Pakistan's ban that isn't

Washington Post:

In January 2002, the government of Pakistan reluctantly announced that it would ban Lashkar-i-Taiba, a Kashmiri guerrilla group suspected of crossing the border into India and storming the Parliament in New Delhi, an incident that nearly triggered a war between the two nuclear-armed countries.

Almost seven years later, Lashkar-i-Taiba, or Army of the Pious, once again stands accused of helping to carry out a stunning terrorist attack in India, this time in Mumbai. The group, although technically still outlawed in Pakistan, has managed to expand its membership, its operational reach and its influence among the constellation of radical Islamist networks seeking to spark a revolution in South Asia.

Inside Pakistan, Lashkar still operates training camps for militants, runs a large charitable and social-services organization that has been embraced by Pakistani officials, and even has designated spokesmen to handle inquiries from the news media.

It has also branched out globally from its roots in the disputed Himalayan territory of Kashmir, opening fundraising arms in Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Kuwait. Some of its fighters have traveled to Iraq and East Africa. It has nurtured a mutually advantageous alliance with al-Qaeda, a longtime benefactor of its activities. One of the British suicide bombers in the July 7, 2005, London transit attacks spent time at a Lashkar-affiliated religious school in Pakistan.

"One thing that has changed is their view of their mission," said Michael Scheuer, a former CIA analyst who specializes in al-Qaeda and other radical groups in Pakistan and Afghanistan. "They're a much more international organization than they were in 2002. They're better trained, and they operate all over."

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The U.S. State Department declared Lashkar a terrorist organization in December 2001, days after it and another Kashmiri militant group, Jaish-i-Muhammad, or Army of Muhammad, were accused of attacking the Indian Parliament.

The Pakistani government followed suit soon after, arresting dozens of Lashkar's leaders and shuttering its recruiting offices in the country. But Pakistan refused to extradite Lashkar operatives suspected in the Parliament attack, and after international political pressure began to subside, it released the group's leadership.

To get around the ban, Lashkar renamed itself Jamaat-ud-Dawa. It began to bill itself as a charitable organization and was instrumental in delivering aid to victims of the 2005 earthquake in Kashmir.

The U.S. government classified Jamaat-ud-Dawa as a terrorist group in April 2006, calling it an "alias" of Lashkar. But the Pakistani government has not reciprocated and allows the network to raise money, run religious schools and offer social-service programs. It hosts an extensive Web site, with versions in English and in Urdu.

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In an interview in Pakistan, a Lashkar operative speaking on the condition of anonymity said commanders of the group have ordered followers to go underground in recent days, anticipating a crackdown by the Pakistani government. But he denied that they had played a role in the Mumbai massacre. "Whenever we have attacked, we have targeted military or government installations," he said.

The operative acknowledged that Lashkar still has thousands of members and trains fighters in camps in Kashmir, on both sides of the Indian-Pakistani line. Analysts said Lashkar also operates training camps in northern Pakistan, near Gilgit, as well as in the tribal areas along the Afghan border.

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Shaun Gregory, a professor of international security and a Pakistan specialist at the University of Bradford in England, said that in contrast to its operations against the Taliban, al-Qaeda and networks of foreign fighters along the border with Afghanistan, the Pakistani military has taken a hands-off approach with Lashkar.

Unlike those groups, he said, Lashkar does not pose a threat to the Pakistani state, so its training camps are tolerated. "Lashkar-i-Taiba understands where its bread is buttered," he said.

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The group now does pose a direct threat to Pakistan because of the response that will be provoked if Pakistan takes no action to destroy Lashkar. Pakistan may try to surgically remove those within the group who were responsible for the attacks but that want excise the cancer. The group will continue to be a threat to Pakistan's relations with the rest of the world until it is destroyed.