Post-ISIS Narrative
Serial blasts on
Easter Sunday on April 21 in Sri Lanka sent jitters all through the
globe. These suicide bomb blasts occurred within a span of about 30
minutes in three Churches where a large number of devotees had
congregated and three luxury hotels where foreign tourists frequented in
large numbers. Well-coordinated blasts killed no less than 350 people
and injured hundreds. About eleven Indian citizens succumbed to death.
These blasts were targeted against the Christian community and foreign
tourists, who are vital to the economy. It reminded of well-planned
serial blasts in Mumbai in 1993 and 2006.
Sri
Lanka declared Emergency all over the island to prevent retaliatory mob
attacks by local Sinhalese Christian fringe groups on the Muslim
enclaves. Police swung into action to track down the mastermind behind
the blasts. Two truckloads of explosives were tracked. It was also
anticipated that such coordinated action, with ample supply of
ammunition, could not have occurred but for the transnational support.
Simultaneously our National Investigation Agency (NIA) and local police
from the States of Kerala and Tamil Nadu swung into action to identify
the culprits. Two organisations, National Thowheedh Jamaath and
Jammiyathul Millathu Ibrahim, were identified to have carried out these
terror attacks. By the end of the week, about 140 suspects were being
tracked for the terrorism-related activities. The mastermind of the
attack was identified as firebrand cleric Zarhan Hashim, who was one of
the suicide bombers.
The
hideout of other suicide bombers was accidentally found by Muslim
youth. The youth alerted the locals. After terrorists refused to come
out of their hideouts, a battle raged between Security forces and the
terrorists followed by two suicide bomb blasts wherein their family
members were killed. One of the suicide bombers was a Muslim woman who
blew herself up with her kids. Investigations pointed to the involvement
of a rich family of MY Ibrahim, known as the ‘spice king’ of Sri Lanka.
His sons possibly planned these massive attacks over long time, putting
enormous money and resources, often travelling abroad.
Political Apathy
It
came to light that the Sri Lankan Government was alerted about possible
terror attacks but the warnings went unheeded. The cause of ignored
warnings was the result of a political feud among the top echelon of
power which descended from the Sri Lankan President and the Prime
Minister. It divided the Government machinery along feudal lines, and
apathy crept in. The President openly acknowledged that intelligence
reports were not shared with him. The State Minister of Defence
acknowledged that it was a major lapse not to heed to the repeated
warnings of attack from certain groups (The Indian Express April 25).
Even the local Muslim organisations had brought nefarious activities to
the notice of the local authorities. Our intelligence agencies had
alerted SL on the imminent threats early April, and attacks on churches
just two hours before the blasts. Here is an example of stark
bureaucratic bungle which compromised the national security. Although it
was known that several ISIS recruits had returned from the West Asia,
they were not arrested. As the Prime Minister conceded, they could not
be arrested as joining a foreign terrorist organisation is not against
the law of the land and stated that he does not rule out the possibility
of further attacks. As expected few heads in the Government echelon
rolled including the Police Chief, Defence Secretary. It was apathy and
sheer negligence that resulted in these blasts. A reason being forwarded
is that Sri Lanka was a soft target on account of legal impropriety.
Residual LTTE modules, tonnes of explosives available in the country
which faced decades of internecine war, some former cadres of the
terrorist organisations may be behind the planning and execution of
these blasts. It was the total failure of the local command that made
the task of plotters easy (The Indian Express April 27).

BJP MP Shobha Karandlaje's letter to Rajnath Singh
ISIS
came late claiming credit for attacks. Lately, on April 30, a video
clip was shown on many channels where a person looking like Abu Bakr
Baghdadi speaking behalf of ISIS owned up to the blasts and justified
these as revenge against the European Crusaders in the modern times.
ISIS did not provide any evidence of direct involvement in the blasts.
It cannot be overlooked that about a year ago, in his last message,
Baghdadi appealed to his followers to initiate terror attacks locally
even as lone wolf wherever they would be located and carry on jihad
against the infidels. Sri Lanka blasts can be discerned on the
background of that appeal.

NIA
investigations have confirmed that firebrand cleric Zarhan Hashim was
known to be inciting youth since long. He spent time in Kerala, widely
travelled in Bharat before returning back, to be able to coordinate
without hindrance among the active members in Sri Lanka. During an
encounter, one of the terrorist speaking in Tamil threw currency notes
at the locals to divert their attention. There are sizeable numbers of
sleeper modules in Tamil Nadu drawing inspiration from the ISIS. These
are likely to become active in the event of neglect. They can wreak
havoc here.
Countering Terrorism
There
are three aspects from which these acts of terrorism can be countered.
These activities can’t be run without active financial support involving
substantial amounts. For a common man, are these not traceable so that
curbs can be put on these transactions? What prevents the financial
institutions from keeping the Governments in the know of these? People
involved in these transactions can be identified to prevent further
attacks.
Another
most important factor is the supply of arms and ammunition to these
terrorist outfits. It has been a major failure all over the world. There
is hardly any country which has not suffered from terror attacks.
Almost all the countries have consistently failed to curb the inflow of
arms and ammunition. We find Naxalites over many decades have been
getting almost uninterrupted supply of arms and ammunition and latest
techniques of remote control mechanism. There is no hope at global level
unless all countries come forward to join hands to keep strict vigil on
the movement of arms and ammunition. A rogue State like Pakistan known
as Islamic terror hub has received arms and financial aid time and
again. It directed these supplies for aiding and inciting terrorist
activities in neighbouring countries. As long as individual countries do
not stop promoting the terrorist cause to promote temporary gains, it
is not possible to really bring down the extent of terrorist activities
spread in many countries.
It
is to be noted that the suicide bombers in the SL were highly educated
and came from middle and upper-class families. They were radicalised by
the audio-visual propaganda easily accessible on the ISIS websites and
individuals who spew venom against non-believers, cultivating
kafirophobia. In one video clip circulating in social media, mastermind
Zarhan Hashim, his two brothers and father were seen discussing
martyrdom urging their followers to kill non-believers calling for
all-out
war i.e. jihad. (The Hindu April 29). It is sort of kafirophobic
philosophy however anti-humanistic. But the fact is that such propaganda
continues to motivate hundreds of Muslim youth to take to the suicidal
bombing. There is an urgent need to counter the ISIS indoctrinated
kafirophobic radicalisation philosophy on the rational and social
grounds such that those inclined towards religious learning do not
succumb to develop the suicidal mindscape. Need is to develop
alternative humanitarian, philosophical narrative such that human spirit
of compassion prevails.
Riyas Aboobacker arrested by NIA in connection with Sri Lankan terror attacks
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Riyas Aboobacker
Palakkad
native Riyas Aboobacker (29) was arrested, on April 29, by NIA after
taking into custody in connection with the links with Sri Lanka blasts.
Reports suggest NIA has traced his links with the Kasaragod-based IS
recruitment. Abubaker Siddiq and Ahmed Arafat, both Kasaragod natives,
were taken into custody a couple of days before.
NIA
has found that Riyas is linked with IS terrorist Abdul Rasheed Abdulla
who lives underground. He has admitted this, says the press release
issued by NIA. Riyas carries out online link with Abdul Khayyum, the
accused in the Valapattanam IS case. It is also alleged that Rias has
watched and propagated the videos of the speeches of Sahran Hashim, the
mastermind behind the SL blasts. NIA informs, Riyas had admitted that he
wished to carry out suicide blasts in Kerala. He will be produced
before the NIA court on April 30. He has reportedly said during the NIA
interrogation that he got instructions from the Keralites who fled to
Afghanistan and Syria to join IS. It is reported that the IS
recruitments in Kerala are as per the instructions from IS terrorist
Adulla Rashid, a Kasargod native. NIA inquired into the links between
Riyas and Rashid and the exchanges of messages between them. There are
reports that NIA raids continue in Kerala in connection with the SL
blasts. Ten men from different districts of Kerala are being
interrogated. It is found that they have links with the IS sleeper cells
involved in recruiting for the IS. They are taking the recruits abroad
for employment and then take them to the IS camps. NIA has also
interrogated few suspects in Kochi and Tamil Nadu.
Reports
from Kundara, Kollam, states that one man was taken into custody during
the raid. Several places in the districts of Ernaakulam, Palakkat,
Kozikode, Kannur and Kasaragode are under the surveillance of Cental
Intelligence. Kochi and Chennai units of NIA carried out raids in
Velloor, Chennai, Tirunelveli, Madura and Coimbatore in Tamil Nadu.
Surveillance has been beefed up in places where migrant labour force
lives in good numbers. It is in the light of the rumours that Kashmiris
have moved to several parts of the state with forged documents.
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Kerala link to Islamic terrorist attacks in Sri Lanka? NIA conducts raids in three places, arrests six
In
the backdrop of the Easter Sunday terrorist attacks in Sri Lanka, the
National Investigations Agency (NIA) carried out raids mainly at three
places in Kerala, two in Kasaragod and one in Palakkad. NIA also carried
out searches at private houses and questioned three suspects. The three
Muslim youth, who are in touch with Islamic State recruiters, are
believed to have links with those who left for Sri Lanka and other
countries to join the ISIS.
The NIA had busted an ISIS module in Kasaragod last year and arrested a
25-year-old Salafi terrorist Habeeb Rehman. Further investigation
revealed that several other Muslim youngsters from the state had left to
join the ISIS. The NIA had arrested six for suspected links with the
IS, including R Ashiq, Ismail, Salavuddin, Jafar Sadiq Ali, Shahul
Hameed, Shamsuddin.
The suspects were found to be in touch with Abdul Rashid Abdulla alias
Abu Isa, a Kozhikode youth who had joined the IS in 2016. “The three
persons are suspected to have links with some of the accused persons in
the 2016 case,” NIA IG Alok Mittal explained to media.
In the raids, the NIA has recovered many digital devices including
mobile phones, SIM cards, memory cards, pen drives. The agency has also
retrieved diaries with handwritten notes in Arabic and Malayalam, DVDs
of Zakir Naik, untitled DVDs, CDs with religious speeches, books
authored by Zakir Naik and Syed Kutheb.
According
to Sri Lankan military sources, Zahran Hashim, the mastermind of the
Easter attacks in Sri Lanka, spent substantial time in Kerala and other
south Indian states. Investigators identified Hashim as the leader of
the National Thowheed Jamaath (NTJ), the Islamic terrorist outfit that
executed the blasts. The NIA had found a video of Zahran Hashim,
suspected to have been recorded in Tamil Nadu, on the phone of one of
the suspects held in Coimbatore. In the video, Hashim reportedly talked
about ‘a big job he was about to pull off, without any details, and
exhorted Muslims from Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Sri Lanka to fight for the
cause of Islam’.
Many of the ISIS recruits and ultra-Salafis had visited various
locations in Sri Lanka before reaching their final destinations in
Afghanistan, Syria and Iraq. In 2016, there were reports that ‘Sri Lanka
was emerging as the favourite destination of a section of Malayalee
Salafis who are on the pursuit of 'real Islam' and believe that scholars
in Kerala lack correct understanding of the religion’.
Source: https://www.organiser.org/Encyc/2019/5/8/Post-ISIS-Narrative.html
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