But, Terrorism has no Religion..

Seeped in the bog of political correctness, societies across the world have willingly failed to call the bluff of an ideology that always wore a ‘victimhood’ guise. An ideology that caused the death of millions and the mass exodus of survivors. Instead of tackling the root cause, academics invented theories to shift the blame onto establishments and governments worldwide. A network strongly promoting these narratives eventually began to dominate the global discourse. The same template of exonerating the perpetrators of terrorism is being rolled out globally. In the process, anyone calling a spade a spade is labelled an ‘Islamophobe’.

After the UN has unanimously passed a resolution to combat Islamophobia and designated March 15 as International Day to Combat Islamophobia, plain speak on ideology-inspired terrorism has become anathema. Forget plain speak, pandering to this ideology has become an integral part of the political agenda. Political parties across the globe are now openly indulging in cultivating dedicated vote banks. At a time when Arab countries are strictly cleansing their societies of this radical ideology, syncretic and open societies have turned into fertile grounds for fanatical strains of this ideology. The spread and this pan-Islamic corporation can no longer be ignored as a fabrication or motivated propaganda.

The 10/11 Red Fort bomb blast that ripped the heart of the national capital has confirmed the worst fear of security analysts who have been warning of a pan-Islamic jihadi network. The blast, which killed 15 and left several injured, has shocked the entire nation. Investigation reports, besides strengthening the disillusionment about the “Ganga-Jamuni tahzeeb’ have exposed the phenomenon of “White Collar terrorism”. The rude awakening regarding the perpetrators of the terrorism being a ‘module of doctors’ has unsettled the Indian society that believes in “Vaidyo Narayano Hari” (the physician is Narayana himself). A detailed probe unearthed the network of ‘doctors of death’ operating from a Medical University, with dubious credentials and funding, has revealed links to a global-Islamic jihadi network.

The revelations outrightly demolished the deprivation, poverty, unemployment and marginalisation theories that justified terrorism. The trend of ‘white collar terrorism’ is not new. The suicide brigades of Al-Qaeda and ISIS were led by highly educated individuals hailing from upper-middle-class backgrounds. Osama bin Laden and Ayman Al-Zawahiri were engineers, Tahawwur Hussein Rana, key conspirator of 26/11, is a doctor, Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) Chief Masood Azhar is a post-graduate. Sri Lanka Easter blast accused hailed from wealthy families. Educated individuals from well-to-do families are getting attracted to this radical ideology.

It is not for the first time that Universities have emerged as a front for terrorism. At the height of the Kashmir insurgency, the University of Kashmir served as an incubator for anti-India doctrines. The vilest extremist Islam is reaching young minds via an inconceivable route of Universities. The recent student protests in Bangladesh, among other organisations, were triggered by Hizb-ut-Tahrir (HuT) highly active on University campuses. The proscribed organisation, HuT, determined to establish a Caliphate in the region, recruits students and conducts Islamic classes in campuses. In fact, the students who led the march in Bangladesh carrying ISIS flags were inspired by HuT.

The Al-Falah University in Haryana is emerging as the melting pot of all the terror links in the blast case, with a needle of suspicion pointing to doctor degree holders from Bangladesh and Pakistan. So far, all major arrests made in the case had a direct or indirect link with the University. Among the arrests, Dr Shaheen Saeed, nicknamed ‘Madam Surgeon’ was tasked with setting up the women’s wing of JeM, Jamaat-ul-Mominaat, headed by JeM Masood Azhar’s sister, Sadia Azhar, whose husband, Yusuf Azhar, was the master mind of the 1998 Kandahar hijacking. Yusuf was killed in Operation Sindoor. Other doctors taken into police custody were found to be working for JeM and Ansar-Ghazwat-ul-Hind.

Pakistan’s role in the Red Fort blast is further confirmed by the former Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK) Prime Minister, Chaudhary Anwar-ul-Haq’s statement in the PoK assembly. Indeed, JeM launched a fundraising drive seeking Rs 6400 to carry out fidayeen attacks. Along with Pakistan’s role, the Doctors module spanning J&K, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh was found to be in touch with a Turkey-based handle ‘Ukasha’ that planned multiple blasts across India. Recovery of multiple passports from Dr Shaheen with different addresses and guardian names and visits to Pakistan, Turkey, Thailand and Saudi Arabia and her brother’s two-year stay in the Maldives, a country with the highest rates of foreign terrorist fighters, is heightening the suspicions of involvement of a global Islamic network. The Maldives is an important link in the pan-Islamic jihadi network.

Besides, investigations have unravelled that members of the Doctors Module-Dr Muzzamil, Umar (Red Fort Blast perpetrator), and Shaheen have travelled to Turkey in March 2002, where they met ISI’s Turkey asset Abu Ukasha, a key member of JeM. It has been found out that the module has been planning to launch attacks in major Indian cities since 2021 on Dec 6^th.  The systematic radicalisation process of these doctors that began in 2010 led to their eventual induction into JeM in 2015. The preparation for the large-scale attacks began in 2022 with the procurement of the explosives, recruitment and reconnaissance. For plausible deniability, Pakistan has adopted the “third country route”, in this case, Turkey and Gulf countries, for money transfers and encrypted communication. Named as D-6 Mission, the goal was to carry out a series on December 6 to avenge the Babri Masjid demolition.

Markedly restructuring its statecraft of exporting cross-border terrorism, Pakistan is now targeting Indian Muslims as soft targets for radicalisation. From the early 2000s, Muslims in J&K went to Pakistan to join medical colleges in Abbotabad, Rawalpindi, Peshawar, Bahawalpur and Faisalabad through their separatist connections. Pakistan-based organisations with alleged terrorist links supported their education. After India’s increased surveillance on the Pakistan-educated MBBS doctors, students started going to Medical Colleges in Dhaka, Shylet, Chittagong and Rajshahi, where admissions were easy and fees were less. Bangladesh wasn’t on the security radar then. The arrest of doctors has strengthened the fears of terrorist outfits exploring the academic route to build a strong network of radicalised overground workers and terrorism enablers.

In the wake of ‘white collar terrorism’ government is probing doctors who have obtained degrees from Pakistan, Bangladesh, China and the UAE. It would be prudent for the Indian government to expand the probe to academics with Turkish connections. Turkey under Erdogan has rapidly shifted to neo-Ottoman Islamisation. The AKP party of Erdogan had strongly supported the Muslim Brotherhood. Erdogan has offered refuge to academics and students affiliated with the Muslim Brotherhood in Turkey who fled Egypt post-2013 coup. Hizbut ut Tahrir, though banned in Turkey in 2018, continues to run private study circles in the University campuses.

Aligning more closely with Pakistan after the abrogation of Article 370 and CAA, Pakistan-Turkey military and diplomatic partnership continued to grow. With its current anti-India avatar, Turkey has become a safe haven for Indian dissents. To recall, in 2020, Shah Faesal, in his bid to challenge the Indian government’s move on Article 370 at the International Court of Justice (ICJ), Hague, wanted to flee Turkey. (In 2022, he renounced his political activism and rejoined the government).

Unleashing soft Islam, with Pakistan as its nodal agency in the region, Turkey is building a coalition of Muslim countries. With the radicalised Islamist groups having their sway over the interim regime after the ouster of Sheikh Hasina, Bangladesh is closely following the footsteps of Islamabad. With Yunus at the helm, the strategic alliance between Pakistan’s ISI, Bangladesh’s Jamaat and Turkish intelligence-NGO organisations has deepened. Turkey’s National Intelligence Organisation has allegedly renovated the office of Jamaat. Emboldened by Turkish support, Bangladesh’s Jamaat is reviving the idea of Mughalistan.

Unlike Pakistan’s covert approach of pushing radicalism through clerics and Imams, through scholarships, youth conferences, cultural engagements and digital outreaches, Turkey is reaching out to Indian Muslims. Through the academic route, Turkey is solidifying “Muslim Solidarity”. The organisations which are at the forefront of such soft-radicalisation are think-tank South Asia Strategic Research Centre (GASAM), TURGEV, a charitable foundation set up by the Erdogan Foundation, Turkish Youth Foundation (TUGVA) and KADEM (Women and Democracy Association) and IHH (Humanitarian Relief Foundation). IHH has strong links with the banned organisations PFI and SIMI.

In 2005, to create “Ummah consciousness” Erdogan regime supported the creation of the Istanbul-based Union of NGOs of the Islamic World (UNIW). Spread across 65 countries with 340 organisations. Its satellite organisations- Helping Hand for Relief and Development (HHRD) has close ties with Falah-i-Insaniyat, the charitable arm of LeT and Kashmir Action Council (KAC) has been the force in internationalising the J&K issue. Motivated by a religious zeal and fanatical determination to establish an Islamic Caliphate, the global Islamic network is adopting both overt and covert approaches to destabilise India. While the NGOs take care of the narrative aspect and the soft jihad, the intelligence agencies are providing the logistics to carry out terror attacks.

Operation Sindoor exposed the Islamic coalition of Pakistan-Turkey- Azerbaijan, activating both its military channels and ideological ecosystem that waged a systematic narrative war. The Red Fort blast has precisely exposed both fronts of this jihadi alliance. After the blast, the 0.5 domestic front swung into action. First, they accused the government of soft pedalling on terrorism (undoubtedly, there have been glaring security lapses). Then, shifting gears, the apologists sanitised terrorism to the extent of justifying Umar’s video on suicide attacks as a martyrdom operation, known in Islam.

Ongoing investigations have revealed shocking details of this intricate jihadi network led by the doctors. Perennially playing the victim card, the over 200 million-strong minority community, who enjoy special constitutional privileges, relentlessly accuses the Indian establishment of marginalisation. Entitlements should always be accompanied by moral duties.

By justifying the acts of terrorism as being ordained on the followers of the faith by the book and its teachings to achieve the goal of establishing a Caliphate, the entire community is condoning the heinous acts against humanity. The community, instead of saying “not in my name,” is crying foul when confronted with irrefutable evidence as “Islamophobia”. For centuries, the followers of the faith have mercilessly spilt blood and wiped out civilisations to establish Dar-al-Islam (Abode of Islam). It is time to reject the disingenuous apology of the followers of the ideology that justifies all acts of violence as ‘divine right’.

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