IS, Pak Taliban joining hands worries India

mangaloretoday.com

New Delhi, May 01: The PM’s Office has been informed about the creation of a terror group that is a subsidiary of the Islamic State (IS) in Pakistan, with its leaders suspected of having close links with the Pakistani establishment.

Islamic State’s nexus with terrorists in Pakistan having links with Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), Al-Qaeda and the Pakistan Army has alarmed the Indian intelligence agencies along with the Research and Analysis Wing (R&AW) that has alerted the PMO and the Ministry of Home Affairs.

The report states that recently a group based in the Afghanistan-Pakistan region was recognised as an ally of the IS and accorded the status of ’Wilayat’ by the Islamic State and is called ’Wilayat Khurasan’ (WK) which literally means Khurasan Province.
 

 

"Currently, a variety of inputs about the activities of IS in Afghanistan-Pakistan region keep surfacing that need to be probed. However, the creation of WK and possible linkages of its leaders with the Pakistani establishment is a matter of concern for India," sources said.

According to the report, the Wilayat Khurasan’s religious head Abdul Rahim Muslim Dost had links with LeT leaders in the tribal areas of the Afghanistan-Pakistan region and a military leader Asmatullah Muawiya formerly linked to al-Qaeda, and had made peace with the Pakistan Army. Muawiya had threatened India in recent times, the report says.

According to the report, IS named former Tehreek-e-Taliban (TTP) commander Hafeez Saeed Khan as the Wali (governor) and former Afghan Taliban commander Abdur Rauf Khadim as his deputy.

Officials in the security establishment view Islamic State’s proximity with Pakistani terror groups as an attempt to consolidate the Afghanistan-Pakistan region and expand its reach beyond Iraq and Syria.

"The IS getting a foothold in Pakistan and working closely with them is dangerous for India and we need to keep a check on their activities," said a security official.

Despite denials by Pakistan and Afghanistan about the presence of IS-affiliated groups active in the region, the announcement of WK was made by IS spokesperson Abu Muhammad al-Adnani in January earlier this year. The statement was released by al-Furqan media foundation, Islamic States’ media arm.

The report states that WK claimed responsibility for a series of attacks in and around Jalalabad in Afghanistan that killed several civilians and security personnel on April 18. But later Islamic State in its English news bulletin denied any involvement in the attack and called it a smear campaign.

"The denial by IS is yet another indication of how it is differentiating between developments in Afghanistan-Pakistan compared to West Asia and North Africa. While it asked Wilayats in West Asia and North Africa to carry out jihad locally, it called on the soldiers of WK to join jihad in Syria and Iraq," report states.