Jundallah

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Jundullah (Army of God).
جندالله
 
Leader Abdulmalek Rigi,
Also known as:
Emir Abdul Malik Baluch
 
Founded 1980s
Headquarters Pakistani Balochistan[citation needed]
 
Ideology Greater Balochistan, Baluch nationalism, Sunni Islam, Religious Conservatism

Jundullah (Army of Allah) (Persian: جندالله) is a militant organization that is based in Balochistan. It is a part of the Baloch insurgency in Pakistan and in Iran's Sistan and Baluchistan Province. Jundallah claims that it has 1,000 fighters and has killed Iranian soldiers.[1] The group has been identified as a terrorist organization by Iran and Pakistan.[2]. Some believe the group is linked to Al-Qaeda [3].

Contents

[edit] Activities

Peoples Resistant Movement of Iran (PRMI), former Jundallah of Iran, is believed to have emerged on the scene in 2003 and it is known for attacks against high profile Iranian targets, especially government and security officials. Despite Iranian claims of PRMI's connection with the Pakistani Jundallah, no proof of such link has been found by independent sources[4]. Iran also accuses the United States and other foreign elements of backing PRMI, possibly from Pakistani territory with Islamabad's support, despite Pakistan's history of cooperating with Iran to suppress Baloch nationalism, whereas PPMI adamantly denies any connections to al-Qaeda or the Taliban, as well as foreign governments such as the United States and Great Britain[5].In an interview with Dan Rather, Rigi describes the Iranian military as "cowardly" and in that video [4] , he cuts off a person's head in front of the camera , in Al-Qaeda style.


The group's leader is known to be Abdolmalek Rigi (also known as Emir Abdul Malek Baloch). In a May telephone interview with Rooz, (Iranian online newspaper), Rigi defended PRMI's use of violence as a just means to defend Baloch and Sunni Muslim interests in Iran and to draw attention to the difficult economic situation and ethnic discrimination of the Baloch people [6][7][8][9], whom he describes as Iran's poorest. Significantly, Rigi declared himself an Iranian and Iran as his home. He also denied harboring separatist aspirations. According to Rigi, PRMI's goal is to improve the life of Iranian Baloch and Sunnis and not to separate from Iran or even demand autonomy.

[edit] Alleged support from the United States Government

According to an April 2007 report by Brian Ross and Christopher Isham of ABC News, the United States government had been secretly encouraging and advising the Jundullah in its attacks against Iranian targets. This support is said to have started in 2005 and arranged so that the United States provided no direct funding to the group, which would require congressional oversight and attract media attention.[5] The report was denied by Pakistan official sources [6].

Alexis Debat, one of the sources quoted by Ross and Isham in in their report alleging US support for the Jundullah, resigned from ABC News in June 2007, after ABC officials discovered he faked several interviews while working for the company. [7].

Brian Ross, the correspondent who worked most closely with Mr. Debat, said the Jundullah story had many sources. “We’re only worried about the things Debat supplied, not about the substance of that story,” he said in regard to the Jundullah report.So far, ABC has found nothing that would undermine the stories Mr. Debat worked on, Mr. Ross said last night. But he acknowledged that as the stories of fabrications continue to roll in, the network “at some point has to question whether anything he said can be believed.”[8]

Fars News Agency, an Iranian state run news agency, reported that the United States government is involved in PRMI's terrorists acts.[9] On April 2, 2007, Abdul Malik Rigi, appeared on the Iranian branch of the Voice of America, the official broadcasting service of the United States government, which identified Rigi as "the leader of popular Iranian resistance movement". This incident resulted in public condemnation by Persian-American communities in the U.S, as well as the Iranian government.[10][11][12][13]

[edit] Arrest of Waheed brothers

On July 3, 2004, Karachi police arrested two doctor brothers (Dr. Akmal Waheed, a cardiologist, and Dr. Arshad Waheed, an orthopaedic surgeon), who were missing, and presumed kidnapped since June 17. The police claimed to have recovered a car, the men's passports and visa cards from their possession. The doctors were said to have close links to Pakistani Jundullah and Al-Qaeda, as they were providing shelter and financial and medical support to the terrorists, police claimed.[14]

They were charged with providing medical assistance and protection to the activists. They went underground after arrest of Shahzad Bajwa, the frontman and Ata-ur-Rehman, the chief of Jundullah, the spokesman further claimed. During investigations and later before the court, Ata-ur-Rehman, the chief of Jundullah, had confessed that Dr Akmal Waheed and Dr Arshad Waheed had close links to him and were extending help by all means, the police spokesman added.[14]

[edit] Death penalty for Jundullah activists

In February 2006 the Karachi anti-terrorist court awarded the death penalty and life imprisonment for eleven activists of Jundullah group for attacking the convoy of former Corps Commander Karachi, and the previous Vice Chief of Army Staff, General Ahsan Saleem Hyat in Karachi on June 10, 2004.[15]

The activists were Ata-ur-Rehman, Shahzad Bajwa, Aziz, Danish Imam, Khurram Saifullah Shoaib Siddiqui, Rao Khalid, Shahzad Mukhtar, Adnan, Yaqoob Saeed, and Najeebullah belonging to a terrorist group nameld Jundullah. They were convicted of attacking the convoy of Genera Ahsan Saleem Hayat near Clifton bridge. Some 10 people, including six soldiers and three police personnel, were killed and 21 injured in the attack.[15]

The judge also handed down 14-year and 10-year prison terms for planting a bomb and damaging public property respectively. The court also ordered the convicts to pay Rs 100,000 each to the heirs of the deceased, along with Rs 50,000 each as a fine for an attempt to murder charge and another Rs 50,000 fine each for damage to public property. In case of default, they will have to serve an additional six month jail sentence.[15]

Once the judge announced the judgment, all the accused present in the court got to their feet and started to chant "Allah-o-Akbar" and flash victory signs. Family members and relatives of the accused were also present in the courtyard of the court.[15]

Five accused (Bilal, Qasim, Hammad, Shahab and Tayyeb) have already been declared absconding by the court.[15]

Defense councils said that they would challenge the judgment in Sindh High Court within the stipulated period of seven days.[15]

On 21 February 2006 an anti-terrorism court in Pakistan sentenced 11 members of Jundullah to death for an attack on Deputy Chief of Army General Ahsan Saleem Hayat, a top military general of Pakistan Army in 2004 in which 11 people were killed.

[edit] 2007 Zahedan bombing

Main article: 2007 Zahedan bombing

A car filled with explosives stopped in front of a bus full of Revolutionary Guards in Ahmadabad district, Zahedan, Sistan-Baluchestan Province at 6:30 a.m. on 14 February, 2007. The car, parked in the middle of the road, forced the bus to stop. The car's driver and passengers then got out of the car and used motorbikes to leave the scene while they shot at the bus. A few seconds later the bombs exploded, killing 18 Guards. Guards commander Qasem Rezaei said, "This blind terrorist operation led to the martyrdom of 18 citizens of Zahedan." Rezaei attributed the attack to "insurgents and elements of insecurity." Majid Razavi, an Interior Ministry official, said Iranian police arrested a suspect within an hour of the bombing.[16]Five days later, the authorities announced the execution of Nasrollah Shanbezehi. He was hanged in public at the site of the bombing. He was said to have been tried and sentenced by a branch of the Revolutionary Court[10] after his televised “"confession”". In one of the pictures of his execution[11],where the noose is being placed around his neck, a bruise is clearly visible above his right eye. In his “"confession”", he reportedly said that he had joined PRMI\Jundallah three months previously, solely for financial reward, but other sources say that he was arrested because he was taking a picture of the bus with his mobile phone [12](Persian).

Jundallah claimed responsibility for the attack on 15 February [17]. The Iranian government has arrested five suspects, two of whom were carrying camcorders and grenades when they were arrested, while the police killed the main "agent" of the attack.[18]. Among the arrestees was Said Qanbarzehi, a Balochi, who was hanged in Zahedan prison on 27 May 2007. He had been sentenced to death at the age of 17 along with six other Balochi men -- Javad Naroui, Masoud Nosratzehi, Houshang Shahnavazi, Yahya Sohrabzehi, Ali Reza Brahoui and Abdalbek Kahrazehi (also known as Abdalmalek) -- in March 2007[13], despite the absolute international prohibition on the execution of child offenders[14]. Balochi sources suggest that the seven may have been arrested because of their family ties to those suspected of involvement in the February bus bombing[15]. According Sistan-Baluchistan Provincial Television, 15-17 March 2007, Said Qanbarzehi and the six others all “"confessed”" to a number of crimes that allegedly took place in Sistan-Baluchistan province. Some reports suggest that those who “"confessed”" were tortured, including by having bones in their hands and feet broken, by being “"branded”" with a red-hot iron, and by having an electric drill applied to their limbs, shredding their muscles[16].

Hossein Ali Shahriari, Zahedan's representative in parliament, rhetorically asked, "Why does our diplomatic apparatus not seriously confront the Pakistani government for harboring bandits and regime's enemies? Why do security, military and police officials not take more serious action?"[18]. Following publication of an interview in ‘Ayyaran newspaper, which has since been closed down on the order of Hojjatoleslam Nekunam[17], on 17 March 2007 he stated that there were 700 people then awaiting execution in Sistan-Baluchistan province, whose sentences had been confirmed by the Supreme Court[18][19][20][21](Persian)[22].

[edit] See also

[edit] References

  1. ^ Massoud, Ansari. "Sunni group vows to behead Iranians", Washington Times, January 16, 2006. Retrieved on 2007-04-05. 
  2. ^ [1][2]
  3. ^ Bomb kills 9 at mosque in southern Iran (Yahoo news )
  4. ^ Rigi cuts off the person's head(at 8 min,17 sec of the video)
  5. ^ TThe Secret War Against Iran
  6. ^ Justin Rood and Gretchen Peters, Pakistan Denounces ABC News Report on Backing Iran Radicals, ABC News, April 5, 2007
  7. ^ Howard Kurtz, Consultant Probed in Bogus Interview, The Washington Post, September 13, 2007 (English)
  8. ^ Former ABC Consultant Says He Faked Nothing
  9. ^ Fars News Agency :: 65 Suspects Arrested on Charges of Blast in Southeast Iran
  10. ^ http://www.alalam.ir/english/en-NewsPage.asp?newsid=018030120070404130601
  11. ^ Press TV - VoA interviews Iranian terrorist culprit in a sign of backing
  12. ^ [3] (in Persian)
  13. ^ Iranian speaker says U.S. supports "terrorists" - swissinfo
  14. ^ a b "Police declare arrest of two missing doctors", 2004-07-03. Retrieved on 2006-08-28. 
  15. ^ a b c d e f "Death penalty awarded to 11 activists of Jundullah group in Corps commander attack case", 2006-02-22. Retrieved on 2006-08-28. 
  16. ^ Report: Bomb kills 18 Revolutionary Guardsmen in Iran The Washington Post
  17. ^ Al-Qaeda gains Palestine foothold Scotsman
  18. ^ a b 11 Guards killed in Iran bomb attack Gulf Times

[edit] External links