India
has declared heightened alert in several provinces a day after al-Qaeda
leader Ayman al-Zawahiri announced the formation of an Indian branch of
the global armed group.
“We
are taking the matter very seriously. Such threats can’t be ignored, we
have asked the states to be on alert (especially) Gujarat, Madhya
Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh and Bihar,” an Indian intelligence source told
AFP news agency after Wednesday’s video announcement.
The
timing and content of the video suggests rivalry between al-Qaeda and
its more vigorous rival in Syria and Iraq, the Islamic State group,
which anecdotal evidence suggests is gathering support in South and
Southeast Asia.
Zawahri’s
announcement made two references to Gujarat, the home state of India’s
new Prime Minister Narendra Modi, a Hindu nationalist who has been a
hate figure for armed groups because of religious riots on his watch in
2002. Over 1,000 people, mostly Muslims, died during the violence.
There has
been no proof of the group’s presence in India, while media reports
claimed that Islamic State pamphlets have been distributed in Pakistan
recently.
Zawahri
went on to describe the formation of “al-Qaeda in the Indian
Subcontinent” as glad tidings for Muslims “in Myanmar, Bangladesh,
Assam, Gujarat, Ahmedabad and Kashmir” and said the new wing would
rescue Muslims there from injustice and oppression.
A senior police official said that Gujarat has been high on the list of armed groups, including al-Qaeda, since the 2002 riots.
Muslims
make up 15 percent of the Indian population, numbering an estimated 175
million, but theirs is the third-largest Muslim population in the world.
Some protesters in India-admistered Kashmir were seen raising Islamic State flags in July.
Kashmir,
which is claimed by both India and Pakistan, has long attracted foreign
fighters as well as home-grown rebel fighters against Indian rule.
