BanglaBhoot
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An Islamic extremist group suspected of having links to al-Qaida has released a video calling for militant organisations across the Middle East and south Asia to attack India and Indian interests overseas.
The video was uploaded within 24 hours of India's recent election results, which saw a landslide victory for the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
Before the poll, counter-terrorist officials and experts predicted an increased threat from Islamic militants if the BJP won.
Allegations that the BJP's leader Narendra Modi allowed, or even encouraged, violence in which 1,000 people, largely Muslims, died in the western Indian state of Gujarat in 2002 have made the prime minister elect a target for Islamic extremists.
Modi, who was chief minister of Gujarat at the time, has denied wrongdoing and the country's supreme court found insufficient evidence to support charges against him.
There is no direct mention of Modi but the video – issued by a little known group calling itself the Ansar-ut-Tawheed fi Bilaad Hind (Brotherhood for Monotheism in the land of Hind) – refers repeatedly to the events in Gujarat in 2002.
The group is thought by officials to be based in the restive semi-autonomous border zone of western Pakistan and possibly to have connections to al-Qaida's senior leadership and local Pakistani militants.
"In 2002, Muslims were massacred under a planned conspiracy in Gujarat," the video says, before describing alleged atrocities and accusing the Indian state of persecuting Muslims.
"O lions of faith, target the oppressive and infidel Indian government's financial centres and economic interests within India and those located around the world, until Indian government reaches the brink of destruction," says the speaker, who calls himself Abdur Rehman al Hindi (the Indian).
The appeal is addressed to the leaders of independent extremist groups and al-Qaida affiliates around the Islamic world, including the Taliban, al-Qaida in the Yemen, al-Qaida in the Maghreb, the Islamic State of Iraq and others.
India has suffered from domestic and international terrorist attacks. The most spectacular was in 2008 when militants from Lashkar-e-Toiba, a Pakistan-based organisation with links to the country's security establishment, made a bloody assault on Mumbai, India's commercial capital.
BJP officials said that they will take a tougher stance on internal security than the outgoing Congress party administration, which had been in power since 2004.
Ravi Shankar Prasad, a senior BJP leader tipped as a possible foreign minister, told the Guardian shortly after the party's election victory that though India wants to dismantle the "wall of terrorism" that has separated the two countries, Pakistan need to be aware that "terrorism promoted from [its] soil" would no longer be tolerated.
India's 140m Muslims have remained resistant to extremist ideologies with only a tiny number ever becoming involved in violent activity. But security officials have warned of the threat posed by homegrown militants – some linked to a fragmented network of groups collectively labelled the "Indian Mujahideen".
In recent months a series of bombings have been blamed on local Islamic militant cells. One, in the northern city of Patna, appeared to target Modi directly. Another blast occurred on a train in the southern city of Chennai during the election.
Indian newspapers have reported a case of two Chennai college students whom intelligence services believe to be training with jihadist groups in Syria.
The video is one of several recently made by Islamic militants outside India that demonstrate a greater interest in the world's largest democracy. India was largely ignored by extremist strategists until recently.
Ayman al-Zawahiri, the veteran Egyptian-born jihadist who leads al-Qaida, released a set of strategic guidelines last year that mentioned the disputed Himalayan former princedom of Kashmir.
Last July, a cleric who has been linked to al-Qaida issued a video statement – entitled "Why is there no storm in your ocean?" – that reprimanded Indian Muslims for their supposed lack of interest in "global jihad".
Ansar-ut-Tawheed, the group that released the most recent video, announced its formation late last year. Its first video, released in October, was called Usood-ul-Hind (Lions of India). The group's media appears to be inspired by the al-Qaida media operation, known as As Sahab. It frequently disseminates extremist propaganda, including translated videos of al-Zawahiri's statements, in Hindi.
Islamic militants incite anti-India attacks after Narendra Modi's victory | World news | theguardian.com
The video was uploaded within 24 hours of India's recent election results, which saw a landslide victory for the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
Before the poll, counter-terrorist officials and experts predicted an increased threat from Islamic militants if the BJP won.
Allegations that the BJP's leader Narendra Modi allowed, or even encouraged, violence in which 1,000 people, largely Muslims, died in the western Indian state of Gujarat in 2002 have made the prime minister elect a target for Islamic extremists.
Modi, who was chief minister of Gujarat at the time, has denied wrongdoing and the country's supreme court found insufficient evidence to support charges against him.
There is no direct mention of Modi but the video – issued by a little known group calling itself the Ansar-ut-Tawheed fi Bilaad Hind (Brotherhood for Monotheism in the land of Hind) – refers repeatedly to the events in Gujarat in 2002.
The group is thought by officials to be based in the restive semi-autonomous border zone of western Pakistan and possibly to have connections to al-Qaida's senior leadership and local Pakistani militants.
"In 2002, Muslims were massacred under a planned conspiracy in Gujarat," the video says, before describing alleged atrocities and accusing the Indian state of persecuting Muslims.
"O lions of faith, target the oppressive and infidel Indian government's financial centres and economic interests within India and those located around the world, until Indian government reaches the brink of destruction," says the speaker, who calls himself Abdur Rehman al Hindi (the Indian).
The appeal is addressed to the leaders of independent extremist groups and al-Qaida affiliates around the Islamic world, including the Taliban, al-Qaida in the Yemen, al-Qaida in the Maghreb, the Islamic State of Iraq and others.
India has suffered from domestic and international terrorist attacks. The most spectacular was in 2008 when militants from Lashkar-e-Toiba, a Pakistan-based organisation with links to the country's security establishment, made a bloody assault on Mumbai, India's commercial capital.
BJP officials said that they will take a tougher stance on internal security than the outgoing Congress party administration, which had been in power since 2004.
Ravi Shankar Prasad, a senior BJP leader tipped as a possible foreign minister, told the Guardian shortly after the party's election victory that though India wants to dismantle the "wall of terrorism" that has separated the two countries, Pakistan need to be aware that "terrorism promoted from [its] soil" would no longer be tolerated.
India's 140m Muslims have remained resistant to extremist ideologies with only a tiny number ever becoming involved in violent activity. But security officials have warned of the threat posed by homegrown militants – some linked to a fragmented network of groups collectively labelled the "Indian Mujahideen".
In recent months a series of bombings have been blamed on local Islamic militant cells. One, in the northern city of Patna, appeared to target Modi directly. Another blast occurred on a train in the southern city of Chennai during the election.
Indian newspapers have reported a case of two Chennai college students whom intelligence services believe to be training with jihadist groups in Syria.
The video is one of several recently made by Islamic militants outside India that demonstrate a greater interest in the world's largest democracy. India was largely ignored by extremist strategists until recently.
Ayman al-Zawahiri, the veteran Egyptian-born jihadist who leads al-Qaida, released a set of strategic guidelines last year that mentioned the disputed Himalayan former princedom of Kashmir.
Last July, a cleric who has been linked to al-Qaida issued a video statement – entitled "Why is there no storm in your ocean?" – that reprimanded Indian Muslims for their supposed lack of interest in "global jihad".
Ansar-ut-Tawheed, the group that released the most recent video, announced its formation late last year. Its first video, released in October, was called Usood-ul-Hind (Lions of India). The group's media appears to be inspired by the al-Qaida media operation, known as As Sahab. It frequently disseminates extremist propaganda, including translated videos of al-Zawahiri's statements, in Hindi.
Islamic militants incite anti-India attacks after Narendra Modi's victory | World news | theguardian.com
