committing a blunder if they do not watch carefully and act before the malady, symbolised by Black Brigade becomes fatal this time.

The writer is the former CEO Pakistan National Council of the Arts; Chairman Fruit processing Industries; Chairman UNESCO Theatre Institute Pakistan; COO ‘ICTV’ USA, and currently, Senior Vice President APML(Central). He can be reached at naeemtahir37@gmail.com