Hasan Mahsum

Hasan Mahsum (or Hassan Makhdum), also known as Abu-Muhammad al-Turkestani and Ashan Sumut, was the leader of the Islamic extremist group Turkistan Islamic Party and suspected of having ties with Al Qaeda.[2] He was shot dead in a counter-terrorism operation on October 2, 2003 by the Pakistani Army.[3]

Hasan Mahsum
Emir of the Turkistan Islamic Party
In office
1997 – 2 October 2003
Preceded byZeydin Yusup
Succeeded byAbdul Haq
Personal details
Born1964
Shule County, Kashgar, East Turkistan
Died(2003-10-02)October 2, 2003
South Waziristan, Pakistan[1]
OccupationMilitant/religious leader
Hasan Mahsum
Chinese name
Traditional Chinese艾山·買合蘇木
Simplified Chinese艾山·买合苏木
Uyghur name
Uyghurھەسەن مەخسۇم
Hesen Mexsum‎

Political activities

Abdul Hameed, Abdul Azeez Makhdoom and Abdul Hakeem Makhdoom launched the Islamic Party of Turkistan in 1940.[4] After being set free from prison in 1979, Abdul Hakeem founded a number of religious schools, including one in Karghalik, at which Hasan Mahsum studied from 1984 to 1989.[5][6]

In 1989 Zeydin Yusup started the group which was originally called East Turkistan Islamic Party (ETIP).[4][7] The movement was reshuffled by Hasan Mahsum and Abudukadir Yapuquan in 1997 into its present incarnation.[8][9]

Mahsum, a native of Shule (Kunixar) County, became involved with the East Turkestan independence movement early in his life; in his late 20s, he was already a lecturer at a training camp in Yecheng County, preaching Jihad and advocating the use of violence against Chinese authorities.[10] He was arrested in October 1993 by the Chinese police for terrorist activities and sentenced to three years of re-education through labour.[11] After fleeing China in 1997 to Mecca, Mahsum joined the Taliban[12] and lived in Afghanistan and Pakistan; he held an Afghan passport issued by the Taliban. In early 1999, he was said to have met with Osama bin Laden, who offered him US$300,000 of financial assistance for the East Turkestan Islamic Movement in the following year;[13] Mahsum himself denied any connection with bin Laden.[14] The Chinese government has accused him of directing a series of violent terrorist activities including robbery and murder in Ürümqi on February 4, 1999 and violent murders in the Khotan region on December 14, 1999;[15] it is believed that these attacks were carried out by an operative of his named Mutalif Kasim.[10]

Uyghur detainees at Guantanamo bay have confessed that they were trained by Abdul Haq and Hassan Mahsum in Afghanistan, Abdul Haq was the leader who threatened terror attacks on the 2008 Beijing Olympics, sits on the Shura Council of al-Qaeda, and subscribes to the methodology of al-Qaeda.[16]

Death

Chinese, Pakistani, and US officials confirmed that Mahsum was shot dead in an early-morning raid on a suspected al-Qaeda training camp by the Pakistan Army in South Waziristan, near the Afghan border, on October 2, 2003.[17] The Pakistani army attacked an al-Qaeda hideout in South Waziristan near the border with Afghanistan on 2 October 2003, shooting and killing eight terrorists, including Mahsum. The Beijing News and International Herald Leader initially reported that the United States worked with Pakistan in a joint counter-terrorism operation, but Major General Shaukat Sultan, a spokesman for the Pakistani military, denied U.S. military involvement. Sultan said "DNA tests were conducted to determine it was him." The Chinese government assisted in identifying his body.[3]

References
  1. Joscelyn, Thomas (October 9, 2008). "Evaluating the Uighur Threat". The Long War Journal. Foundation for Defense of Democracy.
  2. "Uyghur Separatist Denies Links to Taliban, Al-Qaeda". Radio Free Asia. 2002-01-28. Archived from the original on 2009-07-15.
  3. "Chinese militant "shot dead"". BBC News. 2003-12-23. Retrieved 2007-01-27.
  4. Arabinda Acharya; Rohan Gunaratna; Wang Pengxin (22 June 2010). Ethnic Identity and National Conflict in China. Palgrave Macmillan. pp. 53–. ISBN 978-0-230-10787-8.
  5. Arabinda Acharya; Rohan Gunaratna; Wang Pengxin (22 June 2010). Ethnic Identity and National Conflict in China. Palgrave Macmillan. pp. 54–. ISBN 978-0-230-10787-8.
  6. Thakkar, Mona (2023-02-18). "TIP in their own words – an interview with Abdusalam at-Turkistani, deputy leader of Turkistan Islamic Party" (PDF). Islamic Theology of Counter Terrorism (ITCT). Retrieved 2023-04-30.
  7. J. Todd Reed; Diana Raschke (2010). The ETIM: China's Islamic Militants and the Global Terrorist Threat. ABC-CLIO. pp. 48–. ISBN 978-0-313-36540-9.
  8. "China: The Evolution of ETIM". Stratfor.com. 13 May 2008. Retrieved 13 May 2016.
  9. Rohan Gunaratna; Aviv Oreg (1 July 2015). The Global Jihad Movement. Rowman & Littlefield Publishers. pp. 244–. ISBN 978-1-4422-4542-6.
  10. Sichor, Yitzhak (2006). "Fact and Fiction: A Chinese Documentary on Eastern Turkestan Terrorism" (PDF). China and Eurasia Forum Quarterly. Central Asia-Caucasus Institute and Silk Road Studies Program. 4 (2): 89–108. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2007-09-28. Retrieved 2006-12-15.
  11. "FM spokesman confirms death of wanted terrorist". People's Daily. 2003-12-25. Retrieved 2006-12-15.
  12. "الصينيون الأويغور... "انغماسيّو أردوغان" الجدد". أسرار. 2015-05-19. Archived from the original on 2016-01-24.
  13. Raman. B (2005-01-27). "Paper no. 1232: Explosions in Xinjiang". South Asia Analysis Group. Archived from the original on 2007-09-27. Retrieved 2006-12-15.
  14. Mackerras, Colin (Winter 2004). "Ethnicity in China: The Case of Xinjiang". Harvard Asia Quarterly. Archived from the original on 2006-11-28. Retrieved 2006-12-15.
  15. "Spokesperson's remarks on the Death of Hasan Mahsum, Head of the "East Turkistan Islamic Movement"" (Press release). Embassy of the People's Republic of China in the United States of America. 2003-10-24. Retrieved 2006-12-15.
  16. Joscelyn, Thomas (21 April 2009). "The Uighurs, in their own words". The Long War Journal.
  17. "Pakistan Army Kills 12 In Offensive Against Al-Qaida". Dow Jones International News. 2003-10-02.


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