DHAKA: Across Pakistan, the black standard of the Islamic State has been popping up all over.
From urban slums to Taliban strongholds, the militant group's logo and name have appeared in graffiti, posters and pamphlets, reports the India Times on Saturday.
Moreover, last month, a cluster of militant commanders declared their allegiance to Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the self-proclaimed caliph of the Islamic State, the report added.
Such is the influence of the Islamic State's steamroller success in Iraq and Syria that, even thousands of miles away, security officials and militant networks are having to reckon with the group, also known as ISIS or ISIL.
Its victories have energized battle-weary militants in Pakistan. The ISIS brand offers them potent advantages, analysts say — an aid to fund-raising and recruiting, a possible advantage over rival factions and, most powerfully, a new template for waging jihad.
Although the Islamic State is not operational in Pakistan, just its symbolic presence is ample cause for concern. It is there, after all, that al-Qaida was founded in the 1980s, followed by other extremist ideologies that easily found the means and support to carry out international attacks.
"It doesn't matter that Daish has not yet established its presence in Pakistan — it has already changed the dynamics of militancy here," said Muhammad Amir Rana, director of the Pak Institute for Peace Studies, using the group's Arabic acronym. "Our groups were in crisis; now Daish has provided them with a powerful framework that is transforming their narrative."
During his visit to Washington this week, the new Pakistani Army chief, Gen Raheel Sharif, assured his American hosts that the Islamic State would not be allowed to take root in Pakistan. Instead, officials say, local groups are manipulating its name to their own ends.
When Islamic State posters appeared on electricity poles in Lahore, the hometown of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, this month, the police blamed it on sectarian militant groups like Lashkar-e-Jhangvi. "They are just using the Daish name to intimidate Shiites," said Ijaz Shafi Dogar, a police commander.
Even nonjihadist groups have seized upon the potency of the Islamic State brand. In Karachi, secular politicians have claimed that Islamic State graffiti shows how militants are slipping into the city amid an influx of Pashtun migrants — a contention angrily rebutted by Pashtun leaders.
"It is totally exaggerated, and an attempt to slur our community," said Abdul Razzaq, a community leader.
BDST: 1213 HRS, NOV 22, 2014
