Al-Qaida recruits from India

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'Tempting assets' given less scrutiny in West than Pakistanis
Publishing Date: 16.07.07 14:54
By Michael Maloof

Al-Qaida is increasing its efforts to recruit Indian Muslims, who are given less scrutiny by Western authorities than Pakistanis. Despite the fact India is an ally of the U.S. and Israel, al-Qaida's emphasis appears to be more oriented toward recruitment than terrorist acts in India. However, U.S. and Israeli interests in India could become targets, according to terrorism experts. The effect of this recruitment was first realized in the recent arrests of two Indian doctors in the United Kingdom and Australia for attempting to blow up cars in London and at Glasgow airport in late June. Al-Qaida recruitment efforts in India, until now, have been low key. According to terrorism expert and former Indian cabinet secretary B. Raman, educational institutions especially in Bangalore, India, have been attracting radical Arab and Iranian students since the 1980s.

In 1993, Raman said, Israeli authorities arrested a Palestinian student from Bangalore and recovered an improvised explosive device, or IED, from him. They shared the details of his interrogation with Indian authorities and cautioned that South India, in general, and Bangalore, in particular, were attracting radical students from the Arab world and Iran, who had a potential of becoming terrorists.

Around the same period, Raman said, Egyptian authorities had warned the government of India that radical students denied admission to Arab universities were managing to obtain admission to Indian educational institutions without the government being aware of their extremist backgrounds. Pro-al-Qaida organizations from Pakistan also have been active in India since 1993. These include the Harkat-ul-Mujahideen, or HUM; the Harkat-ul-Jihad-al-Islami, or HUJI; and the Lashkar-e-Toiba, or LET. HUM, HUJI and LET were founding members of the International Islamic Front for the Jihad Against Crusaders and Jews, or IIF, formed in February 1998 by al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden.

It also was on this occasion that bin Laden declared a jihad, or holy war, against the U.S. that led to the eventual terrorist attacks on the New York World Trade Center and Pentagon Sept. 11, 2001. The LET infiltrated into the Jammu and Kashmir region with the assistance of Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence, or ISI, organization.

The Jammu and Kashmir region is regarded by al-Qaida as Muslim but occupied by non-Muslims. Bin Laden has pointed to U.S. support to India on the Kashmir issue as one reason for the anger of Muslims against the U.S. The Pakistani government's ISI, with which the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency has a long history of cooperation, is known to be sympathetic to al-Qaida and was instrumental in the creation of the Sunni Islamic Taliban in Afghanistan. In addition to these organizations, the Jaish-e-Mohammad, or JEM, an offshoot of the HUM, began operations in India in 2000. The HUJI of Bangladesh, known as HUJI (B), also has been active since 9/11. A number of Indian Muslims have joined the Pakistani jihadi organizations, particularly the LET. They more than likely are members of the IIF than al-Qaida, which only recruits Arabs. These non-Arab Muslims could be used for operations in Indian territory. However, their activities also venture well beyond India. 'Tempting assets' Outside of India, especially in Western countries, al-Qaida cells have started recruiting Indian Muslims who adhere to Wahabiism. Because a majority of Indian Muslims overseas have kept a distance from extremist and jihadi activities, they have not been subjected to the same kind of intense surveillance as Pakistanis.

Indian Muslims "would therefore be tempting assets for recruitment," Raman said. The UK terror plot targeting London and Glasgow was a joint Arab-Indian cell. Of the eight members of the cell identified by the British police so far, six are Arabs and two are Indian Muslims, with suspected previous links with Jordan and Saudi Arabia. According to Raman, al-Qaida has used Hindu converts to Islam in the UK to collect intelligence against intended financial targets in the U.S. He said there are reports of alleged involvement of some Muslims of Indian origin from the Caribbean in jihad activities in Canada. "It is to be expected that al-Qaida, through the Pakistani-member organizations of the IIF, will increasingly look for such recruits in the India Muslim diaspora," Raman said.

F. Michael Maloof, a regular G2B contributor, is a former senior security policy analyst in the Office of the Secretary of Defense.