India’s Mohammadi Mujahideen
By James Donahue
Police in India’s State of Andhra Pradesh and adjoining Maharashtra were worried in January 2000 that they also had a terrorist group on their hands. There were bombing incidents at two movie theaters and a sweets shop. The bombs had all been made from potassium nitrate, potassium permanganate, aluminum power and sugar.
The following month a note arrived at a newspaper office in Hyderabad that confirmed their worst fears. It announced the formation of the Indian Muslim Mohammadi Mujahideen (IMMM). It said the organization was “committed to eradicate the western culture from India.”
The note explained that the two theaters were bombed because they were showing pornographic films. The sweets shop was targeted because it was owned by a sympathizer of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, a Hindu right-wing organization.
Only weeks after the newspaper received the note, the group’s leader, Azam Ghauri, who had ties with the Lashkar-e-Taiba in Pakistan, was killed in a police raid. There were various other arrests and for a while it appeared that the threat of this new terror group was over.
What India authorities did not know, however, was that the ground work for this organization had been long and slow in forming. Even though the group effectively disbanded in 2001, a number of new terrorist cells began springing up all over the country. Like an octopus, the planners had been busy recruiting. It was estimated that the IMMM left an estimated 400 full-time workers, 20,000 sympathizers and a special cell for young children aged seven to eleven called the Shahin Force.
This group consisted of middle and lower class people who were Muslim believers and listening to the warnings of the Western influence of what they considered an immoral life style. They also opposed polytheistic Hinduism. Thus it was an organized attack against the influence of the Western culture and the ancient religions of India.
The battle by India police and military against this intense cult of Islamic believers has been raging ever since. There have been constant bombings followed by police raids, killings and arrests. One leader is captured and another springs up in his place. Like a chameleon the moment one terrorist group is exposed the next one begins operating under a different name.
Police investigations have revealed that the Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba has been a major instigator of the terror groups in India. By 2010 the Government of India declared the Mujahideen an official terrorist organization. So did the United States and New Zealand.
The Indian Mujahideen has since displayed regional aspirations an an ultimate aim of creating “an Islamic caliphate across South Asia.” Its members want to create an Islamic State and implement Sharia law throughout India and they say they will do this by indiscriminate violence if needed.
The worst attack to date was the Ahmedabad bombings. On July 26, 2008 a series of 21 explosions in that city left 56 people dead and another 200 injured. Mufti Abu Bashir and nine of his followers were captured and charged. They were members of a militant group calling itself Harkat-ul-Jihad-al-Islami.
In addition to an occasional drive-by shooting, the IM is mostly involved in planting bombs in crowded places. Their objective has always been to maximize casualties. The seeds of this mind-set have been deeply entrenched throughout India and because of powerful religious convictions in two different directions it may be next to impossible to bring the insanity to an end.
By James Donahue
Police in India’s State of Andhra Pradesh and adjoining Maharashtra were worried in January 2000 that they also had a terrorist group on their hands. There were bombing incidents at two movie theaters and a sweets shop. The bombs had all been made from potassium nitrate, potassium permanganate, aluminum power and sugar.
The following month a note arrived at a newspaper office in Hyderabad that confirmed their worst fears. It announced the formation of the Indian Muslim Mohammadi Mujahideen (IMMM). It said the organization was “committed to eradicate the western culture from India.”
The note explained that the two theaters were bombed because they were showing pornographic films. The sweets shop was targeted because it was owned by a sympathizer of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, a Hindu right-wing organization.
Only weeks after the newspaper received the note, the group’s leader, Azam Ghauri, who had ties with the Lashkar-e-Taiba in Pakistan, was killed in a police raid. There were various other arrests and for a while it appeared that the threat of this new terror group was over.
What India authorities did not know, however, was that the ground work for this organization had been long and slow in forming. Even though the group effectively disbanded in 2001, a number of new terrorist cells began springing up all over the country. Like an octopus, the planners had been busy recruiting. It was estimated that the IMMM left an estimated 400 full-time workers, 20,000 sympathizers and a special cell for young children aged seven to eleven called the Shahin Force.
This group consisted of middle and lower class people who were Muslim believers and listening to the warnings of the Western influence of what they considered an immoral life style. They also opposed polytheistic Hinduism. Thus it was an organized attack against the influence of the Western culture and the ancient religions of India.
The battle by India police and military against this intense cult of Islamic believers has been raging ever since. There have been constant bombings followed by police raids, killings and arrests. One leader is captured and another springs up in his place. Like a chameleon the moment one terrorist group is exposed the next one begins operating under a different name.
Police investigations have revealed that the Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba has been a major instigator of the terror groups in India. By 2010 the Government of India declared the Mujahideen an official terrorist organization. So did the United States and New Zealand.
The Indian Mujahideen has since displayed regional aspirations an an ultimate aim of creating “an Islamic caliphate across South Asia.” Its members want to create an Islamic State and implement Sharia law throughout India and they say they will do this by indiscriminate violence if needed.
The worst attack to date was the Ahmedabad bombings. On July 26, 2008 a series of 21 explosions in that city left 56 people dead and another 200 injured. Mufti Abu Bashir and nine of his followers were captured and charged. They were members of a militant group calling itself Harkat-ul-Jihad-al-Islami.
In addition to an occasional drive-by shooting, the IM is mostly involved in planting bombs in crowded places. Their objective has always been to maximize casualties. The seeds of this mind-set have been deeply entrenched throughout India and because of powerful religious convictions in two different directions it may be next to impossible to bring the insanity to an end.