For the fourth time in ten years, China has blocked United Nations efforts to sanction Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammed chief Masood Azhar. China’s decision came just weeks after a Jaish-e-Mohammed suicide bomber drove into a convoy of security personnel in Pulwama, India, killing 46. It also came in the midst of escalating tensions between Pakistan and India — South Asia’s rival nuclear powers. U.N. sanctions against Masood Azhar would not end the conflict, but it would deliver a powerful message about the global community’s resolve against violent extremism.
If the U.N. Security Council is unable to act, though, Congress still can.
Masood Azhar and Jaish-e-Mohammed have been under U.S. sanctions for nearly a decade, but it is the support Jaish-e-Mohammed receives from lesser-known Islamist groups like Jamaat-e-Islami that provide the ideological and material support that keeps it in business. In the wake of the Valentine’s Day attack in Pulwama, the head of Jamaat-e-Islami’s branch in Pakistan, Siraj-ul-Haq, defended the suicide attack and called on Pakistan’s armed forces to launch a full scale war against India “in the name of Allah.”
This is not the first time Jamaat-e-Islami has lent its support to a U.N.-designated terrorist group. In 2015, Jamaat-e-Islami carried out a large-scale rally in Karachi addressed by guest speaker Syed Salahuddin, the head of Hizbul Mujahideen. In 2003, Jamaat hailed 9/11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed as a “hero.”
Known as “South Asia’s Muslim Brotherhood,” Jamaat-e-Islami was founded in India in 1941 by Islamist cleric Abul Ala Maududi. It has grown into a global network whose branches work to establish a global Islamic state. Jamaat-e-Islami’s founder was explicit that the organization’s purpose is to establish a global Islamic theocracy. In fact, Jamaat-e-Islami’s leadership is very open about their goals and their methods — their leadership in Pakistan and Bangladesh openly pray for the power to enforce Shariah across the world. In 2013, Islami Chhatra Shibir, the youth wing of Jamaat-e-Islami in Bangladesh, was ranked the third most active non-state armed group in 2013 by IHS Jane’s Terrorism and Insurgency Center.
Despite its regular association with international terrorists, as well as its own acts of terror, Jamaat-e-Islami has been able to avoid scrutiny in much of the world. This is in large part due to the successful efforts of the professional lobbyists and public relations firms Jamaat-e-Islami has employed in recent years.
In addition, Jamaat-e-Islami has also exploited charitable work, a common tactic among extremist groups who seek to soften their image and earn public sympathy by pointing to relief work in response to critics. Researchers have uncovered millions of dollars in government funds being funneled from charitable proxies in the United Kingdom to extremist groups, and concerns have now arisen about similar Jamaat-e-Islami front groups operating in the United States as well.
China may be a barrier to U.N. efforts to disrupt violent extremism in South Asia, but Congress has an opportunity to take meaningful action. Last fall, Congressman Jim Banks, R-Ind., introduced a bipartisan resolution expressing concern about the threat posed to democracy and the democratic process by Jamaat-e-Islami and other extremist groups operating in Bangladesh. This year, Banks has followed up with a more expansive resolution that firmly addresses Jamaat-e-Islami’s role in facilitating violent extremism throughout the world. This type of congressional action can sound an alarm and start the process of disrupting organizations that provide critical support for global terrorism.
For decades, Jamaat-e-Islami has served as a pipeline that recruits, radicalizes, and encourages acts of violent extremism not only in South Asia, but across the globe. And yet so far it has managed to avoid serious scrutiny. Only by recognizing and dismantling the international networks comprising well-known terrorist groups such as Jaish-e-Mohammed, and the organizations such as Jamaat-e-Islami that cultivate them, can the world effectively counter the menace of violent extremism. If the U.N. Security Council is unwilling or unable to do so, Congress must.
Seth Oldmixon is the founder of Liberty South Asia, an independent, privately funded campaign dedicated to supporting religious freedom in South Asia. Follow him on Twitter @setholdmixon.
