The Islamic State, also known as Daesh, has sounded a warning to India in its on-line publication’s latest issue.
Neither warning nor its timing come as a surprise though since the pattern of events of the recent past show that jihadi entrepreneurs based in Pakistan and Bangladesh have been working in coordination to target India and thus carry forward the mission of Pakistan’s ISI to make India bleed with thousand cuts.
The IS has claimed responsibility for several recent attacks on Hindus and Christians in Bangladesh. A Bangladeshi jihadi named Abu Jandal al-Bangali died fighting at Ayn Issa in Syria.
The only element of surprise, if any, in Shaykh Abu Ibrahim al-Hanif’s interview with Dabiq is that the IS has specifically announced that its goal is to create fear and chaos in India through guerrilla attacks.
Al-Hanif is the “Amir” of IS fighters in Bangladesh. Dabiq is the group’s on-line magazine. It was released on Wednesday, April 13, 2016. The issue focused largely on Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood and IS ops in Bangladesh.
From the days of Taliban jihad in Afghanistan, Bangladesh has been an important outpost of mujahedeen. Several Pakistan based Jihadi groups have set up their branches in Bangladesh over the years. For the IS too, Bengal, as it calls Bangladesh, is an important due to its “strategic geographic position”, al-Hanif puts it.
Bangladesh is also a strategic component of the caliphate, the IS wants to carve out. It also sees Bangladesh as the gate-way to Myanmar – “a stepping-stone for jihad in Burma”, as al-Hanif said in the interview.
“Bengal is located on the eastern side of India, whereas Wilayat Khurasan is located on its western side. Thus, having a strong jihad base in Bengal will facilitate performing guerrilla attacks inside India simultaneously from both sides and facilitate creating a condition of tawahhush (fear and chaos) in India along with the help of the existing local mujahidin there…,” he elaborated.
In January 2014, the IS announced plans to expand into Khurasan that comprises Afghanistan, Pakistan and parts of India, in January last year. The fighters in Bangladesh “are able to connect and cooperate with the mujahidin in the various wilayat (branches) of the Khilafah (caliphate), including the brothers in Wilayat Khurasan,” said al-Hanif.
Hindus of Bangladesh and India have always been waging war against Islam and the Muslims with one difference, he opined. While the Hindus in India show their animosity towards Islam and the Muslims openly, the Bangladesh Hindus do so in “a more deceptive and covert manner” since they are “a minority sect here”.
India will do well to read the IS warning in the context of anti-India mood being orchestrated by the Deep State in Pakistan. There is an unusual display of anti-India rhetoric by the Army chief Gen Raheel Sharif himself. His rantings against India are pegged to the so-called arrest of an Indian spy in Balochistan when the Iranian President was visiting the country. Interestingly, even the known vocal supporters of the permanent establishment in the media have not accepted the theory about the arrest. But the fact that the Pakistani establishment went public with the arrest during the Iranian leader’s visit shows an ulterior plan. In simple terms it is no more than driving a wedge between India and Iran, which are cooperating with Afghanistan.
Significantly, the latest anti-India campaign has come to grip Pakistan in the wake of Prime Minister Modi’s visit to Tehran. Writing in Daily Pak, a leading Urdu daily, columnist, Bashir Ahmad Shad summed up the scenario thus: “The honour conferred on Indian Premier Modi by Saudi Royalty shows that in international relations, national interests are more important than religious or ideological bonds. There is no doubt whatsoever that Saudi Arabia had given all sorts of support to Pakistan. But no Pakistan leader had been accorded the grand welcome that Indian PM Narendra Modi had received. This should be a real cause of concern for Islamabad. Pakistan would have to rejig its concept of friends and foes. An independent foreign policy alone will guarantee the safety and success of the country. Saudi Arabia is inclining towards India only for economic and socio-political requirements. Under the influence of the US and secular India’s support, Saudi Arabia is considering a political role in the region that included the undermining of Iran”.
The Pakistani-speak after the visit of Joint Investigation Team (JIT) to the Pathankot airbase and Pakistani envoy Abdul Basit’s assertion that India-Pak dialogue stands suspended highlight the pitfalls ahead. Some commentators see an absurdity in allowing JIT visit and term it as no more than asking a thief to investigate his own theft! Opinion is divided on this score. On its own the JIT has not endeared itself with its allegation that India had attacked its own base to malign Pakistan. Well the charge is absurd bordering on insanity. Taken together with Basit-speak, the allegation shows Pakistan is squirming with unease these days and is prepared to catch hold of any straw.