– By Navaneeth Joshi
– Intern IPPCS’21
– Ramaiah College of Law, Bangalore
In 2014, a cohort of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria arose in Afghanistan. Wilayat Khorasan, or ISIS-K, intended to achieve Afghanistan to legitimize the Islamic State’s Caliphate across the ‘Khorasan Province’ encompassing fractions of Central Asia, China, Iran, the Indian Subcontinent, and Southeast Asia. Historically, this part of the region was referred to as Khorasan which priorly had varying borders depending on its political rulers in the past. But scholars do agree that the emergence of the term, which means ‘rising sun’, lies in the Sasanian Empire in the northeastern part of Iran. Also, Islamic history approves of this idea that took birth between the seventh century CE when the Sasanian Empire toppled with the Muslim invasion and the 13th century CE, with analogous instances, there was a persistent sentiment of a Greater Khorasan, comprising large south parts of the Aral Sea.1
For the first time, the word Khorasan was used by Osama Bin Laden of Al-Qaeda in 1996. Later, the same term was adopted by ISIS Khorasan Province (ISKP), which declared Khorasan to be the land encompassing Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iran and Central Asian republics, northwestern or sometimes all of India, and Russia. The major mark set by Al-Qaeda was to fight the US in Afghanistan on one side. But the theological base of establishing its network and franchise in this region was with relevance to the concept of “Ghazwa-e-Hind” (Qa’adat al-Jihad fi Shaba al- Qarrah al-Hindiya) This signifies an apocalyptic war which is pertained to in the prophecies narrated by the Holy Prophet in several Hadiths according to which India will be overthrown by jihadi fighters and all the fighters of this army are ensured a place in heaven. Despite the early elation, ISIS has not been able to build much of an influence in India. However, it is also an undeniable fact that a few of India’s misguided Muslim youth are getting swayed by the Wahhabist propaganda. Along with that, apart from India, the story is not the same for other South Asian states. Afghanistan, where ISKP has made significant inroads into the country’s complex tribal districts, is now facing a new challenge of its own.2
We must reexamine history in light of the foreign invaders, all of them from Muhamad Gaznavi in the 11th century, Mohamed Shah Abdali, and Nadir Shah in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries assaulted India either belonged to Afghanistan or entered India via Afghanistan to establish the Caliphate on Indian Subcontinent. The new danger masqueraded to India today with modified dynamics of the Islamic Caliphate is serious and covert rather than a full-fledged one like in past centuries. The ISIS links have been earlier found in states like Telangana, Kerala, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra, West Bengal, Rajasthan, Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and Jammu and Kashmir. The 26th report of the Analytical Support and Sanctions Monitoring Team concerning the IS, Al-Qaeda and correlated individuals and entities said that the AQIS(Group of the Base of Jihad in the Indian Subcontinent) operates under the Taliban umbrella from the Kandahar, Nimruz and Helmand provinces of Afghanistan.3
Drawdown of troops by the US has resulted in the rise of the Islamic State Khorasan (IS-K) in recent days. This group’s ability to persuade radicalized individuals, including those from India, and recruit well-trained defectors from Taliban and Pakistani militant groups is a very real threat to India’s future in the region. An attack on a gurdwara in Kabul, in March 2020 for which the same organisation claimed responsibility is the most convincing example of the very real security risks to India’s footprint inside Afghanistan. That one of the four IS-K operatives who fumed the gurdwara complex was from Kerala, in the south of India, makes this risk more pressing for Indian officials in the coming days.4
Conclusion:
Inferring the influence of ISIS on the Indian subcontinent brings up one main point to notice. Understanding the political narrative being pushed by ISIS on Indian Muslims and individual cases, along with their histories, community connections and habits as single entities, which is a traditional approach to counter-terror theories remains the most effective way to decode a threat as dynamic as ISIS.
Proper policy calibrations are needed to make sure that India’s views are heard at every meeting and conference on reconciliation. Further, establishing a special envoy could also look to enter into dialogues with Taliban representatives or former representatives who have not been repudiated by the movement. Also, an important point to note Prime Minister Modi while addressing the informal trilateral Russia-India-China Summit in 2019, already designated the promotion of counterterrorism between three nations with the view of exchanging intelligence concerning the IS-K(for some extent) in the coming days. This is of course a close call for China as it has close ties with Pakistan nonetheless, there is no reason not to invest further in a mechanism that has the blessings for all the three states.5
References
1. Durand-Guédy, David. “Pre-Mongol Khurasan. A Historical Introduction”. Greater Khorasan: History, Geography, Archaeology and Material Culture, edited by Rocco Rante, Berlin, München, Boston: De Gruyter, 2015, pp. 1-8. https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110331707.
2. Uran Botobekov, “Central Asia’s Terrorist Groups Joined to the Jihad Against the US After Jerusalem Declared”, Modern Diplomacy. December 24, 2017, http://moderndiplomacy. eu/2017/12/24/central-asias-terrorist-groups-joined-jihad-us-jerusalem-declared/
3. Security Council, “Security Council Committee pursuant to resolutions 1267 (1999), 1989 (2011) and 2253 (2015) concerning Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (Da’esh), Al-Qaida and associated individuals, groups, undertakings and entities addressed to the President of the Security Council, 2020, https://digitallibrary.un.org/record/3848705/files/S_2020_53-EN.pdf
4. “Who is Mohammed Muhsin, the Indian Suspect in Attack on Sikh Gurudwara in Afghanistan?,” The Week, March 30, 2020, https://www.theweek.in/news/india/2020/03/30/who-is-mohammedmuhsin-the-indian-man-who-attacked-s kh-gurudwara-in-kabul.html
5. “PM’s Opening Remarks at the Informal Summit of ‘Russia-India-China’ (RIC) Leaders on the Margins of G-20 Summit 2019,” Prime Minister’s Office, Government of India, June 28, 2019, https://www.pmindia.gov.in/en/news_updates/pms-opening-remarks-at-the-informal-summit-ofrussia-india-china-ric-leaders-on-the-margins-of-g-20-summit-2019/
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