The Islamic State, the Indian Sub-Continent & its Neighbourhood

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SSridhar
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Re: The Islamic State in the Indian Sub-Continent

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Afsha Jabeen was radicalised online, say police - Marri Ramu, The Hindu
Afsha Jabeen, a Hyderabadi arrested by the police on charge of recruiting Indians to the outlawed Islamic State (IS), supported secession by Kashmir, say investigators.

During the interrogation by Cyberabad police officials, Jabeen told them that some persons connected with the Jammu & Kashmir agitation had interacted with her online. “Neither Pakistan nor India should govern, but something like a Caliphate should be formed to rule the region, is what she opined during their online discussions,” police officials unwilling to be quoted, told The Hindu
. Investigators, however, were not sure if the persons who interacted with her were from Kashmir or elsewhere. These persons are yet to be identified. A housewife, Jabeen started following IS activities and its campaign online after she listened to speeches by Muslim leaders Zakir Naik and Bilal Philips on Youtube while she was living in Abu Dhabi. She created a Facebook page titled “Islam versus Christianity: A Friendly Discussion”, projecting herself as a British national Nicky Joseph.

What started as a friendly discussion soon turned into a serious debate and Jabeen started watching closely IS activities in Syria and other places. “She developed a hatred of sorts towards the Western world and began appealing online to youngsters to join the IS,” said the investigators.

That was when Salman Mohiuddin, also a Hyderabadi, contacted her online. Tipped off by intelligence agencies, the Cyberabad police arrested Mohiuddin. While investigating his possible connection with terror outfits, they stumbled upon details of Jabeen.
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Re: The Islamic State in the Indian Sub-Continent

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Uttar Pradesh IS recruit's SOS to family: Help me return home - Neeraj Chauhan, ToI
A 28-year-old youth from Azamgarh in UP, who went to Syria about six months back to join the Islamic State, recently called his family from Raqqa and asked his parents to help him come back home. The young IS recruit is said to be scared of dying in air strikes and has been frantically calling his family members to facilitate his return to India.

"He is also frustrated with the activities of IS and desperately wants to come back," said an intelligence officer.

The youth was recruited by the Islamic State and sent to Syria about six months back via Turkey by a Dubai-based operative of the militant terrorist outfit. However, his family didn't know about his whereabouts for the past six months and approached the security agencies after receiving his call.

Initial investigations and interaction with his family revealed that the youth also fell sick in Raqqa, where he is presently involved in logistics-related work for Islamic State. "He made several calls to his home in the last few days from different numbers and expressed that he is stuck there. He clearly told his parents that he wants to come back," said an official.

The intelligence agencies are making efforts to bring him back. In Lucknow, ADG (law and order) Daljit Singh Chowdhary said the state police is coordinating with intelligence agencies in Delhi. "Only on Saturday I would be able to divulge name of the youth and other details," said Chowdhary.

The Dubai-based IS operative had found the Azamgarh youth surfing about the the militant outfit. Later the Class XII passout, son an artisan, decided to go to Syria. He arranged money for his flight to Turkey from where he went to Syria.

The youth is considered to be the first person from Uttar Pradesh to join IS directly without having contact with any terrorist organisation and without any criminal past. Officials said the youth has no links with the Indian Mujahideen members who are fighting for IS in Iraq and Syria. {Official admission of IM operating with the IS}

Officials said the Azamgarh youth is the 20th Indian so far to have travelled to Iraq and Syria after being radicalised. About six of them have already been killed, including three Indian Mujahideen terrorists {That's a new piece of information that I wasn't aware of. This confirms the IM allegiance to IS after a split with the ISI last year}, two youth from Maharashtra and one from Telangana.

Kalyan-based Areeb Majeed had returned last year after he got fed up with the activities of IS. On September 15, UAE deported four Indians suspected to have links with IS. About a fortnight ago, UAE sent back a 37-year- old woman, Afsha Jabeen alias Nicky Joseph, who was allegedly involved in recruiting youths for IS.

Earlier in January, Salman Mohiuddin of Hyderabad was arrested when he was preparing to board a flight to Dubai on way to Syria.

So far, 17 youths, mostly from Telangana, have been prevented from travelling to Syria to join IS.
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Re: The Islamic State in the Indian Sub-Continent

Post by brihaspati »

1. There is no reason to rejoice in thinking that all Islamic terror acts against India are coordinated only by the ISI, and that ISI has no links with IS, or that both are not handled by a larger network of legit Islamic mullahs, govs, nations as well non-legit ones.

2. just because formal gov statements of India or BD or Pak declares that so-and-so act wasnt due to IS but by "malicious others" doesnt necessarily mean IS didnt really have a hand or finger in it. Govs might be deliberately lying out of

(a) the supposed wisdom that acknowledging will give further boost to IS
(b) that govs are not put under additional pressure politically from within by non-Muslim communities or blackmailed electorally by the mullah networks within.

3. the "Hindu girl" switching forward to jihadi and then backwards into "deradicalization" story could again be a public reassurance measure. Not to raise panic buttons and wider surveillance of potential female recruits from the Hindu side. The parents obviously didnt take right step - as it was too little too late. They must surely have been sufficiently secular to not bring up the reality of Islam and its history to their daughter from childhood. This girl will always be inclined to join up or act in favour of jihadis. For her it will remain bound with first sexual arousals.

4. its also perhaps not very wise to think IS is far off and away and has many other immediate enemies so it will never come here. In fact a lot of those immediate enemies will be onlee too glad to see them shift their feeding frenzy towards India, and IS actually has surprisingly good potential to gain ground in this direction. First the paralysis of the "secular state" before Islamic onslaught. Cant hit back with the ten-fold atrocious ruthlessness back on IS attackers out of fear of hurting "domestic" Muslim sentiments. Second, a majority of Indian muslim youth, especially women will be too willing to join up or act as fifth column. A large number of Hindu girls will be inclined too to join the harems of jihadis. (Thanks to our neku overt morality, and perverse role of previous gen ladies seeking totalitarian control over their ladkas and abort any physical/mental proximity of their ladkas with hated GF's or DIL's)
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Re: The Islamic State in the Indian Sub-Continent

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Afghanistan Taliban Prepare 'Forces' to Combat IS - IANS
Afghanistan Taliban have prepared "special forces" to combat Islamic State (Daesh) group, a media report has said.

The new force called "Reserve Units" has been formed in Afghanistan provinces. It trains young people to fight IS
, Khaama press on Monday quoted sources as saying.

The Taliban provoke villagers against the IS and encourage them to stand with Taliban, the report said.

Taliban spokesman Mujahid, confirming formation of the force, said "Yes, there is a force like this".


Most of the IS militants which emerged in Afghanistan are members of the Afghan and Pakistani Taliban groups.

The Taliban refused IS group's proposal to join it and now they have been fighting against each other.

The fight has resulted in death of hundreds of militants from both the sides.
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Re: The Islamic State in the Indian Sub-Continent

Post by Arjun »

brihaspati wrote:3. the "Hindu girl" switching forward to jihadi and then backwards into "deradicalization" story could again be a public reassurance measure. Not to raise panic buttons and wider surveillance of potential female recruits from the Hindu side. The parents obviously didnt take right step - as it was too little too late. They must surely have been sufficiently secular to not bring up the reality of Islam and its history to their daughter from childhood. This girl will always be inclined to join up or act in favour of jihadis. For her it will remain bound with first sexual arousals.
Stupid of the media to term this girl Hindu when she was obviously doing this influenced by her Muslim boyfriend who she wanted to marry and by Islamist ideology. "Hindu convert to Islam" should have been the correct phrase.
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Re: The Islamic State in the Indian Sub-Continent

Post by ramana »

ISIS in Indian sub-continent is an oxymoron.
ISIS means Daesh which is the re-establishment of Caliphate. If any one recalls that is in Damascus and Baghdad. The Turks established only Sultanates.
This is a copycat operation by TSP to take the heat of Taliban and AlQ in their midst.
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Re: The Islamic State in the Indian Sub-Continent

Post by johneeG »

uddu wrote:Pakistan is the first IS created in the Indian subcontinent. What the ISIS of Iraq and Syria is doing today was done long back by Pakistan. All this with the support from the U.S government and other agencies inimical to India. Pakistan being the first IS in the Indian subcontinent need to be reflected in the title. It resulted in the genocide of the minorities and today they are cleaning up the non-Wahabi versions. Destruction of temples and other religious structures like buring of churches, destruction of Bamiyan Buddha's under Pakistan's patronage is similar to what's happening in Palmyra.
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Re: The Islamic State in the Indian Sub-Continent

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Centre blocks two websites on IS - The Hindu
The Union government has blocked at least 60 websites this year for allegedly promoting the militant outfit Islamic State and posting terror-related content, a senior government official said. On Wednesday, the government blocked two websites related to IS and two Facebook pages for promoting jihadi activities in Jammu and Kashmir.

The Indian Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT-in) received requests to block the websites from Intelligence agencies monitoring objectionable content on the Internet.

While in case of an emergency, the State police directly write to the intermediary concerned, such as Facebook and Twitter, to block a website under Section 79 (3)(b) of the Information Technology Act. The other way of blocking objectionable content is through a committee comprising CERT-in officials, which takes a call after wider consultation.

“There are different levels of threat imposed by a particular website. To block a website, we need wider consultation and after getting reports from all the stakeholders, a decision is reached,” said a senior government official.

Cautious approach

An official said the government was cautious while acting on these websites as it always comes under the scanner for cracking down on freedom of expression.

“The Facebook pages that were recommended for blocking were being run by anonymous handlers promoting jihadi content. They were linked to the J&K situation. The two websites related to IS were far more dangerous as the content was related to preparation of IEDs and how to launch lone-wolf attacks,” said the official.
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Re: The Islamic State in the Indian Sub-Continent

Post by ramana »

Relevant Cross post...
chetak wrote:
SaiK wrote:^if it is MoD / Parrikar directive, and understandably and logically well done, it should be effectively communicated to our chiefs. It is not good to take pot shot at each other (gov and the forces) on this subject matter, as the objective of both is the same. it is important they call each other and not to go public without having an understanding.

otoh, if LCA tejas need some history making.. let them join the bombing parade in Syria. make it so! we have to convey the world where we stand against ISIS as well.
LCA or no LCA, we have no need to get involved in some stoopide war somewhere. I used to be totally mystified at the way the stoopide ISIS were being projected as soopermen, laying waste to everything they came across but now the mystery has been solved and any body can whoop their raghead asses.

Suddenly, the stoopide, sly Indian media has no more India targeted rabid propaganda tales of the ISIS invincibility and their savagery, trying to make out by guileful suggestion that the end of the world has come and all hot headed long suffering, ill treated mard folks are running off to join the ragheads and implying that the day of reckoning for yindoos had come and how the yindoos would be decimated like sheep to the ISIS slaughter.

some one should now take out that baghdadi b@s@#$%&^ in his turkish hospital bed along with his US made bedpan. maybe the ruskis will oblige??

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Re: The Islamic State in the Indian Sub-Continent

Post by SSridhar »

Thank God that GoI neither thinks that the end of the world has come nor that there is no problem at all and everything is hunky dory and no Indian can be swayed by the IS propaganda or ideology. GoI's approach is very sane and level-headed.
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Re: The Islamic State in the Indian Sub-Continent

Post by devesh »

the voices which purposefully underestimate ISIS do it to hide Islamist agenda that ultimately always is the same...as far as non-muslims are concerned.

on the other hand, those voices which purposefully exaggerate some aspects of ISIS's power do it to discredit non-muslim voices which realize the deceptive power of those tactics and understand the potential for applying those same tactics in the future by ISIS or another Jihadi org.

It is important we don't become blind to the fact that tactical realities can sometimes radically transform with unexpected speed. societies have memories in generations and centuries. the "speed" of history is measured by a society/country/civilization's memory...not by the standards of human age.
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Re: The Islamic State in the Indian Sub-Continent

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Islamic State claims responsibility for Bangladesh bombings on Shias - Reuters
Islamic State (ISIS) has claimed responsibility for bombings that targeted Shias in Dhaka, the capital of Bangladesh, on Saturday, the monitor group SITE said.

It cited Islamic State as saying "soldiers of the Caliphate in Bangladesh" detonated explosive devices in Dhaka during "polytheist rituals". Islamic State — an ultra-hardline Sunni Muslim group that sees Shias as apostates — claimed responsibility for the attack.

Earlier on Saturday, a series of blasts killed at least one person and wounded dozens as Shia Muslims gathered for a procession in the old part of Bangladesh's capital to mark the holy day of Ashura, police said.

However, Bangladesh's interior minister told Reuters that no militants were involved and the blasts were not linked to an attack that killed 16 people at a Shia procession in Pakistan hours earlier.

Police cordoned off the area and one officer said four suspects had been arrested. Witnesses said people fled after blasts, losing their flip-flops and sandals in the panic.

Attacks on the Shia minority have been rare in Sunni-majority Bangladesh, but Sunni militant groups have become more active.

"This is not a militant attack, rather it is a planned and destructive attack aiming only to destabilize the situation of the country," interior minister Asaduzzaman Khan told Reuters.
"Though the attack came hours after a suicide bombing in Pakistan, we strongly believe the situation is not similar at all as we live peacefully with Shia community," he said.
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Re: The Islamic State in the Indian Sub-Continent

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ISIS Cyberwar: Government to Change Rules of Spy Game - Yatish Yadav, New Indian Express
In September 2015, a young, educated man (name withheld) was taken into preventive custody by the Kerala police for his alleged links with ISIS sympathisers. His footprints in the virtual world were first mapped by intelligence agencies monitoring online extremist teachings which are promoting a new terror phenomenon called ‘Jihad Cool’.

Although, Indian agencies have so far been able to prevent over 100 radicalised youths from travelling to Syria and Iraq to join the ISIS, faultlines such as the lack of Human Intelligence (HUMINT) poses a challenge in identifying individuals operating in the shadows. The government, while considering the importance of intelligence collected through human sources, has given its go-ahead to Central intelligence agencies to enhance their HUMINT capabilities by bringing spies, well-versed in local languages, on board.

Terror outfit ISIS may not be a major threat to India yet, but intelligence agencies are not taking any chances. According to sources, the spy agencies keeping a watch on terror outfits have received a green signal to examine faultlines in intelligence gathering and accordingly take a decision to enhance capacities to upgrade HUMINT and cover areas that are strategically important.

“Kerala remains a major concern because of growing radicalisation activities. We have been able to track down some radicalized educated youths targeted by ISIS terrorists through the online platform but more needs to be done in terms of generating intelligence from ground zero and subsequent effort for counter radicalisation and de-radicalisation processes,” a senior official told The Sunday Standard.

Counter-radicalisation and de-radicalisation are separate processes because the former deals with the preventive aspect of stalling radical thought processes in affected areas and populate through multi-pronged effort while the latter entails measures to retrieve radicalised organisations. Sources confirmed intelligence agencies have been asked to take help of non-governmental organisations to counter radicalisation in vulnerable areas. Recently, Jamiat Ahle Hadees had organised a conference of youths, against the terrorist activities of ISIS. They urged youths to refrain from associating with ISIS that was involved in un-Islamic terrorist activities, resulting in deaths of thousands of innocent civilians.

Focus on Glocal

A blueprint of the proposed action plan reviewed by The Sunday Standard suggests that agencies have been told to focus on strengthening the HUMINT by bringing local spies on deputation in a special unit within the agencies to generate intelligence depending on the priority of the region. They will be provided advanced training to monitor report and counter most challenging terror threats. Those on deputation will contribute in terms of personnel, local language skills, knowledge of topography and people, as well as liaison with the state police.

“This pool of deputationists, on return to state police, will contribute to strengthening the concept of an intelligence community to counter radicalisation effectively and also provide much needed impetus to HUMINT,” the action plan noted.

Additional resources for the plan, sources said, are being examined as it requires a detailed assessment.

Changing Profile of Recruits

A majority of youths from Kerala and Andhra Pradesh, who have been put under watch, are not the usual rag-tag Jihadis but well-educated tech savvy men from affluent families. Though, the role of social media platforms in breeding radicals is well known, their peer and institutional linkages demand more eyes and ears on the ground.

At least 5-6 suspects, who are under surveillance, runs small-time businesses, thus having a far wider social circle than other suspected Indian Mujahideen or Lashkar-e-Taiba terrorists. A source said except one or two cases, many who joined ISIS self financed their travel to Syria and Iraq.

“This is new age of terrorism. Spies need to cover both virtual and physical world, equip the law enforcement agencies with actionable intelligence and support the counter radicalisation efforts by providing assessment on faultlines,” he said.

This requires geographical and local knowledge to connect with the vulnerable groups as a radicalised person may influence the friends or acquaintances. In a recent case, a Muslim youth, who recently travelled to the UAE, returned radicalised in just three months and tried to convince his Hindu best friend to convert and join the ISIS. During the interrogation, his friend told intelligence officers about the change in the youth’s behaviour after radicalisation and how he tried to influence their entire group of college friends.

“National Technical Research Organisation (NTRO) has successfully mined actionable data on ISIS recruiters but we need to have a broader policy of cyber policing along with a strong HUMINT support,” the source further added.

Beefing the Moles

■ Govt wants capacities that enable intelligence agencies to monitor faultlines.

■ It plans to upgrade HUMINT, cover vulnerable areas

■ Special HUMINT unit to be supported by personnel having knowledge of topography, local languages

■ Personnel deputed as spies to assist local police to strengthen intelligence community
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Re: The Islamic State in the Indian Sub-Continent

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Bangladesh dismisses IS role in blast - Haroon Habib, The Hindu
After two recent killings of foreigners and Saturday’s blasts in a Shia Muslim shrine in Dhaka, all reportedly claimed by the Islamic State, the Bangladesh government on Sunday said the terror group does not have an organisational presence in the country.

The reported claims of the IS that they were behind the attacks can be “a propaganda or have different motive,” said Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal.

The Minister’s remarks came a day after monitoring group SITE Intelligence reported that IS had claimed responsibility for Saturday’s bomb attack that targeted a gathering of Shia Muslims in Dhaka. The blast killed one person and left 87 injured.

“We are becoming victims of a conspiracy. Some other terrorists may be doing this,” the Minister told journalists after a crucial meeting of the parliamentary standing committee on the home ministry Sunday.

He expressed confidence in completing the investigations and identify the “real culprits.”


The chairman of the parliamentary standing committee, Tipu Munshi, meanwhile said the murders of the two foreigners and the bomb attack were connected.

Police on Sunday filed a case under the Anti-Terrorism Act in connection with the blasts and formed a three-member probe panel to look into the incident.

Politicians arrested


On Sunday, the police arrested two BNP leaders — former MP Dewan Mohammad Salahuddin and Mayor Refat Ullah of Savar — in cases filed over arson during the BNP-Jamaat alliance’s violent anti-government agitation.
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Re: The Islamic State in the Indian Sub-Continent

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Intelligence report on ISIS, Boko Haram threat to India-Africa summit, security tightened - Raj Shekhar, ToI
Law enforcement agencies have been asked to step up security around dignitaries attending the Indo-Africa summit due to the possibility of outfits Boko Haram and Islamic State attempting to disrupt the meet, sources in the intelligence establishment said.

The threat perception of the summit has been marked as "very high" as several heads of state visiting Delhi are under threat from Boko Haram, which is mainly active in Nigeria and has recently pledged its allegiance to the Islamic State.

IS has been trying to mark its presence in the Indian subcontinent, and has claimed responsibility for a few strikes in neighboring Bangladesh. Agencies have a list of people radicalized by ISIS propaganda and Delhi Police has even registered an FIR to take steps against the radicalization moves.

TOI has earlier reported on IS threat in the capital. The current input points to the possibility of a lone-wolf strike aimed at dignitaries or the hotels where they are staying. Highly-placed sources said the foreign region registration office (FRRO) and Delhi Police sleuths were keeping a tab on African nationals who have arrived in Delhi in the last one week.

Over 25,000 Delhi Police and paramilitary personnel are operating in tandem with the African security apparatus in central and New Delhi areas for the summit. Security will be extra tight on October 29 when all heads of state, along with Prime Minister Narendra Modi and high-ranking Indian and African officials will congregate at the IG indoor stadium.

In March, IS had announced its allegiance to "Sunni brothers of Boko Haram" terming it as expansion of the "caliphate" to Africa. "We announce to you to the good news of the expansion of the caliphate to west Africa because the caliph has accepted the allegiance of our brothers of the Sunni group for preaching and the jihad," IS spokesman Abu Muhammad al-Adnani had said in a message. In turn, Boko Haram leader Abubakar Shekau had pledged alliance to IS head Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi.

Boko Haram is extremist organization that grew in Nigeria and is now categorized as a terrorist outfit. It gained worldwide notoriety for its abduction of 279 school girls from the Nigerian town of Chibok in 2014. The group came into existence in 2003.
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Re: The Islamic State in the Indian Sub-Continent

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Link
News of the Chhota Rajan arrest came even as Australia’s Trade Minister Andrew Robb and Attorney General George Brandis arrived along with Mr. Varghese for the annual India-Australia consultations on counter-terrorism, cyber security and international crime cooperation. Mr. Varghese said discussions this year had focussed on countering the spread of the Islamic State.

According to the Foreign Secretary, Australia was particularly interested in India’s success with keeping the numbers of IS recruits low despite India having the world’s second largest Muslim population. In contrast to about 20 Indians having joined the terror group in Iraq and Syria, Australia, which has a population of just 23 million people, is estimated to have around 250 citizens fighting as a part of the IS.

“If you look at the numbers of those going out from India to join the IS, as far as we can see, they’re very small. I mean, there are more Australians fighting for IS than there are Indians fighting. Given the very large Muslim community here, we wanted to know what is India doing right that keeps those numbers so low and what can Australia learn from it,” Mr. Varghese said.

On the Indian side, officials are keen for more flexibility on sharing information, as the recent case of IS recruit Areeb Majeed required. Mr. Majeed, who allegedly returned to India after being shot fighting for IS is being investigated by the NIA, who found that some of the servers he sent emails through are based in Australia. According to officials, after meetings this week, Australian officials have agreed to consider the Indian request for IP addresses, and other email details.

While not wishing to comment on the specific case, Mr. Varghese told The Hindu, “Our cooperation on these and other issues is the best that it has ever been.”
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Re: The Islamic State in the Indian Sub-Continent

Post by panduranghari »

I apologise if this is a wrong comment for this thread(please delete if inappropriate), but its been bugging me for a long time. The refugees who are moving to Europe from West Asia due to the problems are of course risking their lives as they are escaping. For them, Europe is a better place than where they are. When Islamic invasion started into India in 12 century CE, our ancestors of course fought and we still are fighting in some ways. The choice then was convert or die. Did the implicit decree to stop people from leaving India and not cross Sindhu river prevent mass migration to escape. And even if they tried to escape the NW was not the right way to go as it was like walking into the arms of death. So were there any attempts to escape by sea or into Tibet?
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Re: The Islamic State in the Indian Sub-Continent

Post by Paul »

Sir, the refugees who were fleeing the Mongol invaders from Central Asia escaped to India and were used to push the flag of Islam to all parts of India.Voice of Dharma has referred to refugees from Iraq and Syria settling down in India. Balban and Iltamash of the Mameluke dynasty invited them and provided all means for them to move into interior India. IOW Islam turned this crisis into an opportunity to further its interests in India.

The current situation in Levant/Europe has parallels to that times. I can understand the US/UK angle in creatinh havoc in Syria. But why the French with their 10% M pop are joining them is beyond my understanding
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Re: The Islamic State in the Indian Sub-Continent

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Blueprint to check IS influence - The Hindu
Telangana has been at the forefront when it comes to identifying vulnerable youths planning to join the IS. While they have an excellent technological set-up, their human intelligence is also worth following. Maharashtra is another State that is doing well on this front,” said a senior official of the Home Ministry.

The State also suggested that India follow the U.K. model and set up a separate unit to tackle violent extremism. The Research Information and Communication Unit (RICU) of the U.K., created after the 2005 London train bombings, draws officials from the Home, Foreign & Commonwealth Office.

It works under the Office for Security and Counter-Terrorism, coordinating government-wide communication activities to counter violent extremism and promote stronger inter-community relations at the grassroots.

As first reported by The Hindu in August this year, the Home Ministry conducted a high-level meeting to discuss the threat of IS radicalisation and asked the State police as well as the Intelligence Bureau and the RAW to present their views on the subject.“Telangan said unwarranted harshness by law enforcement agencies was counterproductive,” said the official.
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Re: The Islamic State in the Indian Sub-Continent

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IS man in the midst of foreign students in Hyderabad? - Rohit P.S, The Hindu
Foreign students residing in Habsiguda are living in fear, courtesy a heavily bearded man who swears allegiance to the dreaded Islamic State (IS) and comes knocking on doors demanding funds to support the terror group based in Iraq and Syria.

Students who spoke to The Hindu on condition of anonymity described a medium-build Indian aged around 25, who visits foreigners with IS propaganda material and demands money to fund the group’s activities. When he finds women students alone at home, he often threatens them with dire consequences if they refuse to pay, the terrified students said.

“It seems this man knows where foreigners live. But he has also approached landlords, who are Indians, demanding money,” said one student living on street number 8 of Habsiguda.

This student claimed to have been approached by the man with propaganda material. “The catalogue of material clearly contained beheadings the IS had committed,” the student said.

A dense residential area, ‘Street 8’ of Habsiguda is home to several foreign students, largely Muslim, from the Middle East who enrol in Osmania University.
Over the last decade, the number of foreigners in the area has increased commensurate with the increase in foreign student admissions in OU.

Students said the extortionist had been moving in the area for at least a few months and could be mentally unstable.

They do not rule out that the man may simply be stoking fears created by the IS to make money.

“He simply accosts a person when the door is opened on him. He does not look into the eye when he speaks and can suddenly break into sloganeering if one refuses to yield to his demands,” said another student.

The concerns of the students have been conveyed to their missions. Representatives of one of the missions have also circulated a warning notice that, while specifically cautioning women students, asks students not to open the door on strangers. .

When contacted, OU police said they had no information pertaining to terror elements in the area.

“We are in constant contact with the foreign student community here. But we have not received any complaints regarding IS propaganda,” said OU inspector V. Ashok Reddy, adding that they would look into the allegations.
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Re: The Islamic State in the Indian Sub-Continent

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https://www.facebook.com/Qurantheway/po ... 6827300328

Islam - the Complete Way of Life
5 June 2013 ·
Dr Zakir Naik was invited as a guest speaker by the SVP National Police Academy to address and sensitize Over 170 IPS Trainee Officers (including 28 women and 10 Officers from Nepal, Bhutan and Maldives), in addition to senior IPS officers, On the topic “Terrorism and Jihad - an Islamic Perspective” On 13th May 2013.
About 70 Indian Forest Service (IFS) and many officers from the Paramilitary forces (stationed as Faculty members at the Academy) too attended the lecture, followed by an open Question & Answer session.
Last edited by SSridhar on 05 Nov 2015 17:12, edited 1 time in total.
Reason: Paul, is this news relevant to this thread?
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Re: The Islamic State in the Indian Sub-Continent

Post by SSridhar »

IS claims behind Bangladesh policeman's murder - DAWN
The self-styled Islamic State (IS) group has claimed responsibility for the murder this week of a Bangladesh policeman, as fears of Islamist violence grow in the moderate Muslim-majority country.

A group of unknown men stabbed a police officer to death on Wednesday just outside the capital Dhaka, while another was badly injured, the second such attack in less than a month.


Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan blamed local hardline Islamists, whom the government also suspects are behind a series of murders this year of secular bloggers and a publisher of secular books.

But the IS said its "soldiers of the state in Bangladesh" carried out Wednesday's killing, according to the US-based jihadist monitor group SITE.

In recent weeks, IS has also claimed responsibility for murders of an Italian aid worker and a Japanese farmer, along with a blast at the country's main Shiite shrine which left two people dead.

If the latest claims are true, it would be the first time IS has targeted an arm of the Bangladesh government. The government has rejected the jihadist group's previous claims, saying it does not have any presence in the country.
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Re: The Islamic State in the Indian Sub-Continent

Post by ramana »

I think the Zakir Naik speaking to IPS graduates is very relevant to this thread about ISIS in India. For instance see first post on this page!
For all accusations are that he is the fountainhead of ISIS recruits inspiration.
It helps the IPS graduates to understand his dogma if any and if there is any truth to the allegations.
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Re: The Islamic State in the Indian Sub-Continent

Post by Paul »

SSridhar, I discern the collaboration between the Dhimmis and the Islamists has become more overt over the past few months....

Meanwhile, Pak HC meets Siddiramiah today. Not sure what these loonies are thinking
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Re: The Islamic State in the Indian Sub-Continent

Post by SSridhar »

Paul wrote:SSridhar, I discern the collaboration between the Dhimmis and the Islamists has become more overt over the past few months....
The fountainhead of IS (as it is with AQ and similar jihadi terror organizations) is Salafism/Wahhabism/Deobandism. Ibn Taymiyyah downwards, to Syed Qutb, al Mawdudi, everybody influences these people.
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Re: The Islamic State in the Indian Sub-Continent

Post by SSridhar »

US believes Islamic State has no institutional presence in Pakistan, Afghanistan - DT
However, the briefing focused on US efforts to defeat the Middle East-based Islamic State militia. In Pakistan and Afghanistan, some ‘lone wolves’ were using the Islamic State brand to raise their stature, Captain Davis said, adding that the Middle Eastern militia did not have an institutional presence in the region.

He [Pentagon Spokesman Navy Captain Jeff Davis] said that the Islamic State had a pretty good command and control system in Iraq and Syria but those claiming to represent the group in Pakistan and Afghanistan did not have the command and control relationship with the main base (in the Middle East). He also said that the US was working very extensively with the government in Pakistan to fight terrorists.

Captain Davis explained that while the Coalition Support Fund was aimed to enhance Pakistan’s ability to fight militants including the Haqqani Network, it also helped develop other broader spectrum counter-terrorism capabilities. In Afghanistan, the US finished its combat operations last year and its role there now was simply to advise and assist the Afghan forces, he said.

The spokesperson said that the US also had unilateral role of being able to conduct counter-terrorism missions in Afghanistan primarily against the Al Qaeda group and its remnants. “But Islamic State would be fair game as well,” he said.
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Re: The Islamic State in the Indian Sub-Continent

Post by SSridhar »

From the Afghanistan thread:
Shanu wrote:Well, to light up a rather gloomy scenario.. here is some Green on Green news to enjoy.

http://www.ibtimes.com/islamic-state-jo ... or-2174701

Apparently the leadership tussle in Taliban has a fallout and a new leader emerges of a splinter group. IS, like all great players have thrown their weight with the new kid in the block - Mullah Rasool.
The splinter group reportedly calls itself the High Council of Afghanistan Islamic Emirate.
The group seemed to have made its base in Western Afghanistan (check out the picture in the link) and fighting the main Taliban forces in the South-east (near Pakistan border). The fighting has already claimed over 50 bodies in the last 48 hours.

Lets see how far this is IS vs ISI fight goes
For the sake of completion, I am posting the full article cited above


Islamic State Joins Taliban Splinter Group In Afghanistan, Fighting Akhtar Mansoor Loyalists
Morgan Winsor , International Business Times
Islamic State militants have joined Afghan Taliban insurgents in a splinter group led by Mullah Mohammad Rasool. The rival terrorists are battling Taliban fighters loyal to another leader in a southeastern province of Afghanistan, where about 50 men on both sides have been killed in two days, an Afghan official told the Associated Press Sunday.

Dissidents within the Taliban, unhappy with the appointment of Mullah Akhtar Mansoor as the new chief, formed a breakaway faction and elected Rasool, a veteran Taliban official, as its leader. The splinter group reportedly calls itself the High Council of Afghanistan Islamic Emirate. Divisions have long existed within the militant group, but it’s reportedly the first time a Taliban rivalry has errupted into open bloodshed.

A Taliban commander loyal to Mansoor, who assumed power after the death of Taliban founder Mullah Mohammad Omar, said the rival faction joined forces with the Islamic State group, also known as ISIS or ISIL, because it doesn’t have the numbers otherwise.

"It is obvious that Mullah Rasool's group can't face Akhtar Mansoor alone, so they need [ISIS]. We said that before, and now it has been proven," he told AP Sunday.

The Taliban have been in disarray since August, when they confirmed the death of their former leader, Omar. The news created a power vacuum, dividing the insurgents into two factions. Opposition to Mansoor’s appointment initially came from Omar’s brother, Mullah Abdul Manan Hotak, his oldest son, Mullah Muhammad Yaqoub, and senior leaders who said the Taliban Supreme Council (Shura) was not consulted before the appointment.

Rasool was among those who had refused to pledge allegiance to Mansoor, despite the Taliban claiming that the latter’s appointment took place “in full compliance with Islamic Shariah law.”

Deepening rifts within the Taliban’s ranks are likely to help ISIS expand its influence in Afghanistan. However, Army General John F. Campbell, commander of U.S. Forces, Afghanistan, already classifies the group as “operationally emergent” in the country.

The Islamic State group currently controls large stretches of Iraq and Syria, and has been slowly building a presence in Afghanistan. The militants control a number of districts in eastern Afghanistan’s Nangarhar province, which borders Pakistan, and they established a presence in southern Zabul province earlier this year, according to AP.
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Re: The Islamic State in the Indian Sub-Continent

Post by Shanu »

Continuing on the same story..report now says more than 100 killed in Zabul province from the fight.

http://edition.cnn.com/2015/11/10/middl ... index.html
On one side are fighters loyal to Mullah Akhtar Mohammad Mansour, and on the other are fighters loyal to Mullah Mohammad Rasool, the leader of a Taliban splinter group.
So far, about 100 Taliban fighters from both sides have been killed, including some Uzbek fighters who are siding with Rasool's splinter group, Haqbayan said.

On Tuesday morning, an Uzbek fighter carried out a suicide attack on Mansour's senior members in the province, killing some of them, according to Haqbayan.
Looks like IS just took out quite a few ISI assets in Afghanistan. :mrgreen:

And the war keeps spreading. The news story is about a sad incident of Hazaras getting kidnapped and killed but this is what i found at the end of the story
Fierce fighting between the rival factions continued on Tuesday and spread beyond the southern province of Zabul into Herat and Farah in the west, according to Mullah Abdul Manan Niazi, a spokesman for the breakaway faction.
Link: http://uk.reuters.com/article/2015/11/1 ... DZ20151110
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Re: The Islamic State in the Indian Sub-Continent

Post by Shanu »

More on the story.. looks like IS is looking to mount a serious challenge to the ISI backed Taliban.

Remember Mullah Dadullah, the guy who first revolted against the new Taliban chief and joined IS. He is now the 2nd in command of Rasool, the new head of the Islamic Emirate group of Afghanistan.

http://www.rferl.org/content/breakaway- ... 54221.html

Several nuggets of information in the above linked article.
In the week following its announcement that it was splitting from the Taliban, the High Council of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan has borrowed from the militant group's formal name, chosen a leader, and rallied support in Afghanistan's west.
The splinter group says it does not acknowledge Mullah Akhtar Mansur, who assumed power after Kabul announced in July that Taliban founder Mullah Mohammad Omar had been dead for two years, as the rightful leader of the Taliban.

Instead, the group has named Mullah Mohammad Rasul as its leader, putting it in direct conflict with the widely accepted Mullah Mansur and his supporters.
Ghulam Jilani Farahi, the deputy police chief for Zabul, said on November 9 that an unspecified number of IMU militants were fighting alongside Mullah Dadullah's forces.

IMU fighters in northern Afghanistan declared their allegiance to the Islamic State group in August, although it is not known if IMU fighters in southern areas like Zabul joined the alliance.
Mullah Rasul was named as the leader of the splinter group in a mass gathering of dissident fighters on November 3, and Mullah Dadullah was named as his deputy during a meeting held in the remote southwestern province of Farah on November 1.
And a few words on their future plans.
Abdul Manan Niazi, spokesman for the splinter group, told RFE/RL's Radio Free Afghanistan on November 7 that the group's mission was to "unite the Taliban" and urged his followers not to start an internal Taliban war.

Niazi, the former governor of Herat during the Taliban regime, accused Mullah Mansur of taking the leadership through a "coup" and added that he was not the "legitimate leader."

Niazi added that the group would hold gatherings in a number of northern provinces, including Badghis and Faryab, in the coming days to garner support for the new faction
.
If you guys want to know more about this Rasool guy, I have got a picture of him..
Image
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Re: The Islamic State in the Indian Sub-Continent

Post by SSridhar »

Shanu, thanks for all the posts.

Let me summarize the fluid situation as best as I can.
  1. The 'good Taliban-bad Taliban' dichotomy has evolved into 'AQIS vs. IS' with the same set of players and supporters, with some minor re-alignments, but largely along old lines of division
  2. The Zerb-e-Azb led to a clear split of the loosely-knit TTP, by the end of 2014, which was hitherto attempting to project a non-existent monolithic unity
  3. Musharraf, under immense US pressure, played a dangerous double game of protecting the jihadi assets as much as possible in Af-Pak while also being seen as taking action. He chose the Uzbeks & Chechens for attack because he told the Americans that it was these foreign jihadists who were at the root of the trouble. But, it backfired and ended up in disaster as most of the Pakistani Taliban and the tribal elders (who had given refuge to them under the traditional Pashtunwali rivaaj of melmastia or hospitality) became his enemies as also the Punjabi Taliban. The Lal Masjid incident under the Chinese compulsion made the opposition to him stronger. These became the 'bad Taliban'. There were very few 'good Taliban' left, only Mauvi Nazeer of South Waziristan and Gul Bahadur of North Waziristan. This split is one component of the new IS vs. AQIS fight.
  4. The other component was the split in the Afghan Taliban group, with a large and influential section of the Afghan Taliban turning against the ISI-appointee Emir Mansour (Mullah Omar’s son Mohammed Yacoub, Mullah Omar’s brother Mullah Abdul Manan, Mullah Omar's son-in-law Tayyab Agha who was also the head of the Taliban’s political office in Doha, Abdul Qayum Zakir, Taliban’s military commander in the Doha office, Qari Baryal head of the Peshawar Shura Military Commission of the Taliban, Mullah Dadullah et al). Mohammed Yacoub had earlier got the support of Sirajuddin Haqqani whom the Pakistani ISI presuurized to shift to Mansour. A grateful Mansour appointed Sirajuddin Haqqani as his Deputy. Hekmatyar, the till-recent favourite of the ISI shifted his allegiance to the IS. In the meanwhile, the IMU (Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan) which was targeted by the Pakistani Army as part of its Zerb-e-Azb has naturally denounced Mansour’s actions and has announced its support for the IS. This was made by the senior IMU leader Saidullah Urgenji.
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Re: The Islamic State in the Indian Sub-Continent

Post by Shanu »

Thanks Sridhar ji.. for filling in the big picture. Always a pleasure learning from experts in BR.

Here putting in my own take on this Green on Green fight. A bit longish, please bear with me.

I have been tracking the TTP activities in Pakistan for a few years now. Their recent failures notwithstanding, their operations has been a great point of study to understand the 'Jihad factory'. The way i see it is that the J Factory created by ISI has three legs -

Production phase - Inside the thousands of madrasahs/seminaries in Pakjab, Sindh, KP and FATA, where young minds are brainwashed
Logistics Phase - Training camps and launch camps in KP, FATA and Baluchistan
Action/Implementation phase - Inside Afghanistan

All of these are of course controlled by the brains in Rawalpindi.

TTP was a surprising growth when it happened. Here was a group who still pledged their allegiance to the ISI stooge i.e. Mullah Omar and yet challenged the masters of Omar for control over the J Factory. Yet they achieved significant success in taking over the half of the logistics phase in FATA. And when they tried to take over the Production phase i.e. when they tried to control KP and Pakjab, ISI/PA was alarmed. They launched military attacks first and failed. Then Zarb-e-Azb happened. I believe it was more of a propaganda fight, in which ISI spent some dollars and pushed some levers to attack the inherent dichotomy of TTP's existence i.e. their allegiance to Mullah Omar and attacking his allies/masters. The 'alive' Omar was still proclaiming that Pakistan is a friend and the war lies in Afghanistan. TTP's position itself was undermined. Of course the US drone strikes against the TTP leads did not help matters and their leader, Mehsud was killed.

The new leader, 'Mullah Radio of Swat' did not get wide acceptance and the TTP collapsed into several small entities. In this rather hopeless scenario, IS emerged and a few TTP leaders (like their old spokesman Ahsanullah Ahsan) sought to come out of Omar's grip by pledging allegiance to Baghdadi. They were still not getting much traction from the Taliban groups. Most of these groups did not like Omar's ISI dictated orders but changing their allegiance was a no-no, probably due to their old Pashtun code.

But when Omar was found to be 'not alive', this code was no longer valid. And then when they saw that slimy Mansoor guy taking the helm, they had little attachment left to the old Taliban grouping. But there is a catch. The ISI has re-established control over the logistics phase in KP and FATA. So the only group that could provide them with the money and logistics is IS. Some of you may have seen the IS training camp pictures in eastern Afghanistan/FATA. And so here we are again, TTP Fight Ver 2.0. Interesting thing will be to note if the remnant of the TTP aligns with this group or stay away. Also, news reports like IS influence in Pakjab madrasahs can be a pointer to a fight over the Jihadi production phase.

Either way, the dream of our neighbour's Strategic depth still seems miles away. :)
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Re: The Islamic State in the Indian Sub-Continent

Post by Shanu »

** Deleted **

Shanu, I have removed your post because it is not specifically related to ISIS at this point of time.

Every Islamist cleric/organization/terrorist outfit demands Shariah and that by itself does not signal IS connection. Maulana Abdul Aziz is a sympathizer of bad Taliban and bad Taliban is joining the IS bandwagon, no doubt. But, we will wait for more positive linkage of Lal Masjid with the IS ideology. This may happen sooner and that will be a great news when IS sets foot right in the centre of Islamabad !

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Re: The Islamic State in the Indian Sub-Continent

Post by SSridhar »

Rajnath Singh’s China visit to focus on terror, border concerns - Bharti Jain, ToI
China faces heightened threat from the Uighurs of its Xingjiang province, with some hardliners among them reportedly having joined the Islamic State (IS). India too is dealing with select instances of its youth being drawn towards violent extremism perpetrated by IS. The two sides are expected to exchanges notes on measures to deal with such threats.
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Re: The Islamic State in the Indian Sub-Continent

Post by Cain Marko »

SSridhar wrote:
Paul wrote:SSridhar, I discern the collaboration between the Dhimmis and the Islamists has become more overt over the past few months....
The fountainhead of IS (as it is with AQ and similar jihadi terror organizations) is Salafism/Wahhabism/Deobandism. Ibn Taymiyyah downwards, to Syed Qutb, al Mawdudi, everybody influences these people.
Add the ahl e hadis chumps to that gang as well
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Re: The Islamic State in the Indian Sub-Continent

Post by SSridhar »

Zabul opportunists - DAWN Op-ed
“THEIR throats had been cut with metal wire,” said Haji Atta Jan, the head of the Zabul provincial council, of the seven people who were kidnapped and beheaded by the militant factions believed to be loyalists of the self-styled Islamic State (IS) emerging in Afghanistan. Nine-year-old Shukria was among the seven who were beheaded in Afghanistan’s Zabul province. Her ‘crime’? She was born into a Shia Hazara family and was travelling through the ungoverned province on that fateful day.

Why Shukria? Why Hazaras? Why do we come across this word in accounts of atrocities, persecutions, bomb blasts, targeted killings and consequent protest demonstrations, rallies and sit-ins? What is it about the Hazaras that appeals so much to the likes of IS and Afghan Taliban in Afghanistan and to Lashkar-e-Jhangvi and Jaish-ul-Islam in Balochistan?

Hazaras, like most ethnic groups in this region, exist on both sides of the international border. Their numbers are few in Pakistan but they are believed to be the third largest ethnic group in Afghanistan. Although there are a significant number of Ismailis and a few Sunnis among the Hazara, the vast majority are Shia. This political identity, coupled with their distinctive facial and linguistic similarity to Turk Mongols, makes them targets of first choice for competing factions of extremist Sunni militants. Hazaras do not pose a threat to IS or the Taliban but with their Shia and Hazara identity, their killing is something a militant Sunni faction can capitalise on in a Sunni-majority society.

Terrorists are opportunists who violently challenge the status quo’s rise to power and seek to influence public opinion in their favour. Vulnerable social groups who cannot resist aggressively and are identifiable as the alien, the different, and the other — based on identities of ethnicity, language, colour or faith — are seen by opportunist terrorist groups as the softest targets. Competing extremist groups find themselves in a race to convince their followers that it is they who can be more brutal and violent to ‘the other’. By sheer demonstration of extreme brutality against weaker minority groups, they want to champion the cause of the majority. This is why 5,000 minority Yezidis were killed in Iraq’s Sinjar mountains, and this is why nine-year-old Shukria was cut from ear to ear with a metal wire on Nov 10, 2015.

Seeking to secure a foothold in Afghanistan, Taliban dissidents under the aegis of IS were quick to claim the Zabul massacre but the Taliban, a relatively established militant group in Afghanistan, also capitalised on the situation — albeit in a way contrary to that of IS. Dramatically enough, as per media reports on Nov 12, the Taliban claimed to have executed the IS militants involved in the beheading of Hazara Muslims.

The evolution in the Taliban’s stance is strategic and opportunistic. The same Taliban in March 1995, then an emerging militant force, brutally tortured and killed the Hazara leader Abdul Ali Mazari along with 14 executive members of Hizb-i-Wahdat. Although otherwise strongly opposed to photography for religious reasons, the Taliban widely distributed the graphic images of the mutilated bodies claiming that was how they would treat ‘heretics’. For the then little-known Taliban and Mullah Omar, Mazari’s horrific death offered an opportunity to introduce themselves to Afghanistan’s Sunni constituencies and to the world.

The day after the Zabul massacre when the bodies of the victims arrived in Kabul, thousands of people took to the streets in what many observers termed Afghanistan’s biggest protest rally in 40 years. Crowds of Hazara men and women were joined by Pakhtuns and Tajiks, Hindus and Sikhs. According to one analyst, the only consolation in this tragedy is the Pakhtun-Hazara-Tajik unity that emerged. Another, he said, was the sight of tens of thousands of Afghan youth rising above ethnic and sectarian considerations to de­­fend human rights and condemn the ‘emotionless’ statements not only from the Pakhtun Ashraf Ghani but his Hazara apologist Haji Mohaqiq.

In societies where vulnerable minority groups can do little more than mourn and where governments are as nonexistent as in Zabul, the majority social groups carry an extra burden of responsibility, for it is they whom the terrorists are talking to. They can stand up and speak in solidarity with their victimised brethren. They can defy the extremists who seek to exploit their identity. During the Second World War, the Danish Christian community conspired to foil Nazi plans to segregate Denmark’s Jewish community. This November, it is not people inside the Arg, the Afghan presidential palace, but the ‘humans of Kabul’ who have defied the Taliban and IS alike.

At a time when the government is ineffective and the future uncertain, the solidarity displayed by the Afghan youth is the best hope for Afghanistan, a country that has had more than its share of suffering.

The writer is a student of Peace and Conflict Studies.
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Re: The Islamic State in the Indian Sub-Continent

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IS unlikely to become strong in India: experts - Josy Joseph, The Hindu
For a variety of reasons, the Islamic State would not become a powerful terrorist presence in India, argue many in the country’s security establishment.

All of them say there is no evidence in any of the inputs on IS members and sympathisers from India to show there are enclaves of IS sympathisers, enabling the environment for organising terror attacks. One officer who has closely studied all IS followers from India said the ideological fervour among IS’s Indian sympathisers is not as intense as the movement itself. “Most of them had motives other than just ideology, including making a decent living there. Not one, including Areeb Majeed [who went to Syria to join the IS], convinces you that there is widespread sympathy for IS in India, nor do they have any kind of an environment to flourish here,” he said.

Another officer argued that even if there are individuals willing to carry out terrorist attacks in the name of IS, “I can’t see an enabling environment for it. Even lone wolf attacks require some kind of support group and logistics.”

“The government needs to ensure that the political environment is not vitiated, and fringe elements do not take centre stage. If that is done, even those with grievances among Muslims would not find any affinity towards the IS,” a retired intelligence officer said.
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Re: The Islamic State in the Indian Sub-Continent

Post by SSridhar »

IS shifts strategy to inflict terror in distant lands - Eric Schmidt, David Kirkpatrick
Defying Western efforts to confront the Islamic State on the battlefield, the group has evolved in its reach and organisational ability, with increasingly dangerous hubs outside Iraq and Syria and strategies that call for using spectacular acts of violence against civilians.

The massacre in Paris on Friday, following bombings in Beirut and the downing of a Russian passenger jet over Egypt, all claimed by the Islamic State, reveals a terrorist organisation that has changed in significant ways from the West’s initial understanding of it as a group focused on holding territory in Syria and Iraq and building a caliphate, or Islamic state.

The Islamic State has for the first time engaged in what appears to be a centrally planned campaign of terrorist attacks aimed at inflicting huge civilian casualties on distant territory, forcing many counterterrorism officials in the United States and in Europe to recalibrate their assessment of the group.

“They have crossed some kind of Rubicon,” said William McCants, a scholar at the Brookings Institution and author of The ISIS Apocalypse.

“They have definitely shifted in their thinking about targeting their enemies.”

When the Islamic State’s Egyptian arm claimed responsibility for blowing up a Russian charter plane over Sinai two weeks ago, some analysts wondered if the group’s Sinai Province of the Islamic State had acted on its own and leapt out in front, even at the cost of risking a Russian military backlash on the parent group in Syria and Iraq.

But the attacks last week in Paris and Beirut, which the Islamic State also said it carried out, appear to have settled that question and convinced even sceptics that the central leadership was calling the shots. “There is a radical change of perception by the terrorists that they can now act in Paris just as they act in Syria or Baghdad,” said Mathieu Guidère, a terrorism specialist at the University of Toulouse.

“With this action, a psychological barrier has been broken.”

Indeed, at a time when many Western officials were most concerned about IS-inspired lone-wolf attacks — terrifying in their randomness but relatively low in casualties — the attacks in Paris have revived the spectre of coordinated, high-casualty attacks planned with the involvement of a relatively large number of perpetrators.

U.S. and European authorities said the assault bore the hallmarks of attacks conducted by al-Qaeda.

“Their goal is an unconventional urban guerrilla war,” said Franck Chaix, an officer of the Gendarmerie, France’s semi-military police force.
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Re: The Islamic State in the Indian Sub-Continent

Post by RoyG »

SSridhar wrote:IS unlikely to become strong in India: experts - Josy Joseph, The Hindu
For a variety of reasons, the Islamic State would not become a powerful terrorist presence in India, argue many in the country’s security establishment.

All of them say there is no evidence in any of the inputs on IS members and sympathisers from India to show there are enclaves of IS sympathisers, enabling the environment for organising terror attacks. One officer who has closely studied all IS followers from India said the ideological fervour among IS’s Indian sympathisers is not as intense as the movement itself. “Most of them had motives other than just ideology, including making a decent living there. Not one, including Areeb Majeed [who went to Syria to join the IS], convinces you that there is widespread sympathy for IS in India, nor do they have any kind of an environment to flourish here,” he said.

Another officer argued that even if there are individuals willing to carry out terrorist attacks in the name of IS, “I can’t see an enabling environment for it. Even lone wolf attacks require some kind of support group and logistics.”

“The government needs to ensure that the political environment is not vitiated, and fringe elements do not take centre stage. If that is done, even those with grievances among Muslims would not find any affinity towards the IS,” a retired intelligence officer said.
Bullsh*t otherwise Zakir Naik wouldn't be so popular.
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Re: The Islamic State in the Indian Sub-Continent

Post by Paul »

Zabul had a Sun temple in the sixth century which was reportedly pulled down in the first Arab invasion of Afghanistan by 652 AD per wiki.

I found it very interesting that they were able to cross Persia and eastern Afghania within 20 years of PBUH's swarag sidharna on a winged steed from Al-Quds.
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Re: The Islamic State in the Indian Sub-Continent

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Post-Paris, Indian agencies scramble to review IS policy - Bharti Jain, ToI
New Delhi's declaration of "resolute support" to France in its war on Islamic State (ISIS) may coincide with a fresh review of the threat posed by the outfit in India in the light of 13/11 attacks exhibiting its capacity to unleash synchronized, high-casualty strikes in leading metros. As the Paris mayhem forces the Indian security establishment to upgrade the ISIS threat to a higher level, intelligence sources told TOI that the counter-strategy will be accordingly revised to make the security apparatus more robust.

A senior intelligence official said ISIS, having successfully executed an attack of such magnitude in a key European city perceived to be highly secure, would have received a big boost to its confidence. "It will obviously try to score further with more such spectacular strikes...any city can be targeted...India too must anticipate this threat and accordingly review its security set-up," he added.

Sources said India has thrown its weight behind France as it bombs ISIS territory to avenge 13/11 attacks, just as it expects the latter and other countries to support it against terror perpetrated here by Pakistan-sponsored jihadi outfits.

Minister of state for home Kiren Rijiju, while addressing an event at the French embassy here on Monday to mourn the 13/11 victims, assured the terror-struck nation of all forms of assistance to deal with IS. "We share your pain in this hour of tragedy and stand with you...in ensuring that such assaults on humanity do not recur anywhere," he said.

Though a senior functionary said the nature and extent of the assistance was being discussed with the French authorities, sources indicated that it may include intelligence sharing as well as online tracking of its sympathizers.

Rijiju on Monday stressed on the need to step up cooperation in intelligence and disrupt all forms of support to terror groups, which he named "a common threat". He called for a global strategy to combat terrorism and a suitable international legal framework.

Until recently, Union home minister Rajnath Singh had sought to downplay the ISIS threat in the Indian context, saying that there were minimal cases of Indian youth being radicalized by its violent ideology or travelling to Iraq and Syria to fight its "global jihad". However, more recently, he told a visiting Russian delegation that ISIS was indeed "a matter of serious concern". The Paris attacks have only aggravated these concerns, forcing officials in charge of the counter-ISIS plan to go back to the drawing boards and devise firmer measures to deal with both active members of the group and those having a dalliance with the outfit on pro-ISIS social media forums.

So far, India has followed a relatively soft policy towards young men and women who were prevented from joining ISIS, as also those found to be in touch with ISIS recruiters on twitter, facebook or whatsapp. The pros and cons of this policy may be debated in view of the Paris strikes, as the Indian security establishment discusses tougher measures to deal with ISIS.
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