Southern
Perils
Nijeesh
N.
Research Assistant, Institute for Conflict Management
Media reports
and confirmations to SAIR from family members of Islamic
State (IS or Daesh) and al Qaeda recruits from the southern
Indian State of Kerala, indicate that two Daesh volunteers
and an al Qaeda volunteer were killed in three separate
US drone attacks in Afghanistan and Syria in the month
of April. Bestin Vincent aka Yahya, who belonged
to the Palakkad District was killed in US strikes in the
Nangarhar Province in Afghanistan on April 29, 2017. Murshid
Muhammed from Kasaragod District, who had also joined
Daesh was killed in the second week of April 2017 (date
not specified), again, in Nangarhar. Abu Thahir from
Palakkad District had joined al Qaeda, and was killed
in Syria on April 4, 2017.
Earlier,
T. K. Hafeezudin, from Kasaragod District, who had joined
Daesh, was killed in a US drone strike in the Nangarhar
Province of Afghanistan, on February 25, 2017.
While Abu
Thahir had reportedly gone missing in 2013 and had joined
al Qaeda, the remaining three deceased were part of a
group 21 persons, including six women and three children,
who went missing from Kasaragod District in June 2016
and had reportedly joined Daesh. Of these 21, 17 were
from two neighbouring villages, Padanna and Trikkaripur
in Kasaragod District, while the remaining four were from
Palakkad District, some 305 kilometres further south.
According
to partial data compiled by the South Asia Terrorism
Portal (SATP), at least 28 youth from Kerala, including
the 21 already mentioned, had travelled to attend Daesh
training camps in Afghanistan/Syria/Iraq. Another 21 youth
from other southern Indian states (Karnataka, nine; Tamil
Nadu and Telangana, five each; and Andhra Pradesh, two)
had also travelled to these battlefields. The total number
of Indians who had travelled to these areas is estimated
to stands at 67. Incidentally, according to reports,
Haja Fakkruddin from Parangipettai village in the Cuddalore
District of Tamil Nadu was one of the first Indians to
have joined Daesh in Syria in January 2014.
A number
of Indians have also been arrested or detained before
they could leave the country. On November 22, 2016, Union
Minister of State for Home Hansraj Ahir informed the Lok
Sabha (Lower House of Parliament) that as many as
68 sympathisers or supporters of Daesh had been arrested
across the country, till that date. The Minister added
that 50 of these persons had been arrested by security
agencies in 2016, of which 26 belonged to southern Indian
states [Telangana (11), Karnataka (7), Kerala (6), and
Tamil Nadu (2)].
Daesh in
South India has reportedly found an ally in Jama'atul
Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB)
which has established
a presence in several parts of India,
including the South, in recent times. JMB, a terror outfit
which operates in Bangladesh, after suffering decisive
losses in Bangladesh after Sheikh Hasina came to power
in 2009, shifted some of its camps to India in an effort
to regroup. The formation has once more become active
in Bangladesh and has sworn allegiance to Daesh. Reports,
meanwhile, indicate that JMB modules in Tamil Nadu and
Telangana have been establishing operational capabilities
in coordination with Daesh. Investigations found that
several of the persons arrested in connection with Daesh
had a JMB link as well.
While Daesh
has found some sympathisers down South, raising security
concerns, the activities of the ‘Base Movement’, an al
Qaeda-affiliated group, has also drawn the attention of
security agencies. 'Base Movement' is suspected to have
orchestrated five different bomb blasts in Kerala, Andhra
Pradesh and Karnataka since April 2016. The incidents
include:
November
1, 2016: A low intensity improvised explosive device (IED)
blast took place in a car parked near the judicial first
class magistrate court in Malappuram, Kerala. No one was
injured in the incident. Police recovered a box with ‘Base
Movement’ written on it, along with a notice which claimed
the blast for the ‘Base Movement’ containing a photo of
slain al Qaeda founder Osama Bin Laden.
September
12, 2016: A low-intensity blast occurred in the district
Court premises in the Nellore town of Andhra Pradesh.
There were no casualties.
August
1, 2016: Two persons were injured in an IED explosion
at a public toilet in a court complex in Mysuru in Karnataka.
June 15,
2016: A bomb hidden in a tiffin box and planted inside
a parked jeep in the Kollam Civil Station premises in
the Kollam District of Kerala, exploded at around 10.45
am, injuring one person. The civil station houses the
District Collector's office, apart from several Courts
and Government offices.
April 7,
2016: The first such explosion took place at a parking
lot in the Chittoor Court complex in Andhra Pradesh, injuring
three persons. Another bomb was defused.
The modus
operandi in each of these low intensity attacks was
similar. According to security sources, arrested members
of the ‘The Base Movement’ confessed that module only
wanted to register its presence at a time when there was
a huge traction towards Daesh. They told the investigators
that their aim was not to kill but only spread fear and
that is the reason they planted low intensity devices
in such locations, so as to cause no casualties. Reports
indicate that the elusive fugitive Al Umma leader, Abu
Bakr Siddique aka Kakka, was the brain behind the
emergence of this new terror formation – ‘The Base Movement’.
The group was active across all the five South Indian
States, and had sent several letters to authorities since
early 2015 to announce its existence and warn of attacks.
The first such letter was reportedly sent to the then
Additional Chief Secretary to Karnataka Chief Minister
K. Siddaramaiah, in January 2015, where the group stated
that it was commencing activities in that year (2015).
No incident was, however, reported in 2015.
On November
28, 2016, the National Investigation Agency (NIA) along
with Tamil Nadu and Telangana Police, in a joint operation,
arrested three suspected members of The Base Movement,
identified as Abbas Ali (27), Suleiman Mohammad Abdullah
(23) and Samsun Karim Raja from Madurai District in Tamil
Nadu. Again, on November 29, 2016, the Joint Team arrested
another two members, identified as Mohammed Ayub Ali (25)
and Shamsudeen (25) from Madurai District. Further investigation
revealed that these persons were part of the terrorist
outfit, Al Umma and had regrouped under the banner of
The Base Movement and had sworn allegiance to al Qaeda.
It is suspected that their allegiance is to al Qaeda in
the Indian Subcontinent (AQIS), formed in August 2014
with the official name of “Jamaat Qaidat al-jihad fi’shibhi
al-qarrat al-Hindiya’’ or “Organisation of the Base of
Jihad in the Indian Subcontinent’’. On April 9, 2017,
Kerala Police arrested another two ‘Base Movement’ members,
N. Abubaker and his aide A. Abdurahman, from Madurai District
in Tamil Nadu.
While the
emergence of these two groups is a worrying development,
concerns persist regarding the presence of various Pakistan-backed
terror formations such as Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT),
Students Islamic Movement of India (SIMI),
and Indian Mujahideen (IM).
According to the SATP database, after the 26/11 Mumbai
terror attacks, about 31 persons, including 19 civilians,
five Security Force (SF) personnel and seven terrorists
have been killed in seven terrorist attacks in different
parts of South India. Incidentally, the last of the major
terrorist incidents targeting civilians outside strife-torn
Jammu & Kashmir, the Northeast and Punjab, in which
more than 10 persons were killed, was reported from Andhra
Pradesh. On February 21, 2013, 17 persons were killed
and another 117 injured in twin blasts at Dilsukhnagar
in Hyderabad.
Since 26/11,
2008, as many as 595 Islamist terrorist suspects have
been arrested from five south Indian States – Andhra Pradesh,
Karnataka, Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Telangana. The number
of arrested persons stood at 88 in 2016, 98 in 2015, 110
in 2014, 101 in 2013, 77 in 2012, 34 in 2011, 22 in 2010,
20 in 2009 and 35 in 2008. At least 10 persons have already
been arrested in 2017, till April 30. Those arrested included
terrorist cadres, persons involved in Fake Indian Currency
Notes (FICN) cases, which are integrally linked to Pakistan-backed
terrorism, and Pakistani Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI)
agents.
Meanwhile,
radicalisation is on rise, as one April 9, 2017, report
observed,
Multiple
new Salafi outfits such as Niche of Truth (Kerala),
Peace Educational Foundation (Kerala), Jamiat ul
Muflihaat (Hyderabad), Discover Islam Education
Trust (Bengaluru)… have emerged during the last
few years, which have provided direct access to
indoctrination materials. Cadres of radically inclined
Popular Front of India, Tamil Nadu Tauheed Jamat
and Kerala Nadwathul Mujahideen factions are increasing
in numbers significantly… Others are also getting
motivated by reading material available online…
Another example is the immense growth in the membership
of Kerala Nadwatahul Mujahideen factions whose combined
strength has grown from about 25,200 in 1993 to
65,200 till date. In the last decade, the membership
of Tamil Nadu Tauheed Jamat has increased from 20,000
to one lakh. Another radically inclined outfit PFI
has grown from a cadre strength of about 45,000
during 2009 to over 1,20,000...
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While these
various formations are not directly connected to terrorism,
they create a base of non-violent radicalization that
creates tremendous potential for recruitment to extremist
violence. It will be impossible to contain radical Islamist
violence unless this underpinning of diversified and widespread
non-violent radicalization is addressed. Focus on preventive
measures and counter-radicalization is therefore imperative
to contain future prospects of Islamist terrorist/radical
formations making further inroads in India's south and,
indeed, across the rest of the country.
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