Wahhabis in Montenegro are armed - military
analyst
BBC Monitoring Europe (Political) - November 12, 2006 Sunday
Excerpt from report by D.Z. and M.V.R. entitled "Some groups in Rozaje look
like Wahhabis", published by Montenegrin newspaper Dan on 11 November
The Wahhabis could turn out to be a big threat to the state of Montenegro and to
the Islamic religious community because they grew into a very serious extremist
movement, military analyst Milovan Drecun believes. He says that recent
incidents in Novi Pazar [town in southern Serbia], where Wahhabis attacked
several persons in a mosque, are just an initial stage of their idea about a
violent creation of the so-called Islamic state of Sandzak [region straddling
the Serbia-Montenegro border with a considerable Muslim population] that would
include parts of Serbia and Montenegro.
[Passage omitted: Drecun comments on various aspects of the Wahhabi movement in
general]
He says that the Wahhabism is some kind of logistical base and the advance guard
of Al-Qa'idah.
"One thing is particularly worrying - the fact that the Wahhabis in Montenegro
are well-armed, that they are forming their own combat groups and that they are
linked to Wahhabis and mujahidin in Kosovo, Bosnia-Hercegovina and Macedonia,"
Drecun points out.
According to Rasim Ljajic, chairman of the Sandzak Democratic Party [SDP],
activities of the Wahhabi Islamic organizations are a threat to the Islamic
community more than to the state. He says that one should neither overestimate
nor underestimate the role played by various religious movements, or their
number.
"A good atmosphere for religious extremist organizations to work in has been
created lately, and state bodies are doing nothing about this," Ljajic says.
Sandzak mufti Muamer Zukorlic comments on the most recent events in Novi Pazar
and points out that even before them the Islamic community has been pointing out
just how dangerous fanaticism, radicalism and extremism are, because they beget
evil.
"By begetting evil they are particularly harming the very religion on whose
behalf they say they are acting. They can believe anything they want, they can
dress and look anyway they want, but they have no right to impose their concept
of religion and rituals upon other believers," Zukorlic says.
Ernad effendi Ramovic, main imam in Rozaje [town in northern Montenegro], has
recently told Dan that the Islamic community completely rejects the Wahhabism
and has a very low opinion about the Wahhabis and the movement.
[Passage omitted: Ramovic's statement already covered on 12 October 2006 in the
Imam urges Montenegrin Muslims to fight Wahhabi influence item]
Source: Dan, Podgorica, in Serbian 11 Nov 06 p7
Copyright 2006 British Broadcasting Corporation
Posted for Fair Use only.