Why is Modi failing to act against ISIS sympathisers?
There is a very inspiring episode from Maratha warrior Shivaji's life story, often quoted as an example of his world view and respect for women. In 1657, when his commander Sonaji Pant captured a ravishing Muslim beauty from Kalyan near Mumbai, and presented her as a gift to the Maratha ruler, requesting him to keep her in his harem just as many Muslim rulers did with the Hindu women they captured, he not only admonished Sonaji but also removed the fear of dishonour from the woman's mind with these words: “Had my mother been as beautiful as you, I too would have been very handsome”. She was the daughter of Mulla Ahmed Navayat, a viceroy of Sultan Adilshah of Bijapur. Shivaji sent her back to Bijapur with an escort.
Navayat was originally from Bhatkal, a small town of once peaceful Arab immigrants (Navayat means migrant) on the Karwar coast of Karnataka, now perceived by some as a kind of house factory of jihadis - the biggest jihadis from the town being Iqbal Bhatkal and his brother Riyaz, now operating from Pakistan. The duo masterminded many blasts across India in 2008, including the deadly one in Ahmedabad on behalf of Indian Mujahideen, before fleeing to Pakistan.
The town’s notoriety for producing jihadis grew last week with the news of one Sultan Abdul Kadir Armar, 39, who had gone missing from Bhatkal six years ago, being killed while fighting for the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS), also known as ISIL, at Kobane, on the Syria-Turkey border. Armar is believed to be the same masked jihadi who appealed to Indian Muslims in a series of videos to take the path of jihad for Mulsim Ummah. In the videos, Armar said: “Like Ahmad Shah Abdali (The Afghan invader who fought Marathas in the third battle of Panipat as part of his jihad.) and Muhammad ibn-Qasim, like Syed Ahmad the martyr, like the prophet and his companions, take the Quran in one hand and the sword in the other, and head to the fields of jihad. Let Brahmins and worshippers of cows, as well as the whole world of unbelievers know that the Indian Muslim is no coward.”
The videos were produced by the hardline ISIS-connected jihadi group, Ansar al-Tauhid, which at that time was involved in training Muslims youths at camps in Pakistan’s North Waziristan, as part of the Tehrik-E-Taliban network. Later the group joined ISIS head Abu Bakr Baghdadi Baghdadi in the fight for the Islamic caliphate. The group has issued a chilling statement on Armar’s killing: “Armar’s intense urge to establish Islam and the pathetic condition of the Muslim Ummah (nation) forced him to leave behind his loved ones, seeking Allah’s pleasure and eternal paradise.”
The Ansar al-Tauhid Group in Syria is believed to have many Bhatkal men. This includes Afif Hassan Siddibapa, alias Afif Jilani, a businessman who left his job in Saudi Arabia, and went to Karachi with his family to join Indian Mujahideen. Significantly, Husain, a taxi driver from Bhatkal, was also killed in the summer of 2014 while fighting alongside fellow jihadis near Kandahar in Afghanistan.
The Bhatkal revelation brings into the picture a very disturbing fact which should catch the attention of the Narendra Modi government even in its new pacifist role. It is the role of Nadwat-ul-Ullema, a seminary of Lucknow where Armar studied. Last July, a senior Maulana of the seminary and All India Muslim Personal Law Board (AIMPLB) member, Salman Nadwi, in a letter to ISIS's Baghdadi congratulated him for establishing the Islamic caliphate while appealing to Saudi Arabia to prepare an army of five lakh Sunni Muslim youths to help the caliphate in its mission. The Nadwa seminary might be emerging as a hub of pro-ISIS ideology, looking at the role of the Nadwa preachers in the radicalisation of Muslims in Bhatkal, where the seminary has a madrasa. Interestingly, in his letter to the caliphate, Nadwi addressed Baghdadi as "Amir ul Momeen" - this reflects the high respect he has for Baghdadi.
The Nadwa seminary, just like the Deoband and its missionary wing Tablighi Jamaat, belongs to the radical Wahabi umbrella, which is against worship of saints and other syncretic practices followed by the Sufi and the Barelvi sects. The Wahabi tanzeems regard these practices as un-islamic "imports from Hinduism". No wonder then that the entire Barelvi sect condemned Nadwi’s act of supporting ISIS, calling his action a threat to the peace of Indian Muslims. Some senior Deoband followers also joined them, expressing disagreement with Nadwi. Ideally, Nadwi should have been prosecuted for openly supporting a group whose barbarity is a challenge to humanity and even makes Hitler look like a moderate. But the Modi government chose to ignore it for strategic reasons, which many see as pacifist. Significantly, terrorists always come from Wahabi outfits and never from the Barelvi or Sufi sects.
However, amongst Indian Wahabi outfits too the number of terrorists is negligible - the silver lining surrounding this issue. Significantly, those who support jihadi terrorism covertly or overtly amongst the Wahabis are labelled as ultra-Wahabis.
Clearly, the Modi government has to be on its guard against the movements of the ultra-Wahabis.