Proxies of Islamic State are prowling in India
With Delhi Police breaking up a four-member cell of the Islamic State that was planning attacks on the Ardh Kumbh in Hardwar, at upscale shopping malls in Delhi and during Republic Day celebrations in the national capital, it is being said that the terror group, headquartered in Syria, has finally reached India's doors. However, while this is the first instance of an official Islamic State terror plot being uncovered and to that end, a reminder that we must keep up our guard at all times it is also important to contextualise the threat from the Islamic State. First, it is not as if the group has overnight set up shop in the country. Instead, what is happening is that local jihadi groups and modules are being rejuvenated for taking up the Islamic State flag. This is what we have seen in Afghanistan and Pakistan as well, where competing factions of the Taliban or the Al Qaeda have used the Islamic State flag to create their own niche. Take the Ansar-ut Tawhid fi Bilad al-Hind or AuT, for example. This group is the official partner of the Islamic State in India, but in reality it is just a faction of the Indian Mujahideen. The arrest of several high-ranking leaders in recent years had left the IM weak and rudderless. Taking advantage of the power vacuum, one member, Mohammed Sultan Armar, set up a new unit, the AuT, in late 2013. A Bhatkal native like the IM co-founders, he had been with the parent group since 2004 and had undergone extensive training in Pakistan. His new outfit absorbed the IM footsoldiers and also attracted some fresh faces. In October 2014, he pledged allegiance to Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi. And, since then, Armar’s group has been heading the Islamic State's recruitment efforts in this country, mostly through social media. Armar died fighting in Kobane in March 2015 and currently his brother Shafi Armar is the country head. In fact, in April 2015 when police busted the first Islamic State cell in Ratlam, Madhya Pradesh, it was found that cell chief Irfan Khan was in touch with Shafi Armar.
This brings us to the second point: For two to three years now, Indians have been travelling to Syria to fight for the Islamic State. The Government estimates that about 25 Indians made it to the battlefield, of whom six are now dead. Another group of 35 was deported from the UAE and Turkey before the men could join the IS, and a few more are reported to have returned home after having an unpleasant experience with the IS. These numbers are insignificant compared to the hundreds of fighters that have gone from European nations and even Malaysia and Indonesia, but you only need a handful to wreak havoc. With regard to the current terror plot that has been unearthed, much is being made about the fact that the locals were in touch with ‘handlers' in Syria. But that's not enough detail to gauge if the former were receiving operational guidance and to what extent from abroad, and, therefore, if they were ‘lone wolves' or direct agents or somewhere in between. In the Jakarta attack, for example, it has been found that the operation was funded by an Indonesian citizen, known to the police, who had been fighting in Syria. Either way, what matters most is that security agencies keep up their vigil so that the terrorists can be thwarted.