Would-be Suicide Bomber

This is the story of Usman Ghani, a fourteen years old would-be suicide bomber schoolboy who managed to dodge the Taliban. It shows how hundreds of young Pakistanis are brainwashed by militants and their foreign sponsors to carry out terror attacks in Pakistan and elsewhere.

Hailing from Khar, headquarters of Bajaur Agency, the boy was an easy prey for the Taliban who controlled the area with not just arms but fundamentalist beliefs to match. The press reported that Ghani—forcibly taken away from his family—trained as a suicide bomber.

Since his blacksmith father, Lal Zaman, was caught selling the dreaded stuff that makes grown men’s heads go round and round, the Taliban gave the man a cruel choice: hand over the eldest son or face executed. Hence, the militants took Ghani away to pay for his father’s sins.

“Three leaders said that because my father was guilty of selling hashish, as a punishment I would have to carry out a suicide attack or be slaughtered. When I refused, they tied me with a rope and started the beatings. Eventually, just to make them stop, I said I was ready to carry out an attack,” he told the paper.

Ghani admitted he underwent months of indoctrination, was imprisoned with two other teenage boys and forced to listen to militant sermons every night.

“They told us that a suicide attack is the direct path to paradise, where beautiful women and all the happiness of life are waiting for you. They said we were lucky to have been chosen by God for this noble purpose,” he said.

Does it sound familiar to students of history? Mind you, this was the method chosen by Hasan Bin Sabah. ‘Sheikh of the mountain’—as he was popularly known—used the exact same techniques as far back as the late eleventh century C.E. to train spies and suicidal hit squads to eliminate key personalities not for the glory of (Ismaili version of) Islam but for money. From the name Hasan, the West derived the title of his gang: Hashishians.

The terror academy operated in this way. They drugged a potential candidate, took him into a beautiful garden full of wines and women, allowed him to speak with a devout looking man, made him fall unconscious, woke him up later, and finally told him that he was in heaven and had met with Prophet Muhammad who wanted him to serve Islam.

Only a disbelieving fool would doubt the Hashishian movie trailer. From then on, the candiadate would train to overcome the fear death, learn to handle daggers and poisons, and finally proceed in the direction of the chosen target. According to Hasan bin Sabah, 'Nothing is forbidden, everything is permitted. Nothing is real, everything is permitted'.

It happened then, it happens now. Hasan did it then, the covert agencies do it now with impunity. May God curse all the corrupters of human minds, and may He forgive the wretched souls trapped by these minions of the devil.

Back to the story now—when Ghani showed signs of reluctance, his captors forced him to eat a tablet that obliterated his sense of what was right and wrong. Whatever they proposed, he agreed; everything was justifiable. The tablet made him forgetful and careless towards his family. The only thing he dreamed of was paradise and a suicide attack for the sake of Islam.

Ghani learnt to operate a suicide jacket and was assigned to target, Malik Rahmatullah, a tribal elder opposed to the Taliban. He finally received hate-filled lectures from Maulvi Faqir, deputy leader of the Pakistani Taliban, and Maulvi Omar, the Taliban spokesman.

“Omar told me to go to a nearby mosque for prayers five times a day and to stroll through the streets so no one in the village would suspect me of being a stranger,” Ghani said.

“I was ordered to target Rahmatullah during Friday prayers. When I protested at the thought of possible civilian casualties, I was told, ‘God knows best. He will send all the pious among the slain straight to paradise, while those who are sinful will find their place in hell.’”

Like a robot wearing a suicide vest, Ghani strolled into the chosen mosque.

“They directed me to get into the second row behind him Rahmatullah and then draw the pin, which was fixed to the left side of my chest. I’d been fully prepared to carry out the suicide attack but when I reached the mosque I realised that something was wrong. There were copies of the holy Quran everywhere and old people and young children were coming to pray,” Ghani confessed.

“I asked myself how I could kill all these innocent people to send myself to paradise. Then I suddenly thought of my younger brother playing in a field outside our house and calling me,” he continued.

But he fled, knowing he would incur the wrath of the Taliban who were desperate to hear the news of one more carnage in the name of Islam. Eventually caught, savagely beaten and imprisoned for six days beforemaking good an escape to his family’s home. For many days he lived in fear of being caught again. He was captured one last time but by the Pakistani Army instead who heard his sorry tale.

These are very dangerous times. Who are these poser Muslims who possess the technical know-how of creating tablets that alter the mind this way? Are there not agencies, back by democracy-loving governments, running secret camps meant to train future assasins?

Do not bother scratching your head for answers; you already know all the answers. 'Nothing is forbidden, everything is permitted. Nothing is real, everything is permitted'.