Reacting for the first time since abrogation of Article 370 on August 5, the international terror group Al Qaeda in Indian Subcontinent has called for a jehad not only in Jammu & Kashmir but all over India. It also called for targetting the Army and the “polytheist” rulers of India (Hindu leaders and politicians), within and outside the country.
The assertions of AQIS, an affiliate of Al Qaeda, have come at a time when two of its important leaders including its chief Maulana Asim Umar alias Sanaul Haq and its Jammu & Kashmir unit chief Zakir Musa have been killed recently.
Musa’s successor Hamid Lelhari, who took over as chief of Al Qaeda Kashmir (also known as Ansar Ghazwatul Hind), was also liquidated by the security forces in the Valley. The outfit’s emphasis is also aimed at gaining significance and traction in the region as the ISIS emerged as a more potent terror group by executing the serial suicide bombings in Colombo earlier this year killing over 250 persons, according to counter-terrorism experts.
The terror outfit has also exhorted the Ummah (Muslim community) to strengthen jehad in the Valley and the hinterland with their lives and wealth to help the “oppressed” Kashmiris.
“It is an obligation to help our oppressed brothers….rights cannot be acquired from the usurper by asking for them in charity. Peaceful struggle against the oppressor can never bring an end to his oppression…If anything can put a stop to injustice and tyranny, rebellion and oppression, then it is the sword of Haq (rectitude),” Ustadh Usama Mahmood, an AQIS leader, said.
“Today, the reason for this oppression and tyranny is that the polytheist Hindus consider our brothers (Muslims) completely on their own and defenceless. India is certain that neither will the weapons and resources of the Muslim Ummah come to the aid of the Kashmiri Muslims nor will any jehadi movement ever be able to set foot in Kashmir,” he said in the latest online commentary titled “Kashmir…The Lion Shall Wise Up Now.” The commentary was released on the online channel of the outfit As Sahab Media.
He further said, “I request all those who believe, to aid and assist with your lives and wealth, this blessed jihadi movement rising in Kashmir. As a reminder, I would also add that do not consider the battle front against India to be limited to Kashmir, wherever you find the Indian Army and the polytheist rulers of India, within India and without, strike them,” he said.
Outlining the outfit’s terror agenda in the Indian subcontinent, he further said, “This is the beginning of the movement which will put to the sword all the standard-bearers of injustice and infidelity from Khurasan (Afghanistan) till Chittagong (Bangladesh, and from Sindh to Hind (India). Today it (Al Qaeda) is encamped in the fields and deserts of Khurasan, then its second camp is Kashmir and Delhi and finally it would be in Jerusalem…”