According to the Turkey Tribune news report dated 31 Jan 2016, Turkish forces had captured one thousand ISIS insurgents, from 57 different countries traveling between Turkey and Syria, while officials claimed that 300 Chinese Uyghur’s were the largest group, the Russians about 100 and about 80 Pakistanis, while the rest were from other nationalities. The UN and Turkey have said that nearly 15,000 Syrians are massed at the Turkish border after fleeing the government offensive in Aleppo. It is most intriguing as to what ISIS is and why its reach has engulfed the European Union (EU), North Africa extending to South Asia and East Asia.
Notorious Jordanian Muslim al Qaida insurgent Abu Musab al- Zarqawi, who was earlier involved in the Afghanistan unrest in the late 1990s, during the Iraqi militancy from 2003-2006 raised a jihadi outfit named Tawhid wal-Jihad, that over a period broke away from al Qaida and became The Islamic State of Iraq and Syria or The Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham (ISIS). Zarqawi and many of the ISIS commanders were killed in airstikes from 2006 onwards. Abu Bakr al –Baghdadi took over the command of ISIS and declared himself as Caliph Ibrahim. So, al Qaida in Iraq became the forerunner of ISIS-the Salafi jihadist terror Islamic Army indoctrinated in conservative Wahhabi Sunni Islam. Therefore, Shias, other non-Sunni believers like Ahemdias, Boras, Jews, Christians and Hindus are its obvious targets for achieving pan-Islamic Sharia law globally. Its ability to conduct propaganda, psychological warfare, ruthlessness and apt handling of social media has made it the most dreaded, formidable, ruthless and fanatical mass killer organisation in the world.
President Obama led the US and NATO offernsive with massive airstrikes to topple Gaddafi in the Libyan revolution eventually allowing Libyan rebels to capture and execute him publicly. They looted huge quantities of all types of arms and ammunition, including tanks and anti-tank weapons and smuggled them to Syria via NATO ally Turkey’s southern border, while the US ambassador was killed in the attack on the US embassy. The ISIS Jihadis then started targeting Syria massively with the tacit US and NATO support to overthrow Assad.
Israel, Jordan, Saudi Arabia and Qatar also helped ISIS against Syria. They also launched massive attacks on Iraq capturing large areas and threatening Baghdad. The economies of Libya, Iraq, Yemen and Syria have been shattered and these countries devastated by the dirty work of ISIS, mostly based in Syria and Iraq, giving enough reasons for the US and NATO’s intervention.
Meanwhile, Turkey has opened its vast borders in the south to let in Muslim refugees, many of whom stay there while others move to other destinations in the EU. Iraq has warned Turkey not to infiltrate its mechanised troops in their country. As per BBC news last week, over 35,000 refugees entered Turkey from Syria and many are on their way to various EU destinations. Germany’s Chancellor Angela Merkel large-heartedly allowed thousands of refugees seeking asylum but many fear hordes of refugees include members of ISIS’s covert operatives. Hostility to her open refugee policy grew, most notably within her own party. Last week, her interior ministry re-imposed the very restrictions Ms. Merkel had so auspiciously lifted.
With the US and NATO trying to overthrow Assad in Syria, ISIS, under Baghdadi, is the biggest beneficiary, being able to form Baghdadi’s dream Caliphate in parts of captured Iraqi and Syrian territories. Many Iraqi oil fields and refineries are under its control to sustain its economy to wage wars, spread ethnic hatred, pay its soldiers and acquire arms and ammunition. In a way, that has helped in lowering oil prices globally. ISIS allies control some territories from Libya, Nigeria to Afghanistan, giving its reach from North Africa, West Asia to South Asia while, it has been able to launch attacks in the EU. The reach of the brazen ISIS offensive operations can be seen in the November 2015 Paris attacks, shooting down of the Russian aircraft in Egypt and the earlier disappearing and shooting of two of the Malaysian Airlines flights respectively. Soon, all Shiite nations and countries with a sizeable Shia population will systematically and ruthlessly fall as its prey if not contained timely.
In South Asia, some commentators feel that ISIS’s advancement will be difficult as ISIS being Salafists, has no place to manoeuvre with the Sunni Deobandi sect, which is in majority. Also, the Pakistan Army, the dreaded ISI and the Taliban oppose ISIS, as does the Afghanistan army.
But we all know that both Afghanistan and Pakistan are hotbeds of numerous terror outfits providing enough breeding grounds to fight against non-Sunnis and Hindu kafirs. This is a very essential ingredient for ISIS spreading its network in this region. Afghanistan’s indigenous Taliban, who has a different ideology and agenda, wants to rule the entire country but it has limited chances to spread its tentacles. But disgruntled Taliban elements are on the fence to join ISIS who claimed responsibility for the attack on the Pakistani consulate in eastern Afghanistan that left seven dead and many injured. Like ISIS, the Taliban economy is also governed by the illicit acts of smuggling of arms, ammunition, opium and money laundering.
Pakistan is major source of jihadi terrorists. Bin Laden was provided a safe heaven adjacent to The Pakistan Military Academy when killed by the US deep within the country. Though Pakistan denies ISIS on its soil, thousands of Pakistani terrorists have joined ISIS and are fighting in Iraq and Syria. Bangladesh is a thickly populated Muslim developing nation, where all India & Myanmar centric NE Indian & Muslim terrorists find safe heavens. Some ISIS suicide bomber attacked on December 26,2015 a minority Ahmadi Muslim Mosque in Bangladesh, killing 3 people and injuring many more. In this conservative, underdeveloped but over populated country with weak governance, ISIS has gained its roots in carrying out many attacks on non-Sunni mosques including the killing of 3 foreigners.
India has the largest Muslim population in a non-Muslim country. Being a liberal, secular, democratic nation with a developing economy with lesser job opportunities, radicalisation of the youth is easier. There are reports every day in the newspapers about young Muslims from poorer backgrounds escaping to Syria and Iraq to join Jihadi /ISIS outfits.
In China, a police investigation had uncovered numerous gangs recruiting Uighurs for jihad. The Uighurs are the extremely oppressed Turkish speaking Muslim minority in China’s far western province of Xinjiang. China is suspicious of the Pakistani ISI covert operations against the Shias in the adjoining Xinjiang region bordering Pakistan Occupied Kashmir (POK). Iran has also shown a secret interest in this remote area. Turkey had deported large numbers of Uighur ISIS operatives sneaking in as refugees.
In the EU, ISIS has infiltrated in large numbersnumbers into the UK, France, Belgium, Sweden, Norway, Holland, Germany, Spain, Bosnia, Kosovo, Greece and Spain, as evident from the ISIS Paris attack module. Baghdadi has called on all Muslims to rise up and overthrow Israel and the West.
Southeast Asia is within the global reach of ISIS, especially as Indonesia, with the largest Muslim population in the world, has been declared as un-Islamic by ISIS. On 14 January 2016, ISIS suicide bombers attacked with bombs and grenades killing 4 and injuring many. In 2002, al Qaida killed over 200 in a Bali holiday resort that included many foreigners. The country is gearing up for worse ISIS attacks to come. Malaysia, another Muslim populated country, arrested ISIS operatives wanting to blow a Metro station in Kuala Lumpur on 16 January, 2016. Southeast Asia needs to gear up for any such impending attacks.
News.com.au has reported ISIS terror attacks in European capitals, Australia and New Zealand. Using his Twitter account name ‘Kiwi jihadi’, Mark John Taylor posted photos of himself holding automatic weapons and knives with comments such as “I just love Mortars and rain!” One cannot take such gimmicks lightly.
The southerrn Russian region has large numbers of Muslim CIS where ISIS could easily infiltrate. The Chechnya Muslim rebels are another vulnerable group. Then volatile Afghanistan is its regional neighbour causing President Putin to have serious concerns over ISIS infiltration.
The US, being a superpower and victim of 9/11, carrying out the largest military operation in Iraq and Syria, is a lucrative ISIS target. Many cities and US leaders are on the hit list of ISIS. Latin America’s oil rich Venezuela and small island nations in the West Indies are also at very great risks.
ISIS needs fast global tackling. An Indian writer has suggested Gandhian non-violent ways of tackling the menace by changing the hearts and minds of the terrorists. They writer suggests morally forcing ISIS to see how unjust they are, advocating a worldwide non-violent, secular and just movement against all jihadi forces. Notwithstanding that firstly, all the major countries such as the US, Russia, EU, China, Pakistan and India, along with the UN, need to be determined to fight ISIS, overcoming narrow and parochial issues of sheltering terrorists. Those countries supporting ISIS and Jihadis in any form need to be boycotted diplomatically, militarily and economically.
Counter terror measures need to be streamlined globally and real time intelligence shared. Drying the sources of finances (ISIS oil revenues – $1.5 million per day), together with ransoming hostages and slave trading of women must be boycotted. Their sources of supplies of arms and ammunition or smuggling of drugs, narcotics and hawala transactions need to be ceased. Their recruitment areas need to be kept under surveillance along with sleeper cells. They need to be isolated and destroyed with no collateral damage to innocent locals and vigorous psywar themes to win over their hearts and minds to shun violence. Also, the genuine grievances need to be addressed with good governance, education, developing democratic institutions and elimination of poverty and corruption. Their reach and misuse of the internet, satellite phones and social media should be fully denied.
Social media plays a prominent role in promoting both peace or conflict or any such theme both to the advantage and disadvantage of rival players. Twitter, acoording to the Mail Today report, has suspended over 125,000 accounts linked with ISIS.
Time is running out to contain the ISIS, Ebola and Zika menaces globally. Other deficiencies can later follow suit. Terrorism will remain and can not be fully eliminated BUT we must contain it.
