Over
the past year, number of Indians and people of Indian origin have been
associated with the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria. Mantraya.org profiles
these individuals who have shared different categories of alliances with the
Islamic State as fighters, propagandists, fan-boys, wannabe extremists and even
people willing to live and perish in the established Caliphate. There is no
agreement on the actual number of Indians or people of Indian origin associated
with the Islamic State. This database by Mantraya.org, the only one of its kind
till date, focuses on the confirmed participants.
1. The MODULE
Imran Khan Muhammad Sharif
Imran
Khan Muhammad Sharif was the leader of the first Islamic State module in India.
Comprised of four other members – Wasim Khan, Mohammad Rizwan, Anwar and Mazhar
– the module was busted and all five men were arrested in Ratlam in Mandhya
Pradesh on 15 April 2015 on charges of planning terror strikes within India.
Chemicals used to manufacture explosives were reportedly recovered from Imran
Khan.
Imran
Khan was the son of a clerk in Madhya Pradesh government’s rural education
department. In 2001, he dropped out of an undergraduate business course at
Royal College in Ratlam, having completed just four semesters. Immigration
stamps on his passport detail five trips undertaken to Dubai and one to Saudi
Arabia. While his family insists that these trips were made in search of
employment, nothing materialised from these visits. Frustration and economic
reasons led Khan to turn religious. In 2012, Khan joined Ahl al-Suffah, an
Islamic proselytising and charity group led by a local resident Amjad Khan.
However, he was expelled from the group after displaying radical tendencies.
Wasim Khan, Mohammad Rizwan, Anwar and Mazhar were Ahl al-Suffah members.
Khan’s
entry into the Islamic State network was facilitated by Muhammad Shafi Armar
(also known as Yusuf). The two met and interacted on the Islamic State social
media pages and Islamist forums, while Khan was seeking to further radicalize
itself by trawling pro- Islamic State Facebook pages run by its supporters.
2. THE KALYAN CLIQUE
Areeb Majeed
Areeb
Majeed is the most well-known face of the four-member Kalyan Clique which
travelled to Iraq on a religious pilgrimage and then broke away from the group
to travel to Mosul to join the Islamic State. Son of a doctor father, Majeed
was a 22-year old civil engineering diploma student from an affluent family. A
story nothing short of dramatic, he was reported dead in late August 2014 but
made a surprise return to India three months later, in late November. Arrested
upon his return, investigations threw up many facts of Majeed being a trained
suicide bomber, that the Islamic State had lethal plans for India and also that
Majeed was disillusioned with the menial work he was assigned in the conflict
zone rather being allowed adventurous Jihad.
Majeed
studied at a polytechnic college in Vashi, Mumbai. His radical tendencies were
also initiated and sustained by internet chat rooms and Jihadist forums. He
also claimed to have been lured by a love interest, Tahira Bhatt on social
media. He was particularly motivated after watching violent videos relating to
the Israel-Palestine situation. The radicalised Majeed had donated his denims
and shirts, and avoided using cellphones a month and half before he left home.
Relatives reported that Majeed would stop her sister, a doctor, from watching
films and working. On one occasion he even brought her back home from the
hospital by force. In a letter left at home before he left for Iraq, Majeed
censured his family for “sinning”, “living luxurious lives”, “watching
television” and “not praying”.
In the
Islamic State-held territory Majeed was reportedly injured by a bullet while
working on a construction site. He recovered in a week. Unconfirmed reports
indicate that the Islamic State gave him US$2000 and dropped him on the Turkey
border to go home. He is currently in custody of the investigative agencies.
Shaheen Tanki
Shaheen
Tanki, a 25 year old high school dropout and a call centre employee, was one of
four boys from Kalyan who flew to Baghdad on 23 May 2014 to join the Islamic
State. Tanki is believed to have been radicalised online, looking at violent
content on the internet and was subsequently brainwashed by Adil Dolare, an
employee at the Islamic Guidance Centre in Kalyan. Unconfirmed reports of
Tanki’s death surfaced in mid-January 2015, although his family rejected those
reports.
Fahad Sheikh
Fahad
Sheikh, a 25 year old mechanical engineering student at the Nagpada College in
south Mumbai, joined the Islamic State after leaving his home in Kalyan in
March 2015 and travelling to Iraq. Fahad had become a friend of Areeb Majeed
after both met at a mosque and possibly was radicalised by Majeed. Only son in
a family with four sisters, Fahad had turned radical and on occasions told his
sisters not to watch movies and music and not apply makeup.
According
to media reports in March 2015, Fahad was in regular touch with friends and
family via telephone and social media and was known to be based in Iraq. During
such interactions, Fahad Sheikh reportedly expressed his desire to remain in
the Islamic State territory and not return to India.
Aman Naim Tandel
27-year
old Aman Tandel, only son of his parents, was in the third year of mechanical
engineering course when he left home for Iraq along with the three other
members of the Kalyan clique and joined the Islamic State. Belonging to an
affluent and educated family, Tandel was described by his neighbours as a
“gentle, well-mannered boy” and “like a friend to his father”. He is known to
be fighting on behalf of the Islamic State in Iraq.
3. THE OVERSEAS CONNECTION
Haja Farukuddin Usman Ali
Haja
Farukuddin Usman Ali, originally from Tamil Nadu, was a 37 year old supermarket
manager who had obtained citizenship of Singapore in 2008. In 2007, Ali had met
Maracchi Maraicar at Cuddalore where the former had visited as a volunteer on a
religious missionary trip. Both became friends because of their radical outlook
and their contacts deepened after Maraicar became a permanent Singapore
resident in 2008, the same year Ali got his citizenship in that country. In
2013, Ali travelled to Syria with financial support from Maraicar, training
briefly in a camp housing Chechen jihadists. Later, he returned to Singapore,
and served as a node for the Chennai students who were recruited to serve in
Syria. In January 2014, Ali flew out of Singapore with his wife and three
children (then aged between 2 and 11) to Turkey and then crossed over the
border to Syria. In Jihadist circles, Ali went by the name of Abu Talha and had
planned to fund a network of radical Muslims through his contacts in the
country.
Abu Rumaysah
Abu
Rumaysah (also known as Abu Rumaysah al Britani) is the assumed name of
Siddhartha Dhar, born to a British-Indian Hindu family of Bihar-Bengal origin.
He had converted to Islam during his teens and had long been estranged from his
family. He was a key member of Al-Muhajiroun, led by Bangladesh-origin Islamist
Anjem Choudary that has been at the forefront of campaigning for the Islamic
State in the United Kingdom. According to reports, there is no record of
Rumaysah having visited India in the past several years.
On 27
September 2014, the 31-year old left along with his family for Syria through
Paris to join the Islamic State. Dhar was among nine men, including Anjem
Choudary, who had been arrested and questioned by police in early September
2014 on suspicion of terrorism offences before being released on bail and
ordered to return to police stations in December. However, he jumped bail and
later mocked through his Twitter account the “shoddy” British security services
which could not prevent him from joining the Islamic State. He expressed his
joy in living in the Islamic State, and upon request from followers even posted
pictures with his son and rifle on Twitter.
Prior
to his flight from Britain, Abu Rumaysah was a familiar face on television
representing the Islamist narrative and arguing in favour of the imposition of
Shariah Law. On many occasions he spoke in support of the Islamic State and
even said that he wished to travel to join the militants. In 2015, Abu Rumaysah
published “A brief guide to the Islamic State”, a travel guide of sorts which
included sections on food, weather, technology, transportation, people and
education facilities in the established caliphate.
Muhammad Hamza Khan
Muhammad
Hamza Khan, a 19-year old American citizen of Indian origin was arrested along
with his two siblings at the O’Hare International Airport, Chicago on 4 October
2014 where he was planning to fly to Vienna and then onward to Istanbul to join
the Islamic State. Khan, his 16-year old brother, and his 17-year old sister
appeared to have been radicalised online.
Described
as a “gentle boy” by his neighbours, a three page letter left by Khan for his
family before attempting to fly out of the country revealed his state of mind
and extent of radicalisation. In the letter, he invited his family to the
Islamic State, an obligation of every Muslim and cited United States’ brutal
foreign policy in the Middle East as the reason for his decision. His sister
had previously used the Twitter handle @DeathIsTheeNear to send a favourable
tweet about a video of beheadings. She even placed a smiley emoticon in the
text.
Police
investigations in addition to recovery of pro-Islamic State writings and
drawings revealed that Khan was in touch with “an agent” whom he met online.
This individual was to escort Khan to Islamic State territory. Khan was keen on
a getting public service role with the Islamic State– humanitarian or combat.
Khan faces up to a 15 year jail term.
Gul Mohammad Maracchi Maraicar
Gul
Mohammad Maracchi Maraicar, a resident of Cuddalore in Tamil Nadu worked as a
systems analyst with IBM in Singapore, where in he obtained permanent residency
in 2008. He was stripped of his residency status and repatriated to India in
February 2014 after investigators found that Maraicar had radicalised
Singaporean national Haja Farukuddin Usman Ali who had migrated to Syria along
with family members to join the Islamic State. Maraicar had also financed an
earlier trip of Ali to Syria where the latter trained with the Chechen
jihadists. Upon his repatriation, Maraicar told the Indian authorities that
jihadists had successfully recruited two students from a college in Chennai.
Maraicar is reportedly cooperating with the investigating authorities in India.
Islamic
State India Cadres Chart
(Graphical representation of the alliances Indians and people of Indian origin share with the Islamic State, on the basis of information available till July 2015.)
(Graphical representation of the alliances Indians and people of Indian origin share with the Islamic State, on the basis of information available till July 2015.)
4. THE INDIAN MUJAHIDEEN CONNECTION
Sajid Sheikh
30
year old Muhammad Sajid alias Baba Sajid was a senior member of the Indian
Mujahideen (IM). He along with Sultan Armar was involved in the IM attacks of
2008 in Delhi, Ahmedabad and Jaipur that killed more than 166 people. Based in
Pakistan, Sajid in 2014 was known to be fighting on behalf of the al Qaeda in
the Pakistan-Afghanistan border. It is unclear as to when he joined the Islamic
State. Known as Abu Turab al-Hindi in the Islamic State, Sajid was reported to
have died fighting on 3 July 2015 by the Isabah Media, the propaganda and media
wing of Ansar al-Tauhid (AAT).
Muhammad Shafi Armar
Born
in 1987 in Karnataka state’s Bhatkal town, Muhammad Shafi Armar alias Yusuf is
an IM operative now associated with leading the Indian Jihadists in Iraq and
Syria. He recruited and guided Imran Khan on building explosives, acquiring
weapons and selecting targets for operations. In May 2015, Islamic State chief
Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi announced that Shafi Armar would be the emir of AAT, a
recruitment organization for the Islamic State.
Abdul Khadir Sultan Armar
40
year-old Sultan Armar, brother of Muhammad Shafi Armar was the founder of AAT.
A fugitive in Pakistan since 2008, Armar broke away from the Karachi based
Riyaz Bhatkal-led IM faction and pledged allegiance to the Islamic State. The
AAT motivated Muslims to join its training camps along the Af-Pak border. In
2014, Sultan Armar was suspected to have appeared as a masked jihadist in a
series of propaganda videos inviting Indian Muslims to train at jihad camps in
Pakistan’s North Waziristan. Through such propaganda he managed to recruit
group of men from Rajasthan who were arrested for planning attacks in India.
AAT Jihadists who went on to fight with the Islamic State formed a group called
Ansar-ul-Tawhid fil’Bilad al-Sham. Sultan Armar was reportedly killed while
fighting near Kobane on the Syria-Turkey border on 6 March 2015.
5. INDIAN YOUTHS ABROAD
Adil Fayaz
Adil
Fayaz, a 26 year-old MBA student at Queensland University, Australia joined the
Islamic State in Syria in 2013 by travelling via Turkey and Jordan. Adil was a
bright student; had completed his undergraduate studies in Business
Administration and Masters in Commerce from Kashmir University before moving to
Australia. His father, Fayaz Ahmad Waida, ran a successful contracting business
and went on to open a supermarket chain which allowed him to fund his son’s
education overseas.
Adil
Fayaz had shown no inclination towards political issues but was struggling to
find a job in Australia and then in the Middle East after his graduation. In
2013, he found a job of a teacher in Malaysia and travelled to Kuala Lumpur in
September that year. Less than a month later, he told his family that he has
found another job with an NGO in Turkey. Adil is the first Indian from Kashmir
to join the battle against the Bashar al-Assad regime. Australia’s intelligence
services believe that the NGO Adil joined is in fact an Australian group,
Street Dawah Australia (SDA), closely linked to the Islamic State. The SDA was
notorious for its propagation of Islamist narrative and some of its members
have joined the ranks of the Islamic State.
Muhammad Hanif Waseem
27
year-old Muhammad Hanif Waseem, one of the three sons of a hotel and real
estate businessman in Hyderabad, completed his B.Tech. from Shadhan College of
Engineering and Technology in Hyderabad and went to the United Kingdom for his
Master’s course in 2011. Subsequently he started working in Dubai. He visited
his family in Hyderabad in September 2014 and got engaged to a local girl, a
student pursuing Bachelor of Dental Surgery (BDS). A few days after his
engagement, Waseem left for Dubai. In February 2015, he called up his father
Mohammed Aleem and told him that he was not interested in marriage and he
wanted to join the jihad in Syria. He reportedly called up his fiancée and
apologised to her and told her to marry someone else. It is believed that
radical social media content played an important role in his radicalisation.
His family kept this hidden from security agencies fearing social stigma.
Waseem reportedly died in fighting in Iraq/Syria April 2015. Subsequently his
family approached security officials for help.
Unidentified Hyderabadi Woman
An 18
year-old Hyderabadi woman living in Qatar since 1998 attempted to join the
Islamic State in November/December 2014. She was reportedly influenced by the
Islamic State literature available online and also by a roommate, a girl from
Yemen in Doha who wanted to accompany her. In September 2014, both reached
Istanbul where they were stopped by the immigration authorities and were sent
back to Doha. Subsequently she returned to her family in India. No action was
taken against her by the police although she was provided with counselling
sessions.
6. WANNABE JIHADISTS
Group of 14 from Hyderabad
Fourteen
students from Hyderabad attempting to travel to Syria were arrested at the
Hyderabad airport on 6 May 2015. They were all students from different
engineering colleges and were subsequently counselled and investigated for
suspicious links.
Group of Nine in Turkey
Nine
Indians travelled to Istanbul on tourist visas on 24 December 2014 and
attempted to cross the border into Syria but were deported to India by Turkish
authorities on 30 January 2015. The group members were identified as 24 year
old Ibrahim Nowfal from Hassan and Javed Baba from Telengana; the other seven
members belonged to a Chennai based family identified as Muhammad Abdul Ahad,
his wife and five children. Ahad finished his Masters Computer Science from
Kennedy-Western University, California. Javed and Nowfal were qualified
engineers.
Two college students from Chennai
According
to reports in July 2014, two unnamed college students from Chennai went missing
from their homes and landed in Syria becoming a part of the Islamic State. Both
reportedly were radicalised by Haja Fakkurudeen Usman Ali, a Tamil Nadu-born
Singapore national, who left the country for Syria in January 2014. According
to last reports, the Indian government was trying to repatriate them with the
help of international agencies.
7. THE PROPAGANDIST
Mehdi Mansoor Biswas
Mehdi
Mansoor Biswas, originally hailing from Gopalpur in West Bengal state, was a
management executive at a multinational company in Bangalore. He handled a
pro-Islamic State Twitter account @ShamiWitness and began posting pro-jihadist
information on the account from early 2011. Introducing himself as a Libyan man
living in the United Kingdom he kept his identity a complete secret. He was
both a source of information and incitement for fellow jihadists around the
world. He was particularly effective with the English speaking Jihadists and
according to an estimate two-thirds of Islamic State’s foreign fighters on
Twitter were among 17,700 of his account followers. Mehdi Biswas was arrested
by the police on 13 December 2014 following an investigation by British
television Channel 4 into the person behind the twitter account.
With
old parents and two elder sisters back in West Bengal to take care, Mehdi was
particularly critical of the Indian Muslim population, and said they were not
capable of waging Jihad. He believed that the Islamic State was fighting the
“real war”. Mehdi did not share any direct linkage with the Islamic State and
was no more than a fan-boy. Investigation revealed that he was comfortable
playing the role of a strategist and rather than fighting on the ground. The
account still exists on Twitter.
*Surya Valliappan Krishna is a
post-graduate student at the Department of War Studies, King’s College, London. Dr.
Bibhu Prasad Routray is Director of Mantraya.org. This Special Report
is a part of Mantraya.org’s “Islamic State in South Asia” project. Surya is a
lead researcher with the project.
About The Author
Dr. Bibhu Prasad Routray, a New Delhi based
political and security analyst/consultant, was Deputy Director, India's
National Security Council Secretariat (NSCS), Government of India. He can be
reached atbibhuroutray@gmail.com or
on Twitter @BibhuRoutray
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