Outlawed faith Pakistan under pressure from U.S. to ban militan

KARACHI, Pakistan --It wasn't supposed to end up like this -- thick steel handcuffs clamped on to his delicate wrists, a guard hanging on to the chain that ran like a leash from his bonds. He was supposed to be a mujahed, or holy warrior.

Instead, at age 21, Ershad Ali is in jail on charges of illegal weapons possession. He is a member of Jaish-e-Mohammed, or Army of Mohammed, an outlawed militant group branded by the United States as terrorists with links to Osama bin Laden's al-Qaida network.

It's the same group believed to have ties to Ahmed Omar Saeed Sheikh, chief defendant in the kidnap-slaying of Wall Street Journal correspondent Daniel Pearl. A verdict in the case is expected Monday. If Saeed is found guilty, he could be hanged.

"You say we are terrorists. I say we are working for Allah. We are following the prophet," the slight Ali said, his long slender fingers playing with the steel chain. Nearby his guard sat, expressionless as he held tightly onto the chain that restrained Ali, who has been in jail for six days.

Ali was barely 18 years old when he joined Jaish-e-Mohammed, one of five groups banned by President Gen. Pervez Musharraf in January. Ali trained in Balakot in Pakistan-held Kashmir. There, Jaish-e-Mohammed taught recruits about explosives, weapons and its militant version of Islam.

A duty to fight

Ali blames the United States for the decision to ban the five groups. He also says it's the duty of Muslims to fight against the ban. "What can I say?" he asked. "The United States is the enemy of Islam."

Ali is not alone in his contempt for the United States. Elsewhere in Karachi, a sprawling port city of 14 million people, women sat on a blue-checked shawl spread on the floor of a small apartment in the middle-class Malir neighborhood.

Scattered on the shawl were small beads -- each representing a prayer. The prayers were for the release of Mohammed Imran, accused in a June 14 car bombing at the U.S. Consulate in Karachi in which at least 12 Pakistanis died.

Imran is the leader of Harkat-ul-Mujahedeen al-Almi, a splinter group of Harakat-ul-Mujahedeen, or Movement of Holy Warriors, which was also banned by Musharraf.

Imran's wife, whose eyes were all that was visible behind a full black covering, pleaded her husband's innocence. His 72-year-old father, Mohammed Ali, also complained that the government crackdown on militant Islamic organizations had snared everyone with links to so-called "jihadi groups."

Imran's family believes the United States was behind his arrest as well. His father said U.S. pressure on the Pakistan government has forced jihadi groups underground. He said his son's organization was a welfare group that provided clothes to poor.

"What kind of a terrorist is it that is not in hiding, is going to the mosque five times a day and is giving to the poor?" he asked.

"Because of U.S. pressure everyone with a beard is worried about being arrested," said Raza Abidi , Imran's lawyer and childhood friend. Strict Muslim men consider beards obligatory.