The Maldives-Syria Connection: Jihad in Paradise?ANIMESH ROUL, Terrorism Monitor, Volume: 12 Issue: 22, November 21, 2014
Mohammed Ajmal Amir Kasab, the lone surviving terrorist in the November 2008 Mumbai attacks has been sentenced to death by the court yesterday, May 6. Kasab was found guilty earlier this week and convicted for mindless murder and waging war against the country.
Three names have been doing the rounds in India these days: Maulana Ilyas Kashmiri, David Coleman Headley (a.k.a Dauod Geelani) and Tahawur Hussein Rana; one hardcore veteran Jehadi and two motivated ‘would be’ terrorists. They are in the news for plotting major assaults in India. Among them, Ilyas Kashmiri who was rumored to be dead early this year, in fact, survived three drone attacks in Pakistan’s Waziristan region, belongs to the Al Qaeda- Harkat-Ul- Jihad- Al-Islami (HuJI) lineage and heads Al Qaeda’s deadly 311 brigade. He still carries head money of US $ 600,000 dollars.
The terrorist attacks on the World Trade Centre on September 11, 2001, resulted in a historic partnership between the U.S. and Pakistan. Pakistan emerged as a vital ally of the U.S. in the global war to counter-terrorism. Though barely realized, in February 2008, this war entered a new phase. The U.S. had thus far fought the war against terrorism with the support of the dictatorial regime of Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf. The parliamentary elections in Pakistan in February 2008 transferred political authority in favour of the democratically elected government.
The involvement of a number of Indians in the foiled UK terror plots of early July this year rang alarm bells in India. Are Indian Muslims being lured into al-Qaida's global jihad? Britons of Indian origin have been tied to al-Qaida in the past, including the Muslim convert Dhiren Barot and Haroon Aswat, the alleged mastermind of the 21/7 bomb attacks. Unlike these Qaida predecessors, Kafeel Ahmed, one of the Glasgow car bombers, was born and raised in large part in India, in the booming hi-tech city of Bangalore.