Global Threat of Terrorism and an integrated

approach to terrorism in India

Global or International terrorism is defined as Terrorism involving

citizens or territory of more than one country. One example is

the 26/11 Mumbai attack where Pakistani terrorists carried out

attack in Mumbai in India and victims included American citizens.

Global terrorism started in the 1960s when Palestinian terror

group targeted Israel by way of plane hijackings , killing Israeli

athletes at Munich Olympics and attack on El Al airport counter in

Vienna . However , it became a serious and disquieting global

issue only after the spectacular attack on the twin towers of the

world trade center in the U.S. on Sep 11, 2001 , leading to loss of

3000 lives .

The 9/11 attack was a culmination of series of missteps taken by

the U.S. starting with use of Islamic fundamentalists to battle and

drive the Soviets out of Afghanistan in the 1980s . The central

figure in that operation was Osama Bin Laden who later turned

against the U.S. protesting against stationing of US troops in

Saudi Arabia . He established the Al Qaeda to ―defend ― Islam

from the infidel attack and occupation of Islamic countries. The

U.S. hunted him for 10 years before killing him in his hideout

inside Pakistan in May 2011. The matters worsened with the U.S.

invasion of Iraq on the now disproved ground of the latter

possessing weapons of Mass destruction . After toppling and

execution of President , Saddam Hussein , the U.S. disbanded

the Iraqi army and the Baath party and created a Shia majority

regime creating resentment and anger among the Sunnis .

This was the genesis of brutal and violent Islamic State of Iraq

and Sham (Syria) or ISIS which later christened itself as Islamic

State (IS) . The IS recruited the remnants of the disbanded

Ba‘athist party and the willing Iraqi Army officers and men to fight

the common enemy viz. the American military and the Shiites.

Many members of the IS were Sunni young men of Iraq who

were galvanized into militancy due to military occupation of Iraq

by the US and the Shia majority regime.(1)

A declassified Aug 2012 report of the Defence Intelligence Agency (DIA) of the U.S. foresaw the rise of the ISIS and viewed it as a strategic asset in their effort to bring down the Syrian regime led by Assad. (1a)

The formation of ISIS itself was facilitated by the US action in detaining and incarcerating the Sunni insurgents of Iraq at the desert fortress of Bucca in Southern Iraq . Prison offered a safe avenue to the Sunni insurgents to get together and discuss future plans of insurgency . After release or escaping from the prisons , insurgents got in touch with each other through telephone numbers written on the elastic of their under wears while in prison!

The founder leader of the ISIS , Abu Bakr Al Baghdadi was a prominent detainee in Camp ―Bucca from February 2004 . With a Ph.D in Islamic studies he claimed the right to be the caliph , on the basis of being a descendant of the Prophet ! By being helpful in maintaining peace between competing factions in the prison he earned the respect and confidence of the American forces ending in his release in Dec 2004 as a person posing no

threat ! Diminishing influence of the Al Qaeda under Al Zawahiri also helped IS to grow. Different insurgent groups which came initially under the Al Qaida in Iraq finally coalesced under the Islamic state (IS) .

IS also gathered support from fighters from other parts of the globe – mainly France and U.K in the west , South east Asia mainly Indonesia and Malaysia and to some extent from south Asia , mainly Pakistan … According to American intelligence officials 15,000 foreign fighters from 80 countries are fighting in Iraq and Syria , a large majority with the IS.

The IS is one of the wealthiest terror groups in history . In addition to receipt of global funding , money stolen from the Iraqi Central Bank, and oil revenues from seized oil installations has considerably augmented its finances.

The IS differs from the previous terrorist or insurgency groups by having a control over territory which it administers. Der Spiegel the German weekly published documents said to belong to an important functionary of the IS , depicting how a former Iraqi Baathist military officer has designed the structure of a future Islamic state divided into provincial councils dominated by intelligence and security services. The plan involved the provision of financial service and the operation of schools, day care centres, media and public transportation . Der Spiegel concluded that the IS has constructed a regime that is more stable with state structures, bureaucracy and authorities.‖

IS has also drawn support from other insurgency groups like Pakistani Taliban, Ansar Al-Sharia in Yemen and Jamaat Ansarul Sunnah ,the Iraqi Sunni insurgent group .

The IS has however not been able to garner support for its Caliphate idea , both from moderate Muslim scholars and Islamist groups like Muslim brotherhood and pan-Islamic political parties

like Hizb ut-Tahrir which had earlier sought the restoration of some kind of Caliphate. However they declared that they are against the resurrection of the Caliphate ―through blood, charges of apostasy and explosions.‖ ,

Significantly , a 2006 Gallup poll among Muslims living in Egypt , Morocco , Indonesia and Pakistan revealed that two thirds of the respondents favoured the goal of unifying Islamic countries into a new caliphate .This reflects the Muslim consciousness of the golden period seventy years after the Prophet‘s death , when the Muslim world stretched from Spain and Morocco all the way to Central Asia and to the southern bits of Pakistan, under the control of a single Muslim leader and was marked by impressive intellectual and cultural creativity in literature, music and advances in medicine and mathematics. There is also an yearning to return to the rule of a just and accountable caliph from the current misrule of a motley bunch of dictators and kings backed by an oppressive state-security structure, with no popular legitimacy at all.‖(2))

IS spreads its message through its publication Dabaq in various languages and an online presence. More dangerously , it seems to have evinced interest in biowarfare agents as evidenced by documents in a laptop recovered in the Syrian province of Idlib which were held by IS. It contained lessons for making bubonic plague bombs and on using weapons of mass destruction

Break with Al Qaeda

Serious disagreement marked with violence defines the relationship between AQ affiliates and ISIS . Al-Zawahiri the Al Qaeda leader has condemned ISIS for its brutal tactics and its tendency for autonomy leading to disobedience. Al-Zawahiri stressed that Al Nusra Front is the only representative of jihad in Syria. ISIS on its part criticizes Al Qaeda Central , specifically

Zawahiri for betraying insurgents who fight everyday in the battlefields of Iraq and Syria .

Women support to Islamic State (IS)

Many educated Muslim women from the middle class of the

west, mostly from France and U.K have joined the IS in Syria . It

is a reaction to increasing Islamophobia by way of hate speech

and vigilante attacks against Muslim women wearing the hijab

(head covering. Four British Muslim women covertly travelled to

Syria to join IS. (3)

The rise of IS and continuing terrorist violence is indicative of

continuing threat of global terrorism and continuing ―war on

terrorism ― has not diminished its potential . While Al Qaeda

Central command led by Osama and now Al Zawahiri has been

considerably debilitated by US counter terrorism operations , it

has enabled the semi independent affiliates like Al qaeda in

Arabian Peninsula(AQAP), or Boko Haram in Nigeria to fight

effectively in their local areas . IS which indulges in a deadly

combination of regular warfare and terrorism has enhanced this

threat . The U.N claimed sometime back that the Al Shabab of

Somalia had planned to attack the U.N offices in Mogadishu ,

showing that this militant outfit has risen like phoenix as a major

terror force in East Africa. The U.S. drone attack has forced Al-

Qaida‘s core leadership in Pakistan to move to North Africa .

Defense Secretary Leon Panetta of the U.S. said in Dec 2011 ,

that the focus of American efforts to crush al-Qaida is shifting to

Africa and the Arabian Peninsula after the offensive against the

jihadists in Pakistan

2015 has become a particularly brutal one from global terror point of view with attacks in the streets of major Western cities - Parliament Hill in Ottawa, office of Charlie Hebdo in Paris, and the Lindt café siege in Sydney .

Implications for India’s national security

Though India has so far been a victim of only Pakistan initiated

terrorism from across the border , it would be unwise to ignore

the activities of international terror groups like al Qaeda and now

the IS. In September 2014, the establishment of the new affiliate

group ―Al-Qaeda in the has Indian Subcontinent‖ (AQIS) has been

announced . AQIS according to Al-Zawahiri will cover Burma

(Myanmar), Bangladesh, and India‘s regions of Assam, Gujarat

and Kashmir as battlegrounds for jihad .

IS entry in South Asia was evident from its recruitment drive

in Peshawar in October 2014 with the help of local fighters in

Peshawar and FATA. Promotional pamphlet of Caliphate has

been distributed in Peshawar and its environs .Though the Salafi

Takfirism of the IS discourages groups like Afghan Taliban –

followers of Deobandi Hanafism – long period of Mullah Omar‘s

absence from public is used as religious rationalization by

younger generation to join the IS.

Fortunately the response from 180 million Indian Muslims for IS has been minimal . .Only eight had left for fighting ( confirmed figures ) of which two are dead and one has come back (3).

On the other hand France with 5 million Muslim population saw 1200 of its residents travelling to the war zone in Syria and Iraq; Russia with 16 million Muslims accounted for an estimated 1500 in the Syrian battlefield on behalf of IS and other insurgent groups battling the Govt. troops in Syria . Australia with half a million

Muslims accounted for an estimated 50 to 200 residents who have joined the fighting, with at least 30 of them killed. Though U. K. has had an active de- radicalization program for decades they‘re one of the biggest per capita contributors to IS . Even a Muslim country like Indonesia with over 200 million population, has seen only 200 or so joining the IS. (5)

Explicit rejection of IS by very senior leaders of the Muslim community and lack of community support can be attributed to syncretist nature of Islam in India. (5)

The Indian Mujahideen

The Indian Mujahideen was essentially a creation of Pakistan to use local disaffected talent for terror attacks and thus avoid international opprobrium as a terror spawning country. An offshoot of the banned Students Islamic Movement of India (SIMI) the IM has carried out a number of terror attacks outside the J&K

These include the repeat attacks in Hyderabad and Delhi, and major explosions in Ahmedabad, Bangalore, Varanasi, Mumbai, Pune and Jaipur, and serial bombings in courts in Varanasi, Faizabad and Lucknow . All these attacks have however been marked by low level technology and comparatively fewer casualties . For example in the Bodh Gaya attack On July 7 2013 ten out 13 bombs exploded, with injury to only two people . The attack at Patna on Oct 27, 2013 targetting PM designate Modi saw 10 explosions with two devices failing to detonate causing only seven fatalities.

Contrary to public and media perception India has been able to some extent, control and degrade the IM on the ground over the last few years. At least 219 Students Islamic Movement of India (SIMI) and IM cadres have been arrested since 2008 (data till April 15, 2014). The most significant arrests included Yasin Bhatkal, IM‘s ‗operations chief‘ in India on Aug 28, 2013, Zia-ur-

Rahman aka Waqas, a Pakistani and the organisation‘s ‗top bomb maker‘,and Tehseen Akhtar,(2014) Yasin Bhatkal‘s successor as ‗operations chief‘ in India . It is significant that each of these three arrests involved close counter-terrorism (CT) cooperation between India on the one hand and Bangladesh and Nepal on the other.

Both international pressure and their own preoccupation with serious domestic terrorism seem to have forced Pakistan to rein in their terror groups at least temporarily against India . As a corollary it would persuade Pakistan to aid and abet in future Indian groups like Indian Mujahideen . Greater vigilance is called for on these groups and the support they receive from across the border . Pakistan-based IM factions have been trying to draw cadres and operatives from the Students‘ Islamic Movement of India (SIMI), without however much success. The recent arrests of Pakistani nationals Zia-ur-Rehman aka Waqas, Muhammad Fahim and Muhammad Abdul Walid, raises the presumption that the ISI has been forced to fall back on Pakistani recruits. (7).

IM – Al Qaeda connection Decrypted communications between the two organisations and testimony from suspects indicate the possibility of a major attacks in the region being planned by the two groups Indian security agencies believe the ties between the two organisations are growing . According to National Investigaion Agency of India (NIA), IM has also been urged by al Qaeda to open a base in Myanmar to avenge attacks on Rohingya Muslims . Intercepted Internet chats, show tensions between IM and Pakistan‘s powerful Inter-Services Intelligence agency, which has nurtured the group with finance and equipment. In one conversation, Riaz

Bhatkal, one of the founders of IM , based in Karachi, calls for direct ties with al Qaeda . (8)

Indian connections to IS

Mercifully , there has been comparatively fewer cases of Indians joining the IS when one takes note of the total Muslim population in India.

Mohammed Atif Wasim aged 28 , hailing from Adilabad district in Andhra Pradesh left for UK in 2014 to pursue his Ph.D after an engineering degree in a local college but was influenced by ISIS ideology and joined them . He has been subsequently killed in Syrian conflict .

Problem of poor investigation

Poor terror investigation coupled with lack of trained personnel . has been a problem in India . Seven years after 17 alleged SIMI cadre were arrested on charges of criminal conspiracy to carry out acts of terror, the case against them has been dismissed for lack of evidence . Some of the arrested young Muslims have been professionals .. The An investigation into a Jihad cell by the Karnataka Police which began in January 2008, with the arrest of Raziuddin Nasir and police claims of a plot to carry out a nationwide campaign of terror, led by SIMI chief Safdar Nagori came to nought .

Surprisingly the Govt. of India does not seem to be sensitive to

the issue of modernizing tools of investigation which would

include centralized data base on crimes . Recently Govt. has cut

the budget allocation for all India based crime and criminal data

network which any police station can use instantly . The project

was sanctioned soon after 26/11, as , in the words of former

Home minister Chidambaram, India‘s police stations were

―virtually unconnected islands‖ and no record of crimes or

criminals can be accessed by a Station House Officer, except the

manual records relating to that police station. (9)

A telling example of the cost of such lack of networks was demonstrated in October, 2009 when alleged Indian Mujahideen commander Muhammad Ahmad Siddibapa was held in prison in Kolkata for 45 days and then let off with a fine of Rs 90 as the false name he gave could not be verified . Siddibapa, was none other than Yasin Bhatkal, who is alleged to have subsequently carried out terrorist attacks in Pune, Bangalore, Varanasi, Delhi and Hyderabad !.

Radicalisation and Counter radicalization

Since terrorists are heterogeneous in several respects it would be futile to look for unique properties of a terrorist personality and thus make a terrorist ‗profile‘

Deradicalisation is an important step towards eliminating terror violence.. Radicalization refers to changes in beliefs, feelings, and actions toward increased support for one side of a political conflict. Coupled with Violent extremism (VE) a mental construct to use violence to promote one‘s political , religious or personal views . ―Ideology isn‘t always a factor, but it can be a rationalization. Apart from Ideological belief , anger, shame, guilt, and humiliation play a role in turning an individual to terrorism Counter radicalization should be a program to outreach Muslim youth to know his emotional state and offer palliatives if not a solution . One can concentrate on everyday concerns which may be more relevant than religion. It‘s also important to offer

alternatives that can counteract the picture built by the radical groups trying to recruit them on or off line.

A radicalized individual rejects the legitimacy of the existing

social order, and wants to replace it with a new structure based

on a completely different belief system. Violent radicalization

occurs when an individual moves towards employing violence to

further his views born out of cognitive radicalism.

There should be greater focus on individual psychology in addition to the current social-psychological approaches to radicalization. Disengagement efforts need to be tailored to the individual, and it would be useful to involve mental health specialists in the process of deradicalisation .

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Role of Indoctrination

The killing of 132 children in a Peshawar school and the total lack

of remorse among the attackers is an indication of the role

indoctrination plays in changing normal people into radicalized

emotionless personalities . With indoctrination , they lose the fear

of losing their lives for a cause and are then vulnerable to

manipulation . Among them altruism, revenge and sense of

humiliation, drives an individual to become a suicide bomber.

Religious extremists are increasingly turning to the internet to

indoctrinate and radicalize youths.

An Ohio state university study of Islamist extremists terror acts against the U.S. concluded that the latter‘s motives are often instrumental and revenge-oriented – a ―boiling outrage at U.S. foreign policy—the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, in particular, and

the country‘s support for Israel in the Palestinian conflict.‖ While religion was only part of the consideration for most, they were more motivated to protect their co-religionists against a concentrated war on the latter in the Middle East by the U.S. government.‖

Counter terrorism

Counter terror strategy should also include an information strategy which exploits the inherent tensions that exist among a terrorist group comprised of actors from many different countries and cultures. This could be a potent weapon against the IS concentrating on better terms offered to foreign fighters by way of apartments, higher salaries, cars, and the safety of being based in cities, while local fighters have been dispatched to front lines. These are sensitive points that can trigger anger, hostility, and division, and undermine unity and the credibility of leadership.

Good intelligence is a must in counter terrorism. Close Security coordination with other nations , especially those affected by terrorism should be maintained to exchange information on movement of terrorists and their source of finance .Some examples of good intelligence are stopping of attack on Anzac Day parade in Melbourne and arrest of 17 Takfiri IS followers in Malaysia for planning a series of high profile kidnappings and terror strikes . . Both attempts were timed for significant dates. Anzac Day is important in Australia while ASEAN leaders were preparing for their latest summit in Malaysia when terrorists were planning to strike against a long line of high profile targets and people .(10)

Cyber based and cyber facilitated terrorism

As has been pointed out earlier on line radicalization and recruitment is a serious threat today . Internet also facilitates cyber attack from a far away location against vital infrastructures of a target country . Both pinpointing the location of the attack and taking action is difficult . Such cyber attack not only huge economic and societal disorder , it also increases dramatically the global terror reach on societal psyche.

The convergence of rapidly advancing science and technology in various sectors (biotech, nanotech, energy, materials, etc.), can create new forms of threats by way of disruptive and catastrophic technologies that may emerge , without our ability to counter them in time.

The India baiter Hafiz Sayeed has been saying that that he was backing jihad in Jammu and Kashmir with the help of the Pakistan Army and government, and that ―the freedom movement in Kashmir will intensify in coming days‖. Besides, Al-Qaeda has formed a new branch to bring Islamic rule in the subcontinent. Mere talk of ―zero tolerance‖ towards terrorism would not remove this threat to National Security and Integrity . Bold initiatives to strengthen intelligence collection and the counter-terrorism grid are a must . A well trained , well cared for counter terrorism force is the need of the hour not only to counter terror threat but both the Maoists and North eastern rebels who are on a killing spree.

Social action to remove genuine grievances of disaffected groups including minorities and counter radicalization measures are urgent necessities.

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References :

(1) .The Guardian Dec 11 2014 , Martin Chulov) (1a) Levant Report (2) Prof Hugh Kennedy (3) .( Sara Mahmood is a research analyst with the International Centre for Political Violence & Terrorism Research (ICPVTR) at the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies (RSIS), Nanyang Technological University, Singapore) (4) Ajay Sahni of Institute of conflict Mangagement Delhi) (5) ."(Peter Hatcher May 11 2015)Sydney Morning Herald (6) , (Ajai Sahni IPCS). (7) Ajai Sahni in terrorism portal (8) Reuters Nov 2014 (9) Praveen Swami in indianexpress (10) (By Luke Hunt in Diplomat May 08, 2015)