India Today dated October 8, 2019, has made the startling revelation `The Special Cell of the Delhi Police, probing an Indian Mujahideen (IM) module, stumbled upon evidence suggesting an association between the two outfits’. It adds, `Sources in intelligence agencies said that there was credible proof about IM’s links with international groups’. `The Indian Mujahideen had a hand in the Delhi serial blasts of 2008’ and have `links with the international radical group Hizbul Tahrir’. The organization was `trying to radicalize disgruntled Muslim youth’, according to recent intelligence inputs’.
Sri Lankan terrorists trained in India: Earlier, Sri Lankan investigations had revealed that the suicide bombers, involved in blasts, were radicalized in India. Sri Lanka had hauled up 116 suspects, including a Tamil medium teacher and a school principal. Those arrested confessed to having been tutored by Islamic-State moles in Tamil Nadu. Posters and social media postings in native Indian languages confirmed that the IS does have networks in several Indian states. A pro-IS Telegram channel released a poster in the Bengali language that reads: “Shighroi Aschhe [coming soon], In Sha Allah.
The poster carried a logo of a group called Al-Mursalat. Some social posts in the Sinhala language appeared in Tamil Nadu. Instead of taking notice of IS propaganda, BJP led government has been exploiting the matter for political advantage. BJP leader Vijayvargiya in West Bengal alleged, “If Trinamool Congress government in West Bengal led by Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee stays, Islamic State can enter West Bengal anytime.” India shrugs off the allegation saying that IS adherents in India are spill-over of Bangladesh’s New Jamatul Mujahideen.
The Muslim in India are about 172 million (14.2%), second largest religious community, according to 2011 census. The Muslim is a feeble voice within the parliament and without.
Call Detail Records of Sri Lankan-terror mastermind Zaharan Hashim indicated his links with IS adherents across India including R Ashiq, Ismail, Salavuddin, Sadiq, Ali, Shahul Hameed, and Shamsuddin. In a video, Hashim is seen exhorting Muslims from Tamil Nadu, Kerala, and Sri Lanka to wage jihad. Hashim and another Sri Lanka bomber, Mohammad Azaan, had traveled to India in 2017 and 2018 to discuss the plans of IS.
By 2013, India knew that its `missing ‘citizens were fighting alongside IS in Syria. It remained unruffled even until 2014 when IS kidnapped 39 `traitor’ Indians in Iraq and executed them. India’s RAW remained listless to an IS map of the Khorasan Caliphate showing engulfing some Indians. BBC reporter Andrew Hosken, who included the map in his 2015 book ‘Empire of Fear: Inside the Islamic State’ said IS wants “to take over all of what they see as the Islamic world”. India arrested about a hundred IS suspects while they returned to India after the fall of IS’s last stronghold Baghouz in Iraq.
Why and how Indian Muslims are being radicalized: India is a fertile ground for ISIS cultivators because of Muslims’ persecution. Indian Muslims have less than two percent parliamentary representation though they are about 14 percent of the Indian population.
The Muslims in India are about 172 million (14.2%), the second-largest religious community, according to the 2011 census. The Muslim is a feeble voice within the parliament and without. Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP gave less than two percent of its tickets to Muslim candidates. Still, none of them were elected. Still Rashtraya Swayemsevak Sangh claims that Muslims in India are
The 2014 Lok Sabha had the lowest share of Muslim MPs in India. So it was despite an increase in share of the Muslim population in India from 13.4% to 14.2% between 2001 and 2011.
Read more: Hindutva- India’s very own doom through self-inflicted extremism
Names of about one-fourth of the eligible Muslim voters were deleted from voters’ list with impunity. In Karnataka, alone the names of 6.6 million people were missing from the electoral list. Later, about 1.2 million were re-enlisted.
The Muslim population increased. Yet, the number of Muslim voters declined over the years. Obviously, the under-counting and deletion from voters’ list was actuated by planned discrimination, political exclusion, and total elimination. A caricature of Article 326 of India’s Constitution?
Muslims experience low literacy and high poverty rates, and Hindu-Muslim violence has claimed a disproportionate number of Muslim lives. The Muslim literacy rate ranks well below the national average and Muslim poverty rates are only slightly higher than low-caste Hindus, according to a November 2006 government report. Muslims make up 13.4 percent of India’s population, but hold less than 5 percent of government posts and makeup only four percent of the undergraduate student body in India’s elite universities.
Indian products came to light when seized during battles in the Iraqi towns of al Rabia, Kirkuk, Mosul, and Tikrit and the Syrian town of Kobani
Practically, Muslims, under Hindu influence, are divided into three groups of Indian Muslims—Ashraf, Ajlaf, and Arzal. The Ashrafs are upper-class Muslims of Arab ancestry. Ajlafs are Hindus who converted to Islam to escape persecution, and Arzals, correlate to the lowest caste of Hindus (Harigans). The November 2006 Sachar Report made recommendations to ameliorate a lot of the Indian Muslims.
University of Chicago Professor Steven Wilkinson says, “The conclusions aren’t very revolutionary and I wouldn’t expect much in the way of policy change from it.” The professor of political science whose research focuses on ethnic politics in India. Wilkinson says the report fails to offer clear analysis of the nature of Muslim marginalization and leaves in question whether solutions should focus on Muslims or general public poverty alleviation.
Hard-line Hindu nationalists argue Indian Muslims (as well as Christians) converted from Hinduism and should reconvert to the majority religion. Ruling BJP seeks to win votes proposing to build a temple on the site of a former mosque in Ayodhya, a city in India’s most populous and politically important state of Uttar Pradesh. Temples in IHK are being renovated with little attention to mosques. It is eerie that RSS chief claims `Muslims in India Happiest in the World Courtesy Hindu Culture’.
Read more: “India has succumbed to extremism”, COAS
Motivational training complement India-made explosives: The IS India not only imparts motivational training to volunteers but also equips them with necessary kit to do explosions. Besides imparting ideological training, IS in India equips fresh recruits with improvised-explosive devices. Unreliability of dry-buttery cells in improvised explosive devices (IEDs) forced the IS to opt for solar cells.
The study, conducted by Conflict Armament Research (Europe) has confirmed that Indian solar-cell and detonator-producing industries are a big exporter to the IS importers abroad. To bypass customs surveillance, Indian companies export the hardware through intermediaries. The study revealed, `Seven Indian companies figure in a list of 51 commercial entities from 20 countries theater involved in the supply chain of over 700 components used by the Islamic State to construct IEDs.
The Indian firms meet the bulk of IS’s demand for detonators, detonating cords, safety fuses, cables, wires, and other electronic components, India’s trade laws allow export of such components. The companies include Solar Industries, Economic Explosives, Premier Explosives, Ideal Explosives, and Chamundi. Indian products came to light when seized during battles in the Iraqi towns of al Rabia, Kirkuk, Mosul, and Tikrit and the Syrian town of Kobani.
Read more: America accuses India of religious extremism and anti-Muslim policies
While being preoccupied with Masood obsession, India ignored the lurking presence of IM-IS-HT affiliates in its several states. Let India stop politicizing Masood Azhar and focus on the emerging threats. India needs to revamp its attitude to the menace before it is too late.
Mr. Amjed Jaaved has been contributing free-lance for over five decades. His contributions stand published in the leading dailies and magazines (Global Village Space, Jehangir World Times) at home and abroad (Nepal. Bangladesh, et. al.). His article `Belt-Road initiative (moderndiplomacy.eu‘), is archived with Kennedy Centre, USA. The views expressed in this article are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect Global Village Space’s editorial policy.