Call for Transnational Jihad – LeT 1985-2014

I recently completed my reading of this encyclopedia on Islamic Jihad and Terrorism as they are manifested in South Asia and the rest of the world. I can say confidently that those scholars, journalists, analysts and strategists that believe that the War on Terror is against Al Qaeda are severely mistaken. Today, Al Qaeda has been reduced to an almost irrelevant status and the splinter group that the late Abu Musab Al Zarqawi formed has gone on to become what we know as ISIS (which is currently led by Abu Bakr Al Baghdadi). But many may not know that there is a more menacing threat to world peace. That threat is the Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) which is based in Pakistan and Pakistan Occupied Kashmir. The truth is that the poisonous jihadi ideology of members of Juhayman’s Ikhwan has proliferated all over the Islamic world from North Africa, the Middle East and to South Asia. That ideology has created a two-headed monster where ISIS is the formidable jihadi group in the Middle East, and the LeT in South Asia.

Arif Jamal’s book goes in to depth in discussing the genesis of the LeT, the role it played in the Mumbai 28/11 attacks, its plans to encircle India in tandem with nuclear armed Pakistan, and its global ambition to re-establish the “Caliphate”. Even today, the world is not paying enough attention to the LeT menace. To give you an idea of the scale of the LeT’s operation, it has provided military, guerrilla and terrorist training to over 500, 000 mujaahids (holy warriors) according to 2008 estimates. There are signs in Indian Kashmir and South India of ISIS recruitment and the LeT has already been working there. In the coming weeks, months, and years, we may see a formal merger between ISIS and the LeT. Such a possibility should be mitigated as soon as possible for world peace.

Balochistan – Hindus under constant attack

On an alarming note, we have heard from sources that ISIS in Balochistan has issued a threat to Balochi Hindus to convert to Islam or die. In addition, they say they will destroy the Mata Hinglaj Shaktipeeth (Nani Mandir). This development may be an indicator of a merger between ISIS and LeT. We can expect zero protection of the Balochi Hindus and their places of worship by the Pakistani establishment as it too is working hand-in-glove with these evil forces.

Reading this book will explain to the reader why he/she must revise his/her knowledge of the terror outfits in the world, how they operate, and what drives them. The War on Terror is far from over and this book explains exactly why that is so. I highly recommend this book to anyone concerned with world peace and fighting terrorism.

Thanks,
A.Dube

After the attacks on 9/11, we witnessed a shift in the balance of power paradigm and strategic equations; the only superpower (the US) was not a superpower anymore. The rise of a stronger and more assertive Russia has further complicated the international balance of power. But current conflicts that we are seeing are not as simple as struggle for world dominance in a bipolar or multi-polar world. Post 9/11 conflicts have less to do with the political, economic and military dominance and more to do with ideological and cultural dominance. The rise of militant Islam from the shadows of political Islam has posed a very serious threat to world peace. This Islamic offense is largely state sponsored but not state controlled. It is a decentralized war towards the only goal to have a Sharia-ruled world. We are witnessing large scale bloodshed justified as ‘Jihad’ (the holy war). Islamic nations and liberal media have been trying to subvert any attempt that is made to expose this religious genocide by Islamic terrorists. Despite the US first lady Michelle Obama’s campaign against the abduction of non-Muslim Nigerian girls by Boko-Haram, the world has very few options against these dreaded terrorists.

Like any other terrorist group, Islamic terrorism is locally organized, but unlike other groups, they have global coordination and understanding. Each Islamic terror outfit complements and helps the other. They often assert their ultimate goal of ‘Darul Islam’ – with Islam imposed on the entire world. Using such terrorists (as chess pawns) by the US, Russia and China in their ongoing proxy-war for regional power balance could be self-defeating. You would think that the rise of a stronger Taliban and the 9/11 attacks on the US would have taught us this lesson. However, we can see that as Russia continues to resurrect its former powerful self, the US continues to use local Jihadi organizations in its quest for maintaining regional power dominance to counter Russia and surging China. Vladimir Putin’s Russia is fighting the US in the same way the US is fighting it and countering it at every level. The prolonged Syrian crisis and the rise of ISIS are a result of indirect US assistance to these terror outfits. Now ISIS has not only killed thousands of ‘impure Muslims’ or Kafirs, the Shias, but it has also committed the largest cultural genocide of the 21^st century. One hears on a daily basis how these ISIS Jihadis are blowing up ancient temples, artifacts, Shia mosques, Christians churches etc. Mosul (in Iraq) was once home to the tomb of prophet Jonas and today, it stands as a pile of dust – thanks to ISIS’ cultural terrorism.

Even though thinkers like Samuel Huntington had warned of a new world order based on the clashes of Islam vs. Other Cultures long back, his home nation has officially refused to learn from it. The US’s much talked ‘War on Terror’ has only proved to be ‘Aide to Terror’ by raising and nurturing new terror outfits. Russia, on other hand, has adopted the expansionist approach, already practiced by China in Asia. The multitude of these cultural and regional conflicts is untamed in absence of an effective conflict-resolution platform. This untamed set of conflicts runs the collective risk of pushing powerful nation states in to full-scale war of global proportions.

It is under this backdrop that a coalition of nations against Islamic Terrorism should be formed. This coalition would serve the same purpose as the medieval Crusades which saved Europe from cultural genocide by Islamic invaders. If such a coalition is formed, it could be the most terrifying news for liberals who usually ignore ongoing genocide by Jihadi terrorists inflicted upon Hindus, Christians, Ahmadiyas, Tribals in Islamic nations and so on. So before a full-scale global war happens, these conflicts could be and should be resolved using mutual understanding between major nations of the world. The financial assistance and weapons trade should be cut-off from a conflict zone. The diversity of world culture and faith must be defended at any cost as it is not only our common heritage but also our common existence!

Author’s profile:

Amit Srivastava is an entrepreneur and youth activist. He has done his PhD from JNU, New Delhi and MPhil in Planning and Development from IIT Bombay. Amit also holds NET-JRF from CSIR. He has done extensive field research on Rural Development, Geospatial Sciences and Disaster Management domains. He is a founder member and national spokesperson of the ‘Youth for Equality’ movement and successfully led YFE’s ideological conquest against the united-left front in JNU. He has been actively contributing to national policy debates through several platforms. In the past, he had contributed as a Citizen Journalist with CNN-IBN and MeriNews. He encourages youth to participate in politics and political debate. To gather and exchange the opinions of youth groups, he founded Simply Yuva, a web magazine. At present he is associated with the World Hindu Economic Forum and Hindu Youth and Student Forum.