Eurasia Review
29 October 2015
- RSIS
- Media Mentions
- The Changing Jihadist Threat in India: Indian Mujahideen’s ISIS Link – Analysis
The Changing Jihadist Threat in India: Indian Mujahideen’s ISIS Link – Analysis
Indian jihadi groups, such as the Indian Mujahideen, have not pledged allegiance to Al Qaeda or ISIS. Yet many of their members have joined the ranks of ISIS in Syria and Iraq. This is a game changer to jihadism in India, and is significant to the security of the region.
Indian jihadi groups have long confined their activities to South Asia and refrained from participating in external conflicts. However the advent of the jihadi group ISIS’ self-styled Islamic State caliphate has changed the picture significantly.
The Indian Mujahideen (IM), a militant offshoot of the Students Islamic Movement of India (SIMI) of about 30 members, advocates armed jihad to “liberate” India from western materialist culture and convert the entire population of India to Islam. The IM has forged ties with global terrorist groups like ISIS. The latter’s messages found resonance among members of IM, particularly IS Leader Abu Bakar Al Baghdadi’s speech, translated into Hindi, called on Indian Muslims to wage armed jihad against the oppressors.
… Vikram Rajakumar is a Senior Analyst at the International Centre for Political Violence and Terrorism Research (ICPVTR) at the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies (RSIS), Nanyang Technological University, Singapore.
ICPVTR / Online
