The Islamic State has claimed to have a big opportunity to establish and expand its presence in the Kashmir region of India and fight 'the cow-worshiping Hindus'. The assertion of 're-conquering the land once ruled by the Muslims' was made by Hafiz Saeed Khan, the emir of 'Khorasan', in an interview published in the latest issue of group's mouthpiece Dabiq on Wednesday.
The 13th issue of IS' propaganda magazine features a long interview of Saeed, also known as Mulla Saeed Orakzai. Saeed is a former Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) commander who defected to join the IS and now heads the group's military and administrative operations of Khorasan, currently active in Afghanistan-Pakistan region. IS aspires to expand its territorial control on the Khorasan region which historically extends from present day Iran, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Turkmenistan to India and China.
"It had once been under the authority of Muslims, along with the regions surrounding it. Afterwards, the secularist…the cow-worshiping Hindus and atheist Chinese conquered other nearby regions, as is the case in parts of Kashmir and Turkistan,'' says Saeed stressing the importance of the current territory under IS control in the Af-Pak region as a 'gate to re-conquering' and expanding the Caliphate.
Saeed said the IS has consolidated territory in five administrative regions (of Af-Pak) where it has established civil governance overlooking legal, administrative, religious and public affairs under the Shaira law, similar to its functioning in the Caliphate in Iraq and Syria. He cautioned that the governments of Pakistan and Afghanistan as well as the organisations they support like the Taliban and the Lashkar-e-Taiba are obstructing the expansion of the Caliphate and the Jihad.
To a question on whether the IS is "capable of expanding to Kashmir to fight the cow-worshiping Hindus and the apostate factions such as Lashkar-e-Taiba", Saeed answered there are specific arrangements in those regions to expand the Caliphate.
The IS has no presence in India or in Kashmir. The valley has, however, seen sporadic incidents of waving of the group's flag, posters and graffiti and at least one known case of a Kashmiri joining the group, agonising the intelligence and security agencies given the region's history of militancy and Islamic Jihad. The territorial and political conflict in Kashmir is fueled by Pakistan sponsored and backed militant groups to attack the Indian security agencies. Groups like the LeT, Hizbul ul Mujaheedin are known to be backed under direct patronage of Pakistan ISI.
In the past, Saeed said the Pakistan army and intelligence exploited the various Islamic organisations on the issue of Kashmir for their despicable personal interests, "not out of any concern for the affairs of Muslims, nor for the sake of establishing Allah's law in the land.''
After the ceasefire, withdraw, and retreat, "the (Pakistan) intelligence agencies left the people of Kashmir in the middle of the road and in the worst of situations. The degree of Pakistani 'interests' always fluctuates back and forth, doing so especially in the last years, until the people of Kashmir hit a roadblock and there was no one to save them from the quagmire into which they were thrown.''
The apocalyptic militant group aims to restore Islam to its seventh century glory by establishing a worldwide Caliphate. IS currently has controlled territory known as wilayats in Libya, Algeria, Egypt, Yemen, Saudi Arabia, Nigeria, Caucasus and Afghanistan-Pakistan, where it has imposed Islamic rule under Sharia law.
In its previous issue of Dabiq, IS rebuked Pakistan and dismissed LeT and al Qaeda as the puppet of the 'apostate' army for its role in the militancy and inability to establish Sharia in Kashmir. Saeed once again targeted LeT as an agent of apostate Pakistan and "concealing their work …without any consideration for the interests of the Muslims in Kashmir."
"They do not have control over any territory in the regions of Kashmir, because they proceed in accordance with the orders of the Pakistani intelligence, as they are the ones who direct their work, pushing them forward when they wish and pulling them back when they wish. They also conceal their work when they wish, depending on the local and global atmosphere and based on personal material interests…''
He also accused the Pakistani media in its propaganda by calling the fighters of IS in Khorasan many of whom have migrated from the Kashmir region, purportedly from the PoK as being agents of the Indian intelligence.'
References to apostate Hindus, India and the Muslims in India have become frequent in the propaganda literature of IS. This is seen by experts as a strategy to leverage support for the group in India and attract more recruits.
Around 17 Indians are currently believed to be working with the IS and al Qaeda affiliate group in Syria. Earlier the group in its online manifesto titled Black Flags from the ISIS vowed to expand its war to India and called Prime Minister Narendra Modi a right wing Hindu nationalist preparing his people for a future war against Muslims.'
