Al Qaeda & India

http://www.india-defence.com/reports/214 ^

[Srirangan]

Al Qaeda & India

URL: http://www.india-defence.com/reports/214 Date: 13/8/2005

In the periodic messages generally attributed to Osama bin Laden and his No.2 Ayman al-Zawahiri and their organisation Al Qaeda, they generally give an indication of their likely future targets. Such targets have included the US, other Western countries collaborating with the US in Afghanistan and Iraq and Muslim countries perceived by them as collaborating with the US.

In the past, these messages were free of critical references to India and the so-called Kashmir issue. The Al Qaeda had once criticised the US for allegedly supporting India on the so-called Kashmir issue, but had refrained from criticising India's policies in Kashmir directly.

The Taliban and its leaders too had generally refrained from criticising India. However, Gulbuddin Heckmatyar's Hizbe Islami (HEI), which is collaborating with the Al Qaeda and the Taliban in their present offensive against the American and Afghan troops, has always been virulently critical of India and supportive of anti-India terrorist groups operating in Jammu & Kashmir (J&K). The HEI, which is close to the Jamaat-e-Islami (JEI) of Pakistan led by Qazi Hussain Ahmed, had before 9/11 trained many cadres of the Hizbul Mujahideen headed by Syed Salahuddin in its training camps in Afghan territory.