A new video released by terrorist outfit al-Qaeda on jihadist forums this week has said that “victory in Kashmir” will come from waging war on major Indian cities.
Usama Mehmood the organization’s second-in-command is seen in the video saying that India is already using 600,000 troops to “hold on to Kashmir,” and if Kolkata, Bangalore and New Delhi are attacked, then “it will come to its senses and release its grip on Kashmir.”
Mehmood has urged Muslims in the region “to stand behind the Kashmiri people.” Citing the example of America, he further added that “the Indian army and Hindu government’s peaceful world should be made a war zone.”
The video came on the same day another organization al-Qarar, released a video pledging its support to the Islamic State’s so-called Caliph Ibrahim Awad al-Badri, or Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi. An armed jihadist is seen in the video assailing Pakistan’s intelligence services and secessionist politicians. The terrorist appealed to local al-Qaeda leader Zakir Bhat, who has said that he is committed to fighting for a caliphate, to pledge allegiance to the Islamic State.
This video looks to have been filmed near the Jamia Masjid in Srinagar, where Islamic State flags appeared last year during mass protests.
A senior Srinagar-based police officer called such groups “insignificant in military terms,” but that they “represent the search of young Islamists in urban centres for a new ideology and leadership.” He added that this shift towards global Islamist ideals “could prove significant in coming years.”
Insight Into al-Qaeda’s Kashmir Strategy
The al–Qaeda video appears as an interview with Mehmood, and offers first insights into its tactics on Kashmir. Earlier this year the organization is said to have set up a regional franchise in the troubled state.
In the video, Mehmood has alleged that several mujahideen migrated to Pakistan “to fight for Kashmir”, but had been forced “shut down their operations by the Pakistan Army.”
To make his point, Mehmood used the example of Sheikh Ahsan Aziz, a PoK based terrorist with links to Hizb-ul-Mujahideen who was killed in 2012 in a drone strike. He is also seen referring to the deceased al-Qaeda military commander Illyas Kashmiri, noting that he had “carried out many successful operations against India from here”.
Kashmiri worked with 26/11 perpetrator David Headley post the Mumbai attacks and was linked to Indian Mujahideen jihadists.
In an earlier interview Mehmood said the organisation’s overall aim was to “to reform Pakistan, Kashmir, India, Bangladesh and the whole of subcontinent, into an Islamic subcontinent.” Noting that there was “no political solution” on Kashmir, Mehmood has warned against looking for peaceful efforts to resolve the issue.
Attempt To Reach Young Islamist Radicals In Kashmir
The al-Qaeda video attempts to reach young Islamist radicals in Kashmir by paying tribute to local jihad icons such as Burhan Wani, whose killing triggered largescale violence last year, and Parliament House attacker Afzal Guru, executed in 2013.
Other than the use of a 2016 clip featuring Burhan Wani, there are no indications of when Mehmood’s video was made. It additionally contains no reference to the recent setting up of the Ansar Ghazwa tul’Hind, al-Qaeda’s Kashmir unit.
Said to be issued by al-Qaeda’s subcontinent chief, Sana-ul-Haq, who hails from Uttar Pradesh, the video claims that Mehmood’s real name is Raja Mohammad Salman, and that he had studied Islamic law in Islamabad, but this hasn’t been confirmed as yet.
In the video, Mehmood, lashes out against at the Pakistan Army, calling it “the obstacle, in the path of victory.” Labelling the army as “an enemy of the Shari’a, God’s law, and a slave of global infidels,” he has urged against depending on it to “lead us to victory”
A few months ago, reporters in Pakistan’s Peshawar region had received an audiotape which stated that Mehmood had been killed this January in a drone strike.
