[CENTCOM wants us to believe that ETIM (East Turkestan Islamic Movement) is a threat to anybody other than China. If the propagandists from US Central Command go to all the trouble to run an article conflating the IMU (Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan) with the CIA-sponsored Uyghur militants, then they are hoping to get double mileage out of their Xianjiang assets by, not only using them to destabilize western China, but trying to use them to revive some of their other Central Asian assets, the IMU. This article also ties-in to the latest “Islamist” psyop, which alleges that the Hizb ut-Tahrir is also a terrorist group, just as they are using that group to blackball Pakistani Naval officers, who are allegedly “tied to Islamists,” even though the “Islamists” are based in London. The CIA needs new blood, to add some jazz to their tired old psycho-dramas. That is what this is all about.]

East Turkestan Islamic Movement threatens Central Asia

By Shakar Saadi
For CentralAsiaOnline.com
2011-08-09

Chinese police officers patrol an ethnic Uighur area in Kashgar, Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, August 4. Ringleaders of the separatist East Turkestan Islamic Movement orchestrated an assault July 29 that killed six in Kashgar, China said. [REUTERS/Carlos Barria]

TASHKENT – The Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan (IMU) is widening its territorial interests in an effort to draw new supporters from outside Central Asia into its terrorist ranks. Analysts say this drive explains the increased activity of the IMU’s sister movement, the East Turkestan Islamic Movement (ETIM), which represents radical circles from Central Asia and China’s Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region.

ETIM merges with IMU for money and influence

In 2001, IMU leader Tahir Yuldashev announced the formation of the ETIM, intending to unite several extremist groups from Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan and Xingjiang, National Security Service analyst Rashid N. said. “But this was more like a PR campaign than a serious union,” he said.

“The ETIM was (actually) established in 1993, but it was just a local organisation without any impact,” Rashid said. “But, by the early 2000s, the ETIM had practically turned into a wing of the IMU, which, due to financial troubles and a thinning of its ranks of backers, was looking for support. And the ETIM, in turn, needed the experience and authority of a more powerful terrorist group.”

This unified group now poses a serious threat to the region, Rashid said.

“The convergence of the two groups became noticeable in the past two years, and there is an explanation: after the death (in 2009) of Tahir Yuldashev, many supporters left the IMU, and, on the flip side, financial troubles arose,” security analyst Mikhail Yefremov said. “The IMU decided that merging with the ETIM would help resolve the recruitment problem and financial issues.”

The situation enabled the ETIM to expand its sphere of influence and gain more authority, Yefremov said. “(Its) close ties with the IMU granted the ETIM access to Tajikistan, Uzbekistan and other countries of Central Asia, as well as Russia. And the IMU got access to the extremists of Xinjiang, China. The aims of these organisations are similar, so their merger makes sense,” he said.

Rashid, who met with several arrested ETIM members, said the IMU had influenced their activities: “(They had) the same tactics, the same incredible cruelty toward all who oppose them.”

The Taliban had been supporting the IMU in Afghanistan and Pakistan, but in 2006, Pakistan’s security services and coalition troops began seriously going after the IMU and regularly wiping out the militants’ deployment sites.

“The situation worsened and there was a split in the IMU, which, according to experts, resulted from both feuds within the organisation and the impact of the (counter-terror) developments,” Rashid said. “The IMU members criticised Yuldashev for the lack of active operations in Uzbekistan and for the militants participating in Taliban operations against the coalition forces. Yuldashev’s death in October 2009 was a test for the IMU members. The new leaders needed a design, whose aim would be to rehabilitate the image of the IMU and draw in new members.”

Is ‘ETIM’ the old name of IMU?

Former IMU leader Tahir Yuldashev gives a speech in an unidentified location in this undated video frame grab. The East Turkestan Islamic Movement and the IMU are said have united after his death in 2009. [REUTERS]

The media have started referring to “ETIM” as the original name of the IMU, but some analysts say that Uzbek special services came up with the name.

“The Uzbek National Security Service came up with this name for the IMU in order to make it seem like a movement that was fighting against all of the countries of Central Asia,” said Dust Dustov, an Orientalist at the Tajik Academy of Sciences.

Rashid disagreed with that view: “Our department has compelling evidence to (prove) the merger of the IMU with the radical forces in China’s Xinjiang.”

At this time, a union would benefit the IMU terrorists and radical Uyghur separatists, Uzbek political analyst Hatam Mahkamov said. The aim of most radical Uyghur groups, including the ETIM, is to establish a Xinjiang caliphate, he contended. In principle, this matches the IMU’s goals.

Former UTO member in ETIM leadership Even though the ETIM is largely made up of extremists from Xinjiang, China, Iokub B. of the Tajik security services said that Domullo Amriddin, a former United Tajik Opposition (UTO) leader, holds a leading position in the organisation.

“From 1992 to 1997, he fought against the Tajik government. But after the war, he did not give up and went to Afghanistan and, later, Xinjiang. As far as we know, he is simply being used as someone knowledgeable about fighting techniques and working in the underground.”

However, when Central Asia Online interviewed former UTO members in February, the interviewees who remembered such a man did so quite reluctantly. Many even questioned the existence of Amriddin.

“But, compared with the current IMU leader, Usmon Odil, Amriddin is more experienced and authoritative, so he may be playing an important role in this very merger,” Iokub said.

ETIM might also team up with Hizb ut-Tahrir

The IMU is not the only terrorist organisation with an eye on Xinjiang. China’s Public Security Ministry has repeatedly expressed concerns about the growing influence of Hizb ut-Tahrir (HT) in the region.

In the summer of 2008 riots broke out. Among the several members of Uyghur groups who were detained, Chinese law enforcement agencies also apprehended HT activists, six of whom subsequently received death sentences.

“Hizb ut-Tahrir is also interested in extending its influence over all of Central Asia – including Xinjiang, China – in order to build a caliphate, so the convergence of these two groups can’t be ruled out,” Rashid said.

Rashid and Iokub said that these groups are becoming closer because they have lost strength.

“The days when young people rushed headlong into their ranks are over. Many now understand the difference between Islam and extremism,” Rashid said. “Funding from the weakened al-Qaeda is also not coming through, so the groups are looking to strengthen themselves by merging, but it won’t help them.”

ETIM suspected of July attacks in Xinjiang According to Chinese media, the ETIM carried out several attacks in Xinjiang this July.

“Both Beijing and the countries of Central Asia are well aware of the persistent severity of Uyghur separatism, especially since in recent years it has formed increasingly linked to religious extremism, political Islam and the instability of Afghanistan,” Mahkamov said.

Iokub, who also says that the ETIM was behind the terrorist attacks in Xinjiang, said, “The countries in the region understand the danger facing them and are acting collectively to forestall the threat.”

Co-operation among SCO states can defeat this peril, Mahkamov said.