Name organization |
The Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan (IMU) |
Formation |
IMU was
formed in the early 1990s, when the Uzbek
Prime Minister Karimov banned the Islamic party
called
Adolat.
The members of this group went underground and
found the IMU. Taher Yaldashev (Tohir Yo’ldoshev)
and Namagani (Juma Namangoniy) were the founding
members of IMU. It developed under their
leadership during and after the Tajik civil war. |
|
|
Leadership
|
Yuldashev, Namangani and
later Usmon Adil controlled the command of the
IMU. Juma Namangani was born in 1968 in Namangan,
an Uzbek city in the Fergana Valley—the heart of
Central Asia. He was not active in the media as
compared to other terrorist organizations’
leaders. He was very famous in his area.
Yuldashev was a renowned young mullah in the
underground Islamic movement and he was 24 years
old at the time he founded the IMU.
After the US invasion of Afghanistan he settled
in South Waziristan. Soon, he became very famous
among the local circles. He became an
influential speaker at the local mosques. At
that time he totally submerged the IMU into
Al-Qaeda. Tahir Yuldashev was killed in a drone
strike. After his death, Tahir’ Usmon Adil,
another top tier leader took the charge of IMU.
He was also very brutal and was killed in drone
strike in 2012. |
School of thought |
They belong to the Sunni
sect
Deobandi
of Islam. |
Structure of the organization. |
No information is
available regarding the structure of the
organization. |
Status
|
IMU was faced with
opposition from the government, so they took
refuge in Afghanistan and took patronage under
the umbrella of
Al-Qaeda.
But after the US invasion of Afghanistan they
came to the Pakistani northern areas (Waziristan
area in FATA). Between 2001 and 2015, IMU
militants worked on behalf of the Taliban and
Al-Qaeda in Pakistan and Afghanistan. Attacks
included airport bombings in Peshawar and
Karachi in 2012 and 2014. In the 2010s, (Suicide
bombers armed with rockets attacked the military
side of the Peshawar airport on 15th
December 2012 in which nine people were killed
and more than thirty were injured. Three rockets
were fired by the militants at the airport.
On 8th June 2014 the Karachi airport
was attacked by militants, leaving 15 people
dead including 10 attackers.)
IMU has struggled to attract recruits due to the
ISIS/Islamic State's
popularity. After Pakistani military actions
forced IMU into Afghanistan border in 2015, the
IMU renounced the Taliban in favor of rival IS.
It has been banned by
Pakistan on 15 march 2013
corresponding notification number
F.1/3/2013-Poll-I(1) and by the US in 25
September 2000. |
Recruitment tools & demographics
|
Most of the recruited
workers were from Uzbek background in the early
days of its formation. They had about 3000
fighters, and the area of operation was central
Asia and Afghanistan’s northern part. After the
US invasion of Afghanistan, they were forced to
retreat into Pakistan; here they found new
recruits’ who were not ethnic Uzbek.
Ethnic Tajiks and Turkmen
have also been reported in IMU units. For most
of the years since they arrived in Pakistan, the
IMU have been engaged in fighting in Pakistan’s
tribal areas.
|
Financial resources |
Tahir Yuldashev, a young
mullah in the underground Islamic movement took
control of the drug market in Afghanistan and
Central Asia as he was controlling the border
areas of these countries. After the
disintegration of Soviet Union, these states
were in the situation of civil wars. These
conditions favored Tahir Yuldashev and he
visited different countries like Turkey to seek
support for his organization. Some countries
extended support to IMU at that time. Al-Qaeda
also gave them financial and material support. |
Ideology
|
IMU is a fundamentalist, separatist and a
terrorist organization. During the Soviet era,
the Muslims of Central Asia were kept oppressed
and they had no religious freedom. After the
disintegration of the Soviet Union, a puppet
regime of Karimov took the charge of the affairs
in Uzbekistan and maintains almost the same
policies as that of the USSR era. After a ban on
Adolat (the Islamic party), a new militant
organization was founded by the members of that
party. The organization was IMU. |
Areas of Operation
|
Pakistan, Russia, Central
Asia, Afghanistan, and Middle East. |
Tools
|
Print Media:
Not Available
Publications:
Not Available
Audio/Video:
Not Available
Social Media:
IMU is not active on
social media |
Website |
Not Available |
Name Variations
|
None |
Who
they are
IMU is a
terrorist organization, operating in Pakistan, Afghanistan
and Central Asia. They are famous for drug trafficking in
Central Asia and also responsible for an assassination
attempt on Uzbek President Karimov in 1999. Its bases are in
the Waziristan region of Pakistan, in Afghanistan and
Central Asian states. The group has been involved in
terrorist attacks in Pakistan. They have targeted some high
value targets in Pakistan. Attacks included airport bombings
in Peshawar and Karachi in 2012 and 2014. The IMU finances
terrorist activities from drug trafficking and also receives
donations from Al Qaeda.
History
After the
disintegration of Soviet Union the Adolat party in
Uzbekistan started its campaign to make Uzbekistan an
Islamic state. The President of Uzbekistan Ismail Karimov
put a ban on this party in 1992. Hence they started their
struggle underground and founded IMU. The lawlessness in
Afghanistan and the rise of Al-Qaeda in Afghanistan helped
the IMU develop the organization; furthermore the illegal
drug trade in Afghanistan and in central Asia also provided
some channels of fund to support the organization’s
activities. After the US drawdown on Al-Qaeda and Taliban in
Afghanistan in 2001 these factions took refuge in Pakistan.
Organization's Message
They want an
Islamic system in Uzbekistan. They are also an organization
that has worked for Al-Qaeda, so an element of the concept
of international Jihad is also a part of their message. Now
they have joined ISIS.
The IMU have thrown their support behind ISIS, a group which
has seized major parts of Syria and Iraq and aims to
establish Islamic Caliphate in the region. The IMU support
ISIS as they believe ISIS does not have a national agenda
but a global one and they will soon assume control of
Palestine and the Muslim holy cities of Makkah and Madinah.
Target Audience
Muslims and
youth in particular in Pakistan, Afghanistan and Central
Asia are the main target of IMU.
Tools
N/A
Splinter groups
Islamic jihad/jehad
Union is a splinter organization of IMU. IJU broke away from
IMU due to some internal differences among the top
leadership. IJU is a terrorist organization having links
with global jihadist movement. Its recruits include people
from central Asia, china and Uzbeks. They are also against
the secular regime in Uzbekistan, and have been very much
active in terrorists’ activities against the regime.
Annexure
Adolat
Adolat, a
social-democratic party of Uzbekistan was founded on
February 18th 1995 at the first Founding Congress
of the party. Adolat has currently 102,000 members which are
united in 3200 primary party organizations. The objectives
of SDPU “Adolat” are training people who serve for the
motherland on creating a legal democratic state in
Uzbekistan, helping citizens of Uzbekistan to realize their
rights and freedoms, improving social life of citizens of
the republic and also creating suggestions and
recommendations on providing social protection of the
people.
Deobandi
Deobandis are a
significant group of Muslims present in the sub continent
who adhere to the Sunni sect of Islam and follow the
ideology of Imam Abu Hanifa. The school of thought is named
after the University of Deoband Dar ul Aloom in India. They
believe in safeguarding the teachings of Islam, while
spreading the religion through preaching.
Al Qaeda
Al Qaeda is an
international terrorist network founded by Osama Bin Laden
in 1988. Al Qaeda helped in recruiting, financing and
training thousands of fighters from different parts of the
world to be part of an Afghan resistance to defeat the
Soviet Union. Al Qaeda’s goal is to establish Islamic
Caliphate throughout the world by working with Islamic
extremist groups to overthrow regimes they consider to be
non Islamic. Al Qaeda’s activities include bombing,
assassination, hijacking, kidnapping and suicide attacks. Al
Qaeda is responsible for the attacks on the US embassies in
Nairobi, Kenya and Dar-es-Salaam, Tanzania in 1998 and also
the hijacking attacks on the World Trade Center and the
Pentagon on September 11, 2001.
ISIS/Islamic state
Islamic State
also known as Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) is a
militant organization in Iraq and Syria whose aim is to
establish a caliphate. The group is believed to be formed in
the early 2000s by Abu Musab Al Zarqawi. Zarqawi’s militants
played a major part in the Iraqi insurgency during the US
occupation. After Zarqawi’s death in 2006 in an American
airstrike Abu Ayub al Masri an Egyptian bomb maker who had
trained in Afghanistan became the leader of the group. The
group faced decline due to increased security from US and
Iraqi forces until 2011, when it started to grow through its
involvement in the Syrian civil war. During the period of
2013 and 2014 ISIS took over territory in Syria and Iraq.
ISIS is also known for its public beheadings of Western
captives.