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The Indian Mujhadeen wants to shed the Indian tag and focus more on the global issues -- something that has caused a rift between the terror outfit and the Pakistani ISI. Vicky Nanjappa reports.
A recent letter received by Mumbai Police Commissioner Rakesh Maria threatening attacks against Israelis in retaliation to the war in Gaza makes a very interesting point.
While the authorities confirm that it is a letter written by the infamous terror outfit Indian Mujahideen, what has raised eyebrows is that the letter was signed just "Mujahideen."
It is certainly not a typo and has a meaning to it. This is yet another sign to show that the Indian Mujahideen today is more interested in international issues and wants to move past the India tag.
Attacking Indians in India has earned them hatred amidst their own community and the lack of local support has not helped them one bit, experts point out.
Moving past the India tag is what caused the fall out between arrested IM co-founder Yasin Bhatkal and the Inter-Services Intelligence, the Pakistani spy agency.
The ISI wanted the IM to continue attacking Indians whereas Bhatkal wanted to gather Indian Muslims in a bid to help a Global Islamic Council by pledging support to the Muslims in the war in Syria, Gaza and Afghanistan.
They even raised the Rohingya Muslim issue -- who have been regularly targeted in the Buddhist-dominated Myanmar -- but were told to remain quiet.
The terror attack in Bihar’s Bodh Gaya, one of Buddhism’s holiest sites, was the first operation undertaken by the Indian Mujahideen without ISI’s approval.
The letter is sent at a time when almost every Muslim across the globe is showing solidarity towards the Hamas and Palestine and opposing the Israeli violence.
“Mujahdeen” will look to target Israelis
The Mujahdeen cadres, who now call themselves just Mujahideens, will now enact a new role. Their attacks would be Israel-centric, which means they would try and target their nationals and establishments in India.
The Israeli press too has expressed concern and have told all their citizens in India to be on guard. Security has been beefed up at all establishments concerning the Israelis.
The Mujahideen would however wait a while before they make a statement in favour of the Islamic State which is battling against the establishment in Iraq and Syria. This is largely to do with the fact that the Mujahideen has pledged support to the Al Qaeda which today is opposed to the ISIS or IS.
SIMI to take charge of local terror operations
This also means that their local operations would now be handled by the Students Islamic Movement of India. The SIMI has a political message in all its attacks and their first attempt to stage a comeback was seen during the Patna rally blasts.
Sources in the Intelligence Bureau tell Rediff.com that members of the SIMI continue to focus only on the Indian issues and hence their targets would be India related only.
Image: The Indian Mujahdeen logo