Revolution Without Bullets or Ballots

Islam is determined to defeat and crush the West. They have come in waves, ebbing and flowing over the centuries. They are presently charging, but not all are coming with bullets and bombs blasting. The goal is the triumphal Islam and the re-emergence of the Caliphate.

Everyone has heard of Osama bin Laden and Al Qaeda. There are hundreds of jihadist groups that come and go. The Liberation Party - Hizb ut-Tahrir (HT) is the largest single liberation movement in the Islamic world, yet almost nothing is known of them in the West.

KARACHI - From the shores of the Caspian Sea to the Bay of Bengal, there are violent reactionaries in the Muslim world who will kill and get killed, but beyond these fanatics there exists a real hardcore silently swaying the hearts and minds of many in the Muslim world.

Their religion is not obvious from their demeanor or the cut of their clothes, yet it is embedded in the very core of their hearts, and is the driving force behind all their actions.

They are an overwhelming emerging force, and even though they have been widely banned, they don't believe in retaliation. They have made a hub in Pakistan, where they outnumber many large religious parties, yet they remain difficult to pinpoint as they are political, but have been forced underground. They are the largest single movement in the Islamic world, the Liberation Party - Hizb ut-Tahrir (HT).

In the mid-1990s, a large conference was held in London, where the topic was the revival of a caliphate in the Muslim world for the "implementation of pure Islamic doctrine", as is the goal of the HT. The conference was attended by delegates from around the world, and a key question was to determine an ideal place for the Islamic revolution. Many agreed on Pakistan, a land of valiant Muslim tribes that have traditionally responded enthusiastically to Islamic issues. And strategically, the country is well situated to embrace the Asian sub-continent and Central Asia - where initially the caliphate will be created.

Subsequent to a large conference in London, many members of HT, many of them British, went to Pakistan, establishing themselves in the urban centers of the country. Deemed dangerous, soon they were banned, rounded up, hauled off to the courts where prosecutors were unsuccessful in convicting them off crimes as they don't believe in violence, preferring instead to incite the masses through "influence".

To be effective the HT must operate in the open, but they are extremely secretive. Their leadership remains cloaked, but there motives and goals are very clear: "Our goal is to mobilize the masses and bring about a peaceful revolution and revive the institution of caliphate." A sobering interview in Asia Times Online reveals how they will do this and gives glimpses of their various operations throughout the Muslim world and their plans for the West.