The Al Qaeda will never set foot in India even though India is the second largest Muslim country. Why? The Muslims there are happy to share power with those of other religious faiths and they shun the Islamic fundamentalist dogma. Besides they are not that economically depressed so as to readily embrace Islamic fundamentalism as in other countries such as Pakistan, Indonesia, Phillipines etc where there is also a sizeable Muslim population.
Hence the term India is not Israel.
Aren't you being a little Pollyanna-ish here? Perhaps Indian Muslims are more intimidated than Arab Muslims.
wrns.org
West labels 900 deaths in Indian riots genocide
In addition to Hindu-Muslim sectarian violence, I also note there is plenty of evidence of Al Qaida linked terrorism in India:
subcontinent.com
The terrorist attacks on the Indian Parliament on 13 Decemebr 2001 have been described as an attack on the heart of Indian democracy. The needle of suspicion points to Pakistan-based terrorist groups like the Lashkar-e-Taiba and the Jaish-e-Muhammad. Security analyst B. Raman feels that the involvement of one of the Pakistani components of Osama bin Laden's International Islamic Front for Jihad is a strong possibility and further attacks are also possible in the near future.
.
.
bin Laden wears two hats. He is the head of the Al Qaida, which is a Saudi-centric, exclusively Arab organisation, consisting largely of Saudis, Yemenis, Egyptians and some Algerians. At the same time, he is the head of the International Islamic Front, which is a conglomerate of about a dozen Islamic terrorist organisations of Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Uzbekistan, the Xinjiang province of China and the southern Philippines.
From Pakistan, the Harkat-ul-Mujahideen (HUM), the Lashkar-e-Taiba (LET) and the Sipah-e-Sahaba are known to be members of the Front. The HUM had signed his first Fatwa against the US and Israel issued in 1998. The Jaish-e-Mohammad (JEM) is suspected to be a member.
Of these, the HUM, the LET and the JEM have been behind most of the acts of terrorism by Islamic groups in Jammu & Kashmir (J&K) and in New Delhi. Even according to the annual report of the US State Department on the Patterns of Global Terrorism released on 30 April 2001, these are almost totally Pakistani organisations operating in India from rear bases in Pakistan. The Sipah-e-Sahaba is an extremist Sunni organisation which has been behind the massacres of Shias in Afghanistan and Pakistan.
While the Al Qaida, the exclusively Arab organisation, has not come to notice for any presence in Indian territory after the Kargil conflict of 1999 when it was used by Gen. Pervez Musharraf, Pakistan's military dictator and the wolf of international Islamic terrorism, who after September 11 has been strutting around Western capitals in sheep's clothing, the Pakistani components of bin Laden's Front, namely, the HUM, the LET and the JEM, have been very active.
They look upon J&K as the gateway to India and describe their objective not only as the merger of J&K with Pakistan, but also as the "liberation" of the Muslims living in other parts of India and the creation of two more "homelands" for them. They also want to fight for the restoration of the Moghul rule in India and the LET talks of the days when it would hoist the flag of Islam on the Red Fort.
subcontinent.com
The Lashkar e Taiba and its political wing called the Markaz Dawa Al Irshad have for many years been calling for the expansion of the so-called jihad to the rest of India from Jammu & Kashmir for creating two independent homelands for the Muslims of South and North India. As a first step in this jihad, it had in the past called for intensified activities in Hyderabad and Junagadh, which it looks upon as Pakistani territory. The Red Fort, as the seat of the Muslim rulers of the past, is an important symbol in its eyes. This paper is a backgrounder on the Lashkar e Taiba. It has been prepared out of extracts from past papers on various subjects written by the author.
.
.
.
XTRACTS FROM PAPER DATED 26-8-1998, TITLED " MARKAZ DAWA AL IRSHAD: TALIBANISATION OF NUCLEAR PAKISTAN":
The activities of Osama bin Laden and his announcement of an International Islamic Front For Jihad against the US and Israel assume ominous significance in the context of his past and continuing links with the Markaz Dawa Al Irshad (the Centre For Preaching) of Pakistan and the Lashkar-e-Toiba (the Army of the Pure), its militant wing. The Markaz and the Lashkar have been involved in acts of terrorism, not only in J & K, but also in other parts of India.
The Markaz was founded in 1987, at the inspiration of Osama bin Laden, by Zafar Iqbal and Hafiz Mohammad Saeed of the University of Engineering and Technology of Lahore and Abdullah Azam of the International Islamic University, which has been funded by bin Laden. Abdullah Azam was killed in an explosion at Peshawar in 1989 and, after his death, Zafar Iqbal and Hafiz Mohammad Saeed have been leading the Markaz while continuing to teach at the University.
The headquarters of the Markaz, occupying over 190 acres of land, are located at Muridke, about 45 kms from Lahore in Pakistani Punjab. Its vast campus contains a huge Jamia mosque for the construction of which bin Laden had reportedly contributed Rs.10 million, a garments factory, an iron foundry, a wood works factory, a swimming pool and three residential colonies for the inmates. A big Islamic University is also coming up.
The "Herald", the monthly journal of the prestigious "Dawn" group of publications of Karachi, reported as follows in January, 1998: "While the Dawa is involved in various areas, including religious education and social welfare, it is mainly through its militant wing that it is well known throughout the country. The Lashkar-e-Toiba provides military training to its members and prepares them to wage jihad. Although the Lashkar was initially involved in Afghanistan as well, its activities are now restricted to Indian Kashmir. Today, it is Pakistan’s largest so-called jihadi organisation." |
