Here it is bit modified and extended.
Al Qaeda chief Ayman
al-Zawahiri has confirmed that slain Al Qaeda commander Abu Dujana al Pasha was
the main driving force behind formation of Al Qaeda in Indian Subcontinent (AQIS).
According to the transcript
of al-Zawahiri's new video message, released by As Sahab, Al Qaeda's propaganda
arm and available on social media platforms and Twitter handles of some terror
monitors, al Pasha "united several jihadi groups belonging to the Indian
Subcontinent".
Abu Dujana al Pasha, who was
also known as Abu Dujana al Basha, was son-in-law of Zawahiri and played key
role in Al Qaeda's terror operations. Reports say he was known as the "hidden
commander" in Al Qaeda, because though relatively unknown to the outside
world, he worked hard to establish AQIS. The US had declared him a Specially
Designated Global Terrorist in 2009.
Zawahiri had announced formation of AQIS in a video message in September 2014. Though it was widely reported
that al Pasha was killed in a US drone strike before a month, in August 2014,
Al Qaeda had never accepted it.
But this message from Al
Qaeda chief himself has now confirmed it. Calling al Pasha a martyr, Zawahiri's
long message slams Pakistan, its rulers and its military; takes on ISIS and
urges Syrian jihadis and believers across the world to unite; and describes
formation of AQIS as one of the most important works.
"Allah guided him to
avail his old relationships that had been formed with the Mujahideen of the
Subcontinent in training camps and fronts. Allah had given him popularity
amongst them, so he directed his efforts to unite these different groups in a
single organization, and thus, with the blessing and favour of Allah, Al Qaeda
in the Indian Subcontinent was formed, under the banner of the Islamic
Emirate," Zawahiri says.
Terrormonitor.org @Terror_Monitor
3:47 PM - 3 Aug 2017
Terrormonitor.org @Terror_Monitor
3:44 PM - 3 Aug 2017
Terrormonitor.org @Terror_Monitor
3:43 PM - 3 Aug 2017
AQIS is trying to make its
present felt in India that has virtually been non-existent so far. It recently
named former Hizbul terrorist Zikar Rashid Bhat alias Zakir Musa chief of its
India unit Ansar Ghawzat-Ul-Hind. Before that, in June, AQIS had released a new
code of conduct for its members and other terrorists, who wanted to show
allegiance to Al Qaeda, to follow.
ISLAMIC EMIRATE
This latest video message by
Zawahiri also confirms another important development, acceptance of establishment
of an Islamic Emirate in Al Qaeda's core ideology. Osama bin Laden, the Al
Qaeda founder, was against the idea of establishing Islamic Emirate. But with
rapid rise of ISIS, an Al Qaeda offshoot that was denounced by its parent for
being too cruel or extremist, as Zawahiri says here, and its declaration of an Islamic Caliphate, Al Qaeda had to change its
strategy, it seems.
Last year, Al Qaeda in the
Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), currently considered the most dangerous Al Qaeda
faction, had announced to establish an Islamic Emirate in eastern Yemen, a war
torn country that has become battleground for Iran and Saudi Arab to establish
their regional supremacy.
ISIS is on its way out. It has
been driven out of its Iraqi stronghold Mosul and its headquarters in Syria's
Raqqa is expected to fall soon as international forces are rapidly marching
ahead. Though US Defence Secretary James Mattis has doubted ISIS leader Ab Bakr
al-Baghdadi's death, the Iraqi and Arabian media has declared him dead. It is
only natural then for Al Qaeda to reclaim its position at top of the pyramid as
the most preferred outfit of terrorists from across the world with the fall of
ISIS. ISIS rise had seen terror outfits the world over shifting their
allegiance from Al Qaeda to ISIS.
©SantoshChaubey