Indian men joining Jihad in Levant: Why India needs to worry

By Shweta Desai

August 14, 2014 

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 Earlier in July, a group of four young men from Mumbai- the urban metropolis of India-left their pilgrim troupe visiting religious shrines in Baghdad, Iraq and changed routes to the northern city of Mosul to join the Islamic State - the militant extremist group whose ruthless religious zealotry has fragmented Iraq and Syria to form Caliphate which submits to fundamentalist Islamic laws. The flight of the Indian men to the war ravaging in Levant points to a phenomenon which has already drawn in over 12000 fighters from 83 countries. It has however put India on a list of potential Jihadi risk that has intelligence and security agencies in Europe to Australia, America to Indonesia hitting the panic button, worrying on the threat that these radicals pose: inspired by weapons training and Jihadist acts and returning home to commit acts of terrorism.

In less than two years, Syria has become number one jihadist destination and most prominent jihadist battlefield in the world, providing both a rallying point and a training ground for radical Islamists from other nations. This mobilisation of war volunteers remains one of the prominent features of the conflict in Syria as many Muslims feel exhorted to join the battlefield and liberate their brethren from the oppressors.

Until now there was an understanding that Syria is geographically far from India and the conflict does not have any impact on the domestic matters of the country, hence there is no real need to be involved. However, the presence of young men from Maharashtra, Kerala and Tamil Nadu in a transnational Jihadi organisation marks a radical shift in India’s strategic approach in West Asia. India’s concerns had widely remained on the peripheries of energy security, oil and natural gas deficit - as it continues to import 60 percent oil and gas from Gulf states - and the effect of the conflict on the 7 million labour force residing in the region that could impact the high remittances sent back home; but will now be forced to draw new counter indoctrination strategies to prevent people from volunteering in the war, engaging in terrorism and disseminating jihadist ideology.

The risk of foreign fighters first emanated in September 2013 when Syrian ambassador to India, Dr Riad Abbas disclosed that Indian Jihadists were fighting along with rebels. The case of Tamil Nadu-born Singapore resident Haji Fakkurudin Usman Ali who is suspected to have joined militants from Islamic State and radicalized by another man Gul Mohammad Maraikar was widely underplayed by Indian security agencies, as both fighters were non-resident Indians. But as recent details of 18 Indian men joining the ranks of ISIS as Sunni fighters emerge and one fighter reportedly dying in combat, the implications of the Islamic turmoil in Levant appear to have drawn closer home, which India can no longer afford to stay out of.

While there have been cases of home-grown radicals involved in terror and suspicious activities, the case of volunteers in Iraq is different in the context that until now such volunteers crossed over India’s border in the conflict ridden Jammu-Kashmir region to join militants in neighbouring Pakistan and infiltrated back in the valley to continue the offensive. This time, to consider some cases, around eight men are from the urban cities of Mumbai and Thane, parts of Kerala and also Tamil Nadu, regions with no any active military conflict. All in their 20s, the men have no combat experience nor have they been reported to be a part of proxy local groups like the Indian Mujahedeen, which has reportedly fought with the Taliban in Afghanistan.

The narrative of how Indian fighters have been drawn in the conflict is remarkably similar to the enrolment of other foreign fighters with the Islamist rebel groups, where online propaganda has been pivotal. These fighters typically belong from outside Syria, have no direct connection to the conflict, are in the age range of 18-29 years, often teenagers and a fair percentage of them are converts to Islam from non-Muslim majority countries. The countries of origin of these fighters reveal high economic and social indicators and a higher variant of peace as compared to the turmoil in the Levant region. While ISIS is said to pay salaries to its militants, there are no direct benefits or visible material gains on offer for the Indian men to participate in the conflict.

The map of Islamic State, carved out of territorial gains in Iraq and Syria by the militant group formerly known as ISIS which is recruiting young men to fight for Jihad (Source: Institute for the study of War)

Why, then, are young men leaving higher education prospects and well employed jobs to travel to Syria to fight and be killed into a conflict which is not theirs to begin with? Radicalization by local Islamic groups, social media propaganda on Twitter, Facebook, Ask.fm have created opportunities for curious young men to be inspired from Jihad, persistently drawing on a religious obligation to protect their faith, their fellow Muslims and to walk the path showed by Allah. The Syrian war is also the first modern war where fighters and supporters are using social media in real time to propagate, instigate and document the conflict. The analysis of French government on the foreign fighters as `disaffected, aimless and lacking a sense of identity or belonging’ can be applied to the Indian men as well, who see their life as dejection in the land of kaffirs. “I cried when I saw you all sinning, smoking cigarettes, taking interest, watching TV, indulging in illegal sexual intercourse, living luxurious lives, intermingling of sexes, not praying, not growing beards. These things will lead to you burning in the hell-fire,” wrote one Mumbai youth who has volunteered for the war in Iraq, in a letter left behind for the family. The letter points to the dejection in the land of the kaffirs but does not address the causes of such a dejection or lack of belonging.

The presence of foreign jihadists in Syria has increased the security challenges - both internal and external for India. The risk factor prevails largely from the military training, skills, wartime experience and radical discourse that the volunteers will undergo with the militant groups. Inexperienced and first time fighters are absorbed in large training camps, where they are exposed to guns training, making bombs and explosives and religious indoctrination. Following the training, foreign fighters are given an AK47 and magazines, a vest pack, grenade. The attraction of guns, combat training, fight against the oppressors to protect the faith and the opportunity to attain martyrdom can be considered as the precursor to the foreign fighters joining the extreme rebels.

The violent and extremist acts of the militant groups includes territory occupation which is often brutal to crush down local resistance, rapes of women, killings of children and old, public executions, harsh punishments, theatrical and dramatic display of dead, looting and desecration of Shia mosques, Churches and other religious sites has exposed foreign fighters in its ranks to wartime experience and indoctrination that will be undoubtedly hard to shake off. After all, prolonged exposure to militant environment, violence and radicalization could certainly serve to be a principal stepping-stone for individuals in more extreme forms of militancy.

In an audio released earlier in July, ISIS leader and Caliph Abu Bakr al Baghdadi included India as one of the target countries where the rights of Muslims’ were violated and called all Muslims to fight for their rightful place and dignity. Security and intelligence officials fear the `target’ could mean the low-intensity conflict in Kashmir which along with Palestine and Chechnya remains high on the radar of Islamist extremists who have vowed for Jihad to liberate the Muslims here against the oppressors.

ISIS could well use the Indian fighters in its ranks to engage in terrorist and subversive activities in Kashmir to hit out against India. At the height of the conflict in the 1990s, foreign fighters from Sudan and Jordan had infiltrated in the Indian administered Kashmir from the borders of Pakistan Occupied Kashmir. Along with military skills, tactics and guerrilla warfare, the foreign fighters also brought sophisticated weapons and Kalashnikovs (which were available in abundance following the Soviet withdrawal from Afghanistan) and funding from Gulf nations, enough to keep the conflict on for a sustained timeframe. The Indian fighters could also return back home and build up jihadist terrorist groups and networks, indoctrinating other young minds bolstering the militant groups in Kashmir. Although the conflict in Kashmir has largely been suppressed by Indian armed forces, the possibility of its revival through the radicalised returnees from Syria and Iraq remains high.

Similarly, the reports of 25,000 Shia volunteers getting ready to fight against the Sunni rebels in order to protect the holy religious sites in Karbala and Najaf, is likely to create another faction of foreign fighters from India. The flight of Shia volunteers in Iraq could expose them to radicalization by Shia militia forces which could implicate the situation in India by driving the returning fighters to seek retaliation against the Sunni population.

Sectarian violence has so far remained absent amongst India’s Muslim population and the relations between the two sects have remained cordial. However, if the theological and political anger that is currently keeping the Islamic world angry and in tumult reaches India through the radicalisation of Indian fighters, the consequences of sectarian violence in a country with large Muslim population could lead to a full blown Muslim insurgency. India has the third-largest population of Muslims worldwide dominated by the Sunnis but is also home to a large number of Shias. In fact, most Shias (between 68 per cent and 80 per cent) live in four countries: Iran, Pakistan, India and Iraq. The exposed Shia-Sunni fault line could heighten tensions and worsen violence in India similar to other Muslim populated countries including Syria, Iraq, Nigeria, Mali and next door in Pakistan. The presence of Indian fighters in Syria and Iraq therefore remain worrying as it will draw India further into the existing conflict and bring the fears of sectarian wars closer home.

The deadly shooting on the Jewish museum in Belgium in May by a French citizen who spent one year fighting in Syria, killing four, is a stark reminder of the possible blowback that the conflict in Syria could lead on. To prevent more people from its country into Syria and vice-a-versa, countries in the West have begun monitoring cases of fighters returning home and have devised new laws of conviction of a terror offence to join a jihadist training camp.

Based on historical patterns, there are very legitimate reasons for countries to be concerned. Veterans of the first Afghan jihad (against the Soviets in the 1980s) played a critical role in starting the Algerian civil war in 1991, which took the lives of hundreds of thousands. They were also instrumental in radicalizing elements of the Bosnia resistance to the Serbian regime in the 1990s. In more than half of the major terrorist plots against the West between 2004 and 2011, the attackers had been trained in Al Qaeda warzone camps. The gravity of the impact of foreign fighters perhaps emanates from the example of Osama Bin Laden, founder of Al Qaeda who fought in Afghanistan against the Soviet invasion in the 1980s as a young foreign fighter from Saudi Arabia.

Like the West, India too has closely been on the radar of global terrorism and cannot underestimate the threat posed by return of foreign fighters. The involvement of Indian men alongside the hardened militant group like ISIS has only upped the stakes for India to devise a more focused strategy to deal with the larger conflict in Syria. As ISIS expands its power and foreign volunteers continue to join the militant group, India has to manoeuvre carefully to establish links with the Assad government to assess information on the Indian fighters in Syria and devise a strategy to counter the threat posed by the training and experience which make them particularly dangerous. And perhaps also join hands with other Western countries dealing with the problem of foreign fighters.

Given its large Muslim population and its cultural as well historical links with the countries in West Asia, it has been cautious in its approach so that its position on any political, humanitarian or military event is not misconstrued as being partisan or sectarian back home. Nevertheless, as the conflict in Syria draws India closer, India will need to rethink its foreign policy from traditional contours and draw contingency plans to ward off the transnational Jihadi threat. Or else, the day the foreign fighters importing the conflict back home in India will not be so far. 

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