UK Based Hizbut Tehrir behind France Uprising

[Guest guest]

HIZBUT TEHRIR BEHIND FRENCH INTIFADA

 

by B.Raman, CAMP EUROPE

 

All indicators point to the involvement of some Pakistani, Algerian

and Moroccan members of the London-based Hizbut Tehrir (HT) in the

violence by sections of angry Muslim youth, which has rocked the

suburbs of Paris and some other towns of France since October

27,2005.

 

2. The outbreak initially was spontaneous following the electrocution

of two Muslim youth as they were fleeing away from a random identity

papers check by the Police. The violence continued to be spontaneous,

with no external instigation, for three days. In the meanwhile, it is

reported by reliable sources, the headquarters of the HT in London

saw the agitprop potential of the developments in Paris and sent some

of their experts, who had participated in instigating the violence

earlier this year in Afghanistan over the alleged desecration of the

Holy Koran by the US guards at the Guantanamo Bay detention centre in

Cuba and in Uzbekistan over the allegedly autocratic ways of the

local Government, to Paris to stoke the anger of the youth and

exploit it for their purpose.

 

3. With the help of the sleeper cells, which the HT has already

established in Paris and other parts of France for some months, they

drew up plans for keeping the violence sustained in order to further

radicalise and mobilise the youth against the French Government. For

this purpose, they exploited the already prevalent anger in the

Muslim community of France over the ban on the wearing of head

scarves by Muslim girls in public schools and over the ruthless

action taken by the Police in the past against suspected radicals.

The intemperate and insensitive language used by the French Interior

Minister, which is perceived as an insult to Islam and the Muslim

youth, facilitated the task of the HT.

 

4. The HT has the same objective as Al Qaeda, namely, the restoration

of an Islamic Caliphate, but denies any link with Al Qaeda and claims

that it intends achieving its objective through overt political

agitation and not through resort to terrorism or other forms of

political violence . While there is no evidence of its involvement so

far in any act of jihadi terrorism anywhere in the world, it has been

involved in many instances of political agitation in the streets in

some countries and in attempts at subverting the armed forces and

the intelligence agencies in Pakistan and other Islamic countries.

 

5. It is reported by reliable sources in Pakistan that the Lashkar-e-

Toiba (LET) in Pakistan has instructed its cells in France to assist

the HT clandestinely as best as they can. Similarly, the Jamat-ul-

Furqa (JUF), which has some followers in the community of Caribbean

origin in France, has also asked its followers to assist the HT.

Richard Reid, the so-called shoe bomber, was suspected to be a member

of the JUF.

 

(The writer is Additional Secretary (retd), Cabinet Secretariat,

Govt. of India, and, presently, Director, Institute For Topical

Studies, Chennai. E-mail: itschen36 )

http://saag.org/papers17/paper1614.html