Through its online publications and propaganda material, the Islamic State (IS) has made multiple clarion calls to its supporters for carrying out terror attacks in India, newdelhitimes.com reports on July 6. The major source among these is ‘The Voice of Hind’, an English-language magazine published and distributed online by the IS supporters in India. Al-Qitaal Media Center, a pro-IS media outlet, and Junudul Khilafah al-Hind were behind the launch of this magazine.
The first issue of ‘The Voice of Hind’ was released in late February, 2020, to coincide with President Donald Trump’s visit to India. The second issue of the magazine was released on March 24, 2020, that urged the IS ‘supporters’ in India to carry out strikes and exploit the preoccupation of the Forces in their fight against the COVID-19 pandemic. The issue called the COVID-19 as a ‘punishment of Allah’ and called ‘Knights of the Tawheed (Oneness)’ to attack Police and military with a ‘sword, knife or even a rope’, even when they are performing their duties during the COVID-19 pandemic. The magazine also included an old propaganda message from a Kashmiri IS terrorist, Abu Hamza al-Kashmiri who was killed in 2018.
On April 21, 2020, the third edition of the newsletter produced by the Islamic State’s Wilayat al-Hind, or India province, called on the IS supporters to prepare for a ‘ghazwa’-battles associated with the expansion of Muslim territory in the region. The cover of the newsletter reflects its areas of prioritisation, which include Afghanistan, Bangladesh, India, the Maldives, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka. The fourth and fifth edition of the magazine was published in May and June 22, 2020, respectively that further glorified the IS ideology and made calls for jihad against the Indian state. In between the fourth and the fifth issue, the IS published a 17-page ‘lockdown special’ agenda online, on the cover featuring photos of surgical-masked individuals and a temperature check, declaring that ‘it’s time for kuffar (disbelievers) to fall’.