Qaeda lists targets in India, Pakistan

Terror group plans attacks on secret services, military leadership of both countries

New Delhi: Indian and Pakistani secret agents and the respective military leaderships figure together as prime targets on the kill-list of Al Qaeda in Indian Subcontinent.

Indian and Pakistani secret agents, and the military leaderships in the two countries have figured together as prime targets on the kill-list of Al Qaeda in Indian Subcontinent (AQIS) which has laid down a list of targets across India, Pak, Bangladesh and Myanmar in terms of priority.

In a roadmap document titled “Code of Conduct” recently released by As Sahab Subcontinent — purportedly the AQIS’ media wing — the Al Qaeda’s regional affiliate has listed the leadership of police, military and secret agencies as its top target in India followed by leaders of Hindu organisations.

Accusing India of being the prime defender of “secular government and secular movements,” the AQIS says that the Indian state is the fundamental obstacle to the formation of an Islamic India. “It is our religious obligation to bring that Islamic land (India) under the flag of Islam, under the rule of Tawheed,” it said.

The AQIS target list for Pakistan is more detailed.

Besides the secret service ISI and others, the Pakistani military and other law enforcement agencies, the document lists: “Ministers and those senior bureaucrats who

are directly engaged against Prophet Muhammad’s deen in this American War” followed by “retired military officers and those former political office-holders who openly participated against Islam in this war for implementation of Shariah”.

Saying killing officers are a greater priority than soldiers, the document lays down: “All personnel of the military are our targets, whether they be in warzones or in the barracks at their bases. Even personnel who are on vacation are not exempted”.

The AQIS announced its presence in the Indian subcontinent with a badly botched operation in the Karachi naval dockyard in September 2014, when its plan to hijack a Pakistani frigate, PNS Aslat, was foiled after a gunfight with the Pakistan naval forces.

The original plan was to take over the PNS Aslat and use its advanced weapon systems, including anti-submarine torpedoes, four guided missiles with a range of up to 120 km, surface-to-air missiles and 72 mm anti-aircraft guns — to target US and the Indian Navy ships plying in international waters near Karachi. The gaffe was admitted in an AQIS release.

In Bangladesh, the AQIS acquired notoriety for its brutal knife attacks on secularists, bloggers and activists.

A central AQIS narrative is the Ghazwa al-Hind or the Battle of India, which prophesises the coming of Islamic rule in India.