Al Qaeda in the Indian Subcontinent

In early September, just a few days before the 13th anniversary of al Qaeda’s attacks on the US, the chief of central al Qaeda, Ayman al-Zawahiri, announced that he was sanctioning the formal establishment of a new franchise named al Qaeda in the Indian Subcontinent (AQIS). This article is an academic attempt at analysing the various contours of this announcement.
According to Zawahiri, AQIS seeks to reestablish Muslim rule in the Indian subcontinent, relieving the Muslims in this region of oppression and tyranny. Zawahiri has particularly focused, in this regard, on the Muslims of Indian Occupied Kashmir, Assam, Ahmedabad and Gujarat in India as well as those living in Bangladesh and Myanmar. AQIS will work under the leadership of Maulana Asim Umar and the guidance of Zawahiri. Interestingly, both these leaders have renewed their pledge of allegiance to the head of the Afghan Taliban, Mullah Omar, whom they consider the Ameerul Momineen (leader of the faithful) and who, thereby, occupies the role of patron in chief of the new organisation.
Maulana Asim Umar, the head of AQIS, is a recognised yet elusive name in jihadist circles in Afghanistan and Pakistan. In his video sermons on online forums, his face remains hidden. He was formerly associated with the Harkatul Mujahidin (HM), a militant group operating in Indian occupied Kashmir. A Sunni Deobandi scholar and firebrand speaker, he specialises in Islamic eschatology. Umar is the author of various books in Urdu, including Third World War and the Anti-Christ, Black Water: The Anti-Christ’s Army and The Battle of Religions: Islam or Democracy. He has emerged as an important ideologue for the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) and al Qaeda in this region. Before being given the responsibility of heading AQIS, he was responsible for heading al Qaeda’s Pakistan Committee on Islamic Law.
According to Zawahiri, this new organisation took two years of continuous effort to establish whereby various strands of jihadist militancy in the subcontinent region have been united together. Umar’s sermons in the past two years show how the groundwork for AQIS was underway. He spoke in these about the urgency and need for India to become a new theatre of Muslim holy war as well as a potential recruitment hub for global jihadism. In his sermon, ‘Why is there no storm in your river? Message to the Muslims of India’, he reminded the Muslims of India of their past glory and their present, dismal position, asking them to wake up to this call.
Back in June, an important sermon by Asim Umar appeared on jihadist forums. Umar announced that to reinvigorate the spirit of jihad in the Muslims of Occupied Kashmir and to liberate them, jihadists from Afghanistan were on their way to reach India. This clearly indicated that al Qaeda was seriously considering moving deep into the Indian region. This appeal by Umar struck a chord with, at least, one militant group operating in Kashmir named the Ansar-ut-Tawhid wal Jihad fi Kashmir (supporters of monotheism and jihad in Kashmir).
Zawahiri’s AQIS announcement is quite meaningful in many ways. First is its organisational interpretation. In recent times, al Qaeda’s brand of terror has been greatly eclipsed by a younger, more tech savvy and dreadful force: the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS). ISIS now controls large areas of Iraq and Syria and is considered the world’s most well equipped and sophisticated terrorist group today. Once a part of al Qaeda in Iraq, ISIS was formed when its leader, Abu Bakr al Baghdadi, severed his ties with al Qaeda, openly denouncing the authority of Zawahiri. Baghdadi then went on to declare the re-establishment of the Islamic caliphate. Owing to the success of ISIS in recent times, the group has largely come to be seen as a more potent terrorist group. Zawahiri’s announcement seeks to reverse this notion.
Secondly, there is a deeper, theological, element to this announcement than meets the eye. According to certain narratives attributed to the Prophet Muhammad (PBUH), a Muslim army will invade and occupy the territory of Hind (Indian subcontinent) in what has been termed the Ghazwatul Hind (The campaign of Indian region) and the fighters of this campaign will ultimately join Hazrat Isa (Jesus), upon his second coming, in Syria, in the final battle against Masih-al-Dajjal (the anti-Christ) in the Middle East region. The Prophet (PBUH) is reported to have announced freedom from hellfire for the participants of both these campaigns.
Even though the veracity and interpretation of Ghazwatul Hind traditions is disputed among Muslim scholarship, it is a very popular narrative among jihadists. Interestingly, a central theme in Asim Umar’s books is that of the second coming of Hazrat Isa, Imam Mehdi and the fight against Masih-al-Dajjal. Zawahiri has quoted the Ghazwatul Hind tradition in his announcement of al Qaeda in the Indian subcontinent. Is al Qaeda preparing for this end of days war?
Lastly, at a sociopolitical level, the rise of a Hindu fundamentalist sentiment in India, under the leadership of Prime Minister Narindra Modi, provides al Qaeda and likeminded groups an opportunity to remind their audience of the importance of taking revenge for events such as the demolition of the historical 16th century Babri mosque in Ayodhya in 1992 by Hindu zealots and the Gujarat violence of 2002, and to liberate the Indian occupied territory of Kashmir. In this regard, the present situation is potentially ripe for greater mobilisation of the jihadist sentiment than in the past in Indian society. Will Asim Umar win an audience in India? This is the key question.
In his preliminary address as AQIS chief, titled Qitaal: Our Path, Asim Umar has emphasised the importance of qitaal (armed combat) in defeating the forces of kufr (disbelief). Yet, despite the initial sentiment that AQIS will specifically target India, the organisation has proclaimed that “the gateway to this blessed jihad is Pakistan”. In doing so, it sees the Pakistan army as its major enemy too. Already, AQIS has owned the target killing of an army intelligence official in Sargodha and has taken responsibility for the recent attack on Pakistan’s navy dockyard in Karachi. The subcontinent has a new enemy.
Al Qaeda will have to do something extraordinary to steal the limelight from ISIS. As Zawahiri contends with Baghdadi to reclaim his position as the terrorist par excellence, the world becomes an even more dangerous place. Ultimately, the launch of al Qaeda’s latest franchise shows that the al Qaeda brand of terror is here to stay.

The writer teaches Sociology at University College Lahore (UCL). He can be contacted at naqibhamid@gmail.com