Abu Zar Al-Burmi—The Ideologue Spearheading an Anti-China Message and Reinvigorating the Pakistani Taliban
Abu Zar Al-Burmi—The Ideologue Spearheading an Anti-China Message and Reinvigorating the Pakistani Taliban
On August 26, a prominent jihadist ideologue affiliated with al-Qaeda and Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), Mufti Abu Zar-al-Burmi (hereafter Abu Zar), issued a congratulatory audio-visual statement praising the Taliban for reestablishing Islamic rule in Afghanistan. While he vehemently criticized Islamic State (IS) for its hasty and brutal method of establishing the caliphate, he complimented the Taliban for its battlefield prowess, strict adherence to religious principles, and dedication to Islamic Sharia. Abu Zar’s statement came following the TTP’s renewed pledge of allegiance toward the Afghan Taliban on August 17. It essentially signifies the position of pro-Taliban militant factions like TTP, which received a moral and operational boost with the establishment of the Taliban emirate in neighboring Afghanistan after almost twenty years. To the chagrin of Pakistan and its ‘all-weather’ partner China, Abu Zar’s recent pro-Taliban utterances signal the looming threat of instability in the region.
Who Is Abu Zar al-Burmi?
Abu Zar (a.k.a Abu-Zar Azzam/Abu Zar Pakistani/Abu Zar Khanjari), a prominent ‘refugee mujahideen’ based in Pakistan was born in 1982 in Myanmar’s Rakhine state (Arakan, Burma). [1] Though not much detail is available about his childhood years in Myanmar, he was brought up and educated in the Pakistani city of Karachi. He claimed that he received military training under the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan way back in 1997. In 2000, Abu Zar graduated from Jamia Farooqia Islamic seminary in Karachi and in the following year, he joined the department of teaching and writing at the same seminary. He claimed that he met Libyan al-Qaeda ideologue Sheikh Abu Yahya Libi in 2002. Abu Zar entered the world of jihad in 2004, following the footsteps of Naik Muhammad, Baitullah Mehsud and Maulana Hameed-ur-Rehman after he relocated to the Waziristan region. During that time, Waziristan was teeming with foreign fighters from Central Asia. These fighters were from Uzbekistan, Xinjiang, Iran and Tajikistan and were regrouping after the US-led invasion of neighboring Afghanistan (Telegram, August 31, 2019).
Well-versed in Islamic jurisprudence and fluent in several languages such as Arabic, Urdu, Uzbeki, Pashto and Arakanese, Abu Zar became connected with several jihadist factions active in Pakistan’s Waziristan region. He wore multiple hats during this time, maintaining ties with al-Qaeda, TTP, the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan (IMU) and East Turkestan Islamic Movement (ETIM). He was appointed as Mufti of the IMU in 2011. Abu Zar’s association with Taliban’s Qari Zafar group and with a faction of Lashkar-e-Jhangvi, which is believed to have been active between 2010 and 2013, is shrouded in mystery (Express Tribune, August 20, 2011; DNA India, March 2, 2010). However, media sources in Pakistan identified Abu Zar-al-Burmi as ‘Hifzullah’ who propounded various illegal practices as ‘Islamic.’ According to him, the practice of robbing banks is ‘legal’ as this is the right of mujahideen to take ‘Maal-e-Ghanimat’ (spoils of war). He also put forward a theory that “emptying Pakistani banks is jihad as the money has been made by selling (or handing over) Mujahideen fighters to the U.S.” Abu Zar reportedly defended the practice of kidnapping people for ransom and termed the Pakistani military as apostates for conducting operations in the tribal areas, accepting aid from the United States and killing Muslims (Express Tribune, August 20, 2011).
His multiple associations with militant groups in Pakistan notwithstanding, his speeches are released regularly by affiliated jihadist media units and independently, including through IMU’s Jundullah media, Islam Awazi, and TTP’s Umar Studio (Jihadology, June 13, 2018; Telegram, August 27). Abu Zar briefly joined Islamic State Khorasan province (IS-K) in late 2014, but returned to the TTP fold, disenchanted with the former’s violent sectarian ideals and anti-Taliban diatribes (Jihadoolgy, August 28, 2016).
Abu Zar’s close ties with TTP commander Umar Mansoor cemented his position as a prominent religious scholar within the group. Abu Zar supported all of Umar Mansoor’s heinous terrorist attacks in Pakistan, including the December 2014 attack on the Army Public School massacre near Peshawar, the January 2016 Bacha Khan University (Charsadda) attack, and the shooting of Malala Yousufzai in October 2012 (Al Jazeera, February 6, 2016). Abu Zar often brags about his association with the infamous Taliban commander Qari Hussain, who was a student in Abu Zar’s Karachi seminary. Hussain reportedly trained the Jordanian suicide bomber who killed seven Americans in Afghanistan in 2009 (Dawn, January 20, 2011; Jihad Blog, February 7, 2012). Hussain was infamous as a ‘Ustad-i-Fedayeen’ (teacher of suicide bombers), who trained young boys as suicide bombers for Taliban and al-Qaeda in the Afghanistan-Pakistan region.
China in the Crosshairs
In Pakistan, jihadist groups of all hues—including al-Qaeda, TTP, IMU, Turkistan Islamic Party (TIP), and others—have remain focused on Chinese atrocities against ethnic Uyghur Muslims in Xinjiang province. Abu Zar has occupied a prominent position as an ideologue motivating the increasing anti-China rhetoric in the region. He is believed to be influential within the contingent of foreign fighters in the Waziristan region, primarily because of his multilingual sermons and speeches, which he performs in Arabic, Urdu, Arakanese and Uzbek. Abu Zar’s clout within al-Qaeda and TTP remains immense.
He predicted that the U.S. pull-out from Afghanistan would be a victory for the Taliban movement in the region, and the next jihadist target would be China for its atrocities against minority Muslims. In a 2014 message titled “Let’s disturb China,” Mufti Abu Zar called for Taliban groups to target Chinese interests in the region (Friday Times, May 23, 2014). A recent spate of terrorist attacks against Chinese nationals in Pakistan brought attention to a resurgent and united TTP and firebrand jihadist ideologues like Abu Zar. The Pakistani Taliban claimed a suicide bombing on April 21 at Quetta’s Serena Hotel, where the Chinese Ambassador Nong Rong and his delegation were staying (SCMP, April 22). On July 14, another similar suicide attack killed 9 Chinese nationals in Dasu in Upper Kohistan, in Pakistan’s Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province. Though no terrorist group claimed the Dasu attack, Pakistani authorities blamed TTP’s Swat chapter in which Abu Zar is affiliated (Dawn, August 13). A month before the Serena hotel suicide attack, Abu Zar, reportedly incited Taliban militants in Pakistan through an audio statement in March to target Chinese interests in the region due to the ongoing atrocities against Uyghur Muslims, particularly citing the treatment of women by Chinese authorities (Gandhara, May 18).
Anti-Myanmar Sentiments
Abu Zar, who is originally from Myanmar’s restive Rakhine state, often calls for Muslims to wage jihad against the Buddhist-majority country. His landmark statement, titled ‘A Lost People: About the Tragedies of Burma,’ under the banner of IMU’s Jundallah studio in November 2012 started a pro-Rohingya jihadist wave across the South and Southeast Asia region. In this message, he denounced Myanmar’s military junta and targeted China and Germany for purportedly supporting the Rohingya genocide in that country. Abu Zar particularly mentioned then-German foreign minister Guido Westerwelle for ignoring human rights violations and supporting a newly adopted reform process in the country.
Abu Zar urged the Muslim Ummah and fellow mujahideen fighters to support Rohingya’ brothers and sisters’ and called for the waging of jihad against the ‘polytheist’ Buddhists. He called for acts of violence to take place in Myanmar, China and Germany and the targeting of their interests abroad. He even accused the UN of supporting the massacres in Rakhine state. In that message, Abu Zar warned fellow Islamist militants that China would be the future enemy of the global Muslim Ummah (Jihadology, December 2, 2012).
With intermittent incitement against Myanmar’s government, Abu Zar-al-Burmi was instrumental in bringing the Rohingya issue to the forefront of the jihadist milieu. Subsequently, the TTP and al-Qaeda, along with various militant factions, raised their voices unequivocally in support of Rohingya in the region. Abu Zar’s persistent pro-Rohingya and anti-Burmese and anti-Buddhist propaganda gained momentum and became a rallying point for jihadist groups in the region.
Conclusion
Abu Zar’s allegiance toward the TTP and al-Qaeda remains intact and robust, even though he deviated briefly in 2014 by joining IS-Khorasan (IS-K), though he disassociated himself from the organization in 2016. The return of the Taliban to power in Afghanistan has undoubtedly emboldened TTP and its factions in Pakistan. Influential senior Islamic jihadist ideologues like Abu Zar-al-Burmi, who commands respect within diverse militant circles in the region, could play a pivotal role in reinvigorating the Taliban movement in Pakistan, who seek to emulate the success of their counterparts in Afghanistan.
Notes
[1] Arif Rafiq, “Sunni Deobandi-Shi`i Sectarian Violence in Pakistan Explaining the Resurgence Since 2007”, Middle East Institute, December 2014, https://www.mei.edu/sites/default/files/publications/Arif%20Rafiq%20report.pdf.
