Pan islamism and its dangers assessed in 2000

1. DOST MITTAR SAHIB
my friend you have raised some serious questions.
my idea is that no single religion or power should
triumph but there should be a balance of power
below are my ideas on dangerous lessons drawn by
the afghan jihadis or the pakistani miiitary from the
so called afghan jihad published in 2000:---
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
Published as letter to the editor
Defence Journal, KARACHI ,March 2000 Issue
http://www.defencejournal.com/2000/mar/letter.htm
EVERYTHING IS NOT BLACK AND WHITE OR
RED OR BLUE;
THERE ARE SHADES IN BETWEEN TOO ! PAN
ISLAMISM CHECHEN QUESTION ETC.
Sir ,

2. I have seen a large number of articles about Pan
Islamic themes in various issues of DJ . I was
however propelled to write this letter once I saw a
letter by a reader chiding Iran with lethargy and
indifference about Chechen Muslims ! I share the
writers concern about the plight of Chechens but feel
with considerable conviction that ignorance of
history and extreme fervour has induced the writer to
make some sweeping statements. This is no fault of
the author but a common occurrence in Pakistan
where a lot of lip service is paid to abstract concepts
of Pan Islamism etc; while many ground realities are
ignored. In addition history is not taught in a manner
in schools or colleges which may enable a future
adult to have a broader perspective of events. The
fault lies in our educational system! Take Ahmad
Shah Abdali for example. The man was a soldier of
fortune who looted the Muslims of Delhi and Punjab
indiscriminately but later was extolled by Iqbal as a
great Muslim hero . Read Waris Shah and other
Punjabi Muslim poets of 18th century Punjab and
you find out that this Abdali was the worst kind of
looter ! Take Aurangzeb again eulogised by Iqbal as
a Muslim hero .The fact is that the man alienated all

3. communities in India. He chastised the Pathans
alienating them by punitive expeditions against
tribes, making the Yusufzai fight the Khattak as a
result of which Pathans stopped joining the Mughal
Army at a time when the Mughals needed them the
most in the Maratha insurgency (Refers pages-239 &
240-Cambridge History of India-Volume Four).
The same Aurangzeb was more keen to destroy the
southern Muslim Shia kingdoms as a result of which
the Mughals subsequently got involved in the
Maratha war which became the Mughals Spanish
Ulcer and the principal reason of decline and fall of
the Mughal Empire! By removing the Shia
Kingdoms Aurangzeb got inextricably involved with
the Marathas who inhabited the area of the Shia
Kingdoms . These Marathas found Aurangzeb's
Sunni fanaticism intolerable and waged a brilliant
guerrilla war under Sivaji which laid a blue print of a
guerrilla war imitated or re practised much later in
Spain against Napoleon , in Vietnam against USA
and much later in Afghanistan .In all cases guerrilla
forces triumphed over conventional forces; whether
guerrillas were Marataha Hindu , Catholic Spanish ,
Communist Atheist Vietnamese or Muslim Pathan

4. or Tajik .Today these Pan Islamists think that it was
triumph of Islam over Communism ! A typical case
of Pan Islamic confusion! To come back to the point
the problem with Pan Islamism is that many realities
of history are ignored once Pan Islamists talk about
Islam at an international level.
Geography, ethnicity and historical background are
ignored by Pan Islamists . Take Iran's case as an
example . Iran is a Shia Muslim national state. It has
defied USA successfully since 1979 more
successfully than any other modern Muslim state
without selling national honour as done by Pakistani
governments since 1950 or by blundering into a trap
like Kuwait War in case of Iraq! It is prosperous
cohesive and has clear national goals. Now take Iran
in relation to its neighbours. On one side is Turkey .
An Islamic state if this confused label can be applied
to a state which has a defence pact with Israel .
Turkey has historically tried to dismember or
damage Iran and the same is true for Iran's attitude
with Turkey ! In 1724 Turkey concluded an
agreement with Tsarist Christian Russia to
dismember and divide Muslim Iran ! (Refers-page-
237 to page-238-History of Persia-Volume Two-

5. Brigadier General Percy Sykes-London-Macmillan
and Company Limited-Saint Martin's Press-New
York-1958) . Turkish Iranian rivalry which was a
natural result of the fact that the two states were
different ethnically and dynastically weakened both
and played a major role in ensuring that Ottoman
Turkey's forces were divided between Europe and
Asia. Iran also remained weak since it was engaged
in a series of wars with Turkey from the sixteenth to
the 19th century . Pan Islamists may cite this as a
case of Islamic disunity but that is absurd ! The same
was true for Christian France allying with Muslim
Turkey against Christian Austria or France allying
with Muslim ruled Mysore against English East
India Company. Religion, alas despite all lip service
to the idea remains a weak basis for statehood
barring Pakistan and Israel with European Jews
dominating Israel and Punjabi Muslims dominating
Pakistan after having finally sucessfully getting rid
of the Muslim majority province of East Bengal !
Even the first Muslim state which in reality was an
Arab dominated state was basically a family affair;
the first four caliphs being from Quraish and later
the the Bannu Ummaya fighting the Ali-ides or the
Banni Abbas fighting the Banni Ummaya. If the

6. Holy Prophet (P.B.U.H) wanted he would have left
clear guidelines ; about his successor; another legal
issue which divides Muslims! History of Islam was
in reality the history of Arab Muslims with all power
concentrated in the hands of one clan ; a total
negation of the concept of democracy as practised by
the Holy Prophet ! The Arab dynasties were
followed by Turkish Berber Fatimid dynasties all
conveniently employing religion as a tool ; an opium
to drug the masses ! The Ottoman Empire was a
tyranny as far as the Arab Muslims was
concerned;Muslim in name Turk in reality !The
Mughals were Muslims in name following the policy
of divide and rule using Hindu Generals against
Pathan Muslims or Hindu Rajput generals against
Maratha Hindus ! This was not a negation of Pan
Islamism . Islam was good as a slogan but the
Mughals had to deal with a larger number of non
Muslims. The Pakistan idea emerged only after the
Muslims feared persecution from a Hindu majority.
But even religion failed once the Bengali Muslims
felt that they were being fooled in the name of Islam
by the West Pakistani ruling elite ! The Punjabi
Muslim politicians raised the slogan of parity to
safeguard West Pakistani/Punjabi Muslim interests

7. against possible Bengali Muslim domination !
Exactly in the same manner as done by the Muslim
League to escape Hindu majority's domination !
Now we have PONAM BNM ANP MQM STTP etc.
The reason is not that these are traitors but because
ethnicity is also important . Mere religion is no
panacea of all evils ! If it was not so there would be
no quota system!
Pan Islamism was picked up by Jamal Afghani in
second half of 19th century . It's a good slogan but
overlooks certain concrete historical facts . How
could for example Indian Muslims support Egyptian
Muslims once Alexandria was bombarded in 1882 or
once the British fought the Second Afghan War in
1878-80 . The Egyptians had no link with India apart
from a common religion ! The Afghans had
systematically looted Indian Muslims independently
or as mercenaries of Persia from 1739 to 1799 !
Ahmad Shah Abdali warned the Muslim Pathans of
Rohailkhand and Upper Doab to be more careful
with Shia Oudh than against Marathas ! About 13
years later Shia Muslim Oudh hired a British East
India Company brigade to destroy Pathan Muslim
Rohailkhand ! Sir Syed Ahmad Khan rightly advised

8. the Indian Muslims not to think the Turkish Khalifa
as Khalifa of India ! The Arabs knew much better
about the Turk's Islamic fervour ! The British were
the de facto rulers of India ! The fact was forgotten
by the Indian Muslims much later and the Khilafat
movement however heroic damaged the cause of
Indian Muslims. The Turks under Kemal the 'Grey
Wolf' of Anatolia proved wiser and kicked out the
ridiculous Khalifa !
Now to come back to Iran :- (1) How could Iran sell
out to the Russians in 1979 when it was itself in the
middle of a traumatic revolution and confronting
USA which the Pakistani leadership since 1951 has
shamelessly wooed, only be kicked once Pakistan
needed crucial US help in 1965 and 1971! Zia on the
other hand sold Pakistan to the US once the Russians
occupied Afghanistan in order to preserve his seat!
The military regime was isolated internally as well
as externally! Internally, it had reneged on a promise
of elections within 90 days, and externally, it had no
support! Russian intervention in Afghanistan gave it
a golden excuse to stay in power and to get US aid!
The Afghans were helped not because of Islam but
because they were a good means to get dollars from

9. the US and Saudi Arabia! So much for the Islamic
fervour! Pakistan got billions of dollars of US aid
most of which was pilfered by Zia and his generals
and air marshals! The evidence of this can be seen in
the assets of many Jullundhri Pathans or Hindustani
generals as held today or those of their sons who are
not corrupt politicians by any definition since they
are general's sons! (2) What happened in
Afghanistan? The US financed a large number of
groups, Pathan, Uzbek, Tajik, Hazara, Persian
speaking to fight a proxy war. All these groups were
Muslim in name but in reality Pathan, Tajik or
Uzbek. The Afghan war was a much smaller affair
than Vietnam. While about 60,000 Americans died
in Vietnam only 14000 Russians died in
Afghanistan, an average of 1200 per year. A very
insignificant figure in Russian military history
keeping in view the fact that about 1,700,000
(Refers-pages-986 and 987 -Hitler and Stalin- Alan
Bullock-Alfred. A.Knopf-New York-1992) Russians
died in WW One and 13 ,600,000 in WW Two!
Compare Afghanistan with Vietnam in terms of
ethnicity versus religion. I think that the best thing
about the Russian invasion of Afghanistan was the

10. fact that the Tajiks, Uzbeks and Hazaras who had
been third rate citizens in a Pathan dominated
Afghanistan since 1799 became first rate citizens ! A
fact which even today is very irritating and
unpleasant for the Taliban which is a deadly anti
Shia and essentially Pathan Sunni Group! The
Vietnamese were one race and had one ideology.
Vietnam is stable and prosperous today without
being Muslim or Christian! The Afghans are
disunited and in much worse shape in 2000 than in
1988 when the last Russian soldier left its soil !
What is Hekmatyar without US or ISI aid ! Where is
his Islamic fervour now ! More was at stake than
Islam! CIA dollars in millions were stashed by CIA
and ISI operatives or generals and air marshals in
Chase Manhattan or Bank of Cheats and Crooks
(BCCI)! The only genuine man was Ahmad Shah
Masud who did not become a tool of foreign
intelligence agencies and is still fighting not based in
a Madarssa financed by an Arab anti Shia state or
intelligence agency of a foreign country but by
virtue of being a man of substance ! Who are the
Taliban ! How have they suddenly replaced so-
called charismatic Mujahideen commanders like
Hekmatyar, Khaliq Abdul Haq etc ! The change

11. proves that Afghanistan was a manipulated affair !
The controls were elsewhere ! The problem is that
one country cannot manipulate another endlessly! As
the conditions in Afghanistan stabilise, it will be
more and more difficult for external powers to
manipulate the country! Either there will be a sellout
in 2000 or Pakistan will suffer the ravages of a low
intensity limited or full war in case adventurism in
intelligence agencies is not curbed ! The Afghan
Jehad a misnomer was in reality a CIA Jehad and
that is why the Afghans are in the shape they are
today ! Their leaders in league with Pakistan's
military junta gobbled millions of US dollars and
now they talk of confrontation with US ! My
knowledge of Pathan history tells me that there will
be a sellout in 2000 ! So much for the Taliban and
the Osama business ! (3) Few people know that in
1982 at the height of Iran Iraq war General Zia
despatched a military advisory group to Iraq ! These
people were not there to teach the Iraqi's harmless
first aid tactics but were dealing with Iraqi armour
and infantry officers fighting a war with another
Islamic country! So much for Pakistan's solidarity
with Iran! (3) Now coming to Iran's dealings with
Russia. Iran at the moment is moving towards close

12. cooperation with Russia. Russia is transferring
nuclear technology and also supplying military
hardware to Iran. This is most essential for Iran since
today's world with a unipolar scenario is far more
insecure for smaller states. Muslim, Christian or
Atheist than before 1989 ! Why should Iran
antagonise the Russians! This is not a sellout. The
Iranians are pursuing their national interests, just like
Pakistan's usurpers were following their personal
interests once they sold Pakistan albeit cheaply and
without achieving much to the USA in 1950s or in
1977-88 ! Now coming straight to Chechnya . I have
visited Russia twice in 1995 and 1996. Till 1996 the
Chechens were doming well in Russia ! They were
prominent in Moscow, dominating the Mafia at least
marginally and the General Manager of Hotel
Raddisson where I was staying was a Chechen! I
discussed Chechnya in great detail with this
gentleman and many Chechens! The issue is more
complicated than we in Pakistan know. The
Chechens were happy with the semi independent
political status they had achieved in 1996. Only the
radical Islamists who were a marginal although well
organised group were unhappy. They wanted to
export their brand of Islamic radicalism to

13. Daghestan a more liberal and peaceful Muslim state!
The present trouble into which Chechnya got into is
the result of the absurd and nut headed approach of
these Chechen Muslim radicals. Sending guerrillas
to Daghestan. Planting bombs in civilian flats in
Moscow! These were the acts that provoked the
Russian government to attack Chechnya ! The
Russians were unhappy when their government
attacked Chechnya in 1995 or in 1979-88 when they
attacked Afghanistan. They regarded these wars as
adventurism. Now the situation is different. Now the
average Russian regards the present war as a just
war! Russian public opinion is solidly behind
Russian government. It is not the question of Islam
versus Christianity as is being made out in Pakistan!
The Russians are a people with a barbarian past !
They were ruled by Tartar Muslims, oppressive
Romanovs and the totalitarian Bolsheviks. More
Russians have died fighting each other than Muslims
against Russians. In the Russian Civil War fought in
1917-22 almost ten million people died! A number
much larger than the total population of Chechnya !
Chechnya houses some of Russia's largest oil and
gas reserves ! It is not Afghanistan which was many
hundred miles away from mainland Russia. Its

14. possession is vital to Russia . The Russians can
easily conduct military operations unlike
Afghanistan where logistic cost of supplying or
sustaining military operations was the principal
cause of Russian withdrawal! Its just like
Balochistan which the Pakistani government would
not allow to secede; not because for any special love
for the Baloch Muslims; but simply because the
province houses Pakistan's largest gas reserves and
is geopolitically essential for Pakistan's security!
East Pakistan was lost because of geography but
Balochistan's geography condemns it to be a
province of a larger federal state !
The Afghanistan analogy is not applicable to
Chechnya. The Russians withdrew from Afghanistan
not because they were militarily defeated but
because Gorbachev rightly assessed that staying on
was not cost effective (Pages-207 & 208- Out of
Afghanistan-Cordovez and Harrison-Oxford-1995).
Chechnya is an altogether different case because
Russian presence there is cost effective because of
Chechen oil! The political situation in Russia is once
again stabilising. The Communists are once again
regaining strength while Putin is likely to emerge as

15. a strong statesman. No amount of statements from
the OIC can change the situation. If the Russians are
ignoring the OSCE and USA why should they
bother about OIC! Why should Iran surrounded by
three hostile or potentially hostile neighbours and
one super power which every year allocates funds to
destabilise Iran antagonise the Russians ; their only
trustworthy ally!
Where is Islam in case of Kurds! How many Kurds
have died fighting Iranian Iraqi and Turkish armies
since the last one hundred years! I think ten times
more than total number of Chechens killed from
January 1999! Where is the Islam of the Islamic
Contact Group in case of Kurds who are condemned
for eternity to be subjects of Iran, Iraq and Turkey.
The first modern Chemical Warfare attack was
carried out against the Iraqi Kurds during the Iran-
Iraq war! Where was Islam when genocide was
committed in 1971 by a Muslim (a misconceived
misnomer!) Army against the Bengali Muslims!
Religion, ideology etc is nothing but cheap tools
employed by the ruling elite to galvanise and drug
the masses! The middle class and the feudal clique
of UP and Punjab became interested in Muslim

16. separatism only once their class interests were
threatened with competitive examinations and
concepts of British democracy! The same was true
for the Hindu middle and business classes that
joined the congress! They thought that they would
succeed the British Viceroys in ruling entire India!
Hinduism was only a slogan, just as was the case
with the Muslim elite! Religion is a good slogan but
only a slogan! Democracy ends immediately when
Muslims leave the Mosque! Lip service is paid but
that is where Islam ends!
It will be good for our intellectual health if we forget
about Pan Islamism and try to set our own house in
order! So far we have miserably failed even to stay
as one nation in case of East Pakistan! Today we
have the smaller ethnic group's issue which is
intricate as well as genuine and demands good
statesmanship which is sadly lacking both in India
and Pakistan ! Both have been termed as 'failed
states' by political scientists ! Both have a history of
using coercive power of a modern state against
smaller ethnic groups e.g. Kashmir 1989-2000, East
Pakistan-1971 , Balochistan 1958-64, Balochistan
1974-77 etc etc. Both the states have been steadily

17. involved in an arms race that will end only once a
war limited or total is finally fought . A
dispassionate study of history proves that men are
but victims of currents of history and cannot change
the tide of history! Europe learned its lesson after
two world wars and is saner ! China learned its
lesson from 1911-1949 and is now saner !
Unfortunately Pakistan and India have fought small
wars ; petty skirmishes by western standards in
which total casualties of each side was less than
10,000 killed. That is why both have hawks;
theoretical hawks I would say; arm chair strategists;
Don Quixote's who think that Kashmir can we won
(Pakistan) or retained (India)! The motivation of the
ruling elite on both sides is ulterior! Its not ideology
Islam or secularism but ego, powers, lusts for glory!
Bismarck's does not lead them or Churchill's but
myopic men with limited vision, short-term goals
and personal agendas advised by dark horse
adventist intelligence agencies! Sundarji called them
blind men of Hindustan ; a better name may be
'Blind men of Hind-o-Pak'! These are shortsighted
men who have not understood what General
Sherman said at Atlanta after the US Civil War i.e.
'there are many a boys here who think of war as

18. glory, but it is hell!' As a soldier I wish that both the
countries should either fight it out so that we at least
discover (I would say rediscover or confirm as far as
ex soldiers are concerned!) The qualitative
efficiency of our general officers or arrive at a
settlement! Otherwise it's a never-ending game of
musical chairs, which the ruling elite of both the
countries is making the common man play! The
qualities of generalship and mediocrity in higher
ranks on both sides have been well proved in 1947-
48, 1965 and 1971! 2000 if it proves decisive will
inshaallah prove as no exception.
And lastly Pan Islamism is dangerous . It is better if
we concentrate on setting our own house in order.
Major A.H Amin
(Retired)
Arlington Blvd
Arlington va-22209
USA