Mumbai’s night of terror underscores a phenomenon concealed by the Indian government and intelligence agencies and deliberately ignored by a biased Anglo-American media for a long time: The rise of a virulent form of Hindu terrorism that begets violence from other minorities. Here is a list of almost one hundred groups that are fighting the Indian government. All of them thrive in India. The context for what has happened in Mumbai is stunning only for those unaware how a cocktail mix of wrong policies, official patronage to extremism, and separatist movements have come together to destabilize India.
By AHMED QURAISHI
WWW.AHMEDQURAISHI.COM
The night of Nov. 26, 2008, will go down in history as the day when India’s homegrown terrorism reared its head after years of silent mushroom growth.
This terrorism in Mumbai is not surprising, unlike the reactions in most of the western media. India’s terrorist underground has been flourishing for many years. While the U.S. media was busy last year likening Pakistan to Iraq in a politically motivated campaign aligned with U.S. military objectives, experts were ranking India only second to Iraq in the number of people who died as a result of terrorist attacks between 2004 and 2007, according to one survey by an American think tank.
The Indian government has been artfully concealing a worrying development for at least sixteen years under an organized hype centered on economic growth and military power projection with a focus on China and Pakistan.
Indian terrorism is a confusing mix. Journalists and observers outside the region often miss the simmering tensions beneath the surface that occasionally burst into the open, surprising many and raising questions like how could there be so much violence in what is supposed to be a secular democracy and a rising economy where such things should not happen.
In India, there is a cocktail mix of wrong policies, official patronage to extremism, and separatist movements, all coming together to destabilize India. At least 600 Christians, churches, nuns and priests were targeted by Hindu mobs in eastern India in August this year. Almost the entire Muslim population of Kashmir is up in arms against the excesses, arrests, murders and rapes by the Indian army. For years there has been a media trial of Indian Muslims for real and imaginary involvement in violence. News such as the arrest this month of two serving Indian army officers involved in crimes that were attributed to Indian Muslims has served to increase disgruntlement among minorities. In 2002, close to 2,500 Indian Muslim men, women and children were burned alive in the first religious genocide of 21st century. In 1984, Sikhs were hauled off buses in New Delhi and beaten or burned to death following the assassination of Indian prime minister Indra Gandhi at the hands of Sikh bodyguards. And finally, between 12 to 14 separatist insurgencies currently rage across India’s north and northeast.
All of this makes for a dangerous combination that simmers quietly under the surface. The Indian media’s self-imposed ban on discussing these problems helps keep the lid on them. But when the pressure becomes unbearable, things occasionally burst into the open in the shape of terrorist acts. This only surprises those who do no know how India has been gradually relapsing into religious extremism in the period between 1990 and 2008. This history is important in order to understand why the Indian claims of Pakistani complicity in the attacks have often sought to simplify a complex situation.
Hindu militant groups have mushroomed in the past few years. This month, the arrest of two serving Indian army officers has confirmed speculation that Hindu terrorist groups have infiltrated Indian military and political establishments.
1992 was the definite year that saw Hindu fundamentalism express itself politically. Hundreds of religious terrorists descended on a north Indian city with tools in hand. They climbed on top of a majestic, 500-year-old mosque built by the same Muslim rulers who built the famous Taj Mahal. Imbibed with religious hatred, the Hindu mobs razed the building to the ground. Indian government authorities did nothing to stop it.
This Indian betrayal of a carefully crafted secular image would prove fatal later. In 1999, a Hindu mob surrounded the car of Graham Staines, an Australian priest, and his underage boy and girl and burned them alive.
Australia maintained an unusual quiet till this day about this major act of terrorism. The bias is easily detectable when compared to Australia’s reaction and statements to ‘Muslim terrorism’, especially in Indonesia and later in Afghanistan and Pakistan.
In this sense, countries like United States, Britain and Australia are partially responsible for letting the growth of India terrorism – with its mix of Hindu, Muslim, Sikh, Christian and ethnic insurgencies – go unnoticed for so many years. These western countries have done this in order not to disturb the Anglo-Saxon project of grooming India as a bulwark against China and Russia and other regional powers.
Following is a list of various indigenous separatist, militant and terrorist organizations operating in India against the Indian federal government. This list has been compiled using information available in the public domain, news reports and specialized publications. During any given incident in India, a combination of some or all of these organizations is a suspect, including in the Mumbai blasts and in any other militant activity. Blaming Kashmiris or Pakistanis for Indian internal problems would be a factual misrepresentation that must be countered with full force by Pakistan.
It should also be noted that the Indian establishment is cracking down on Tamil separatists due to violence in Sri Lanka as Tamils are regrouping in the southern Indian state of Tamil Nado. Tamils have to their credit the last significant political assassination in India, the blowing up of former Indian Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi in 1984. They continue to be the most ruthless terror outfit in India. Mumbai blasts carry the fingerprints of many terror groups operating inside India, each with a long list of grievances against the Indian government and enough motivation to carry out such terrorist acts.
Not all groups in this list are necessarily terrorist organizations. But all of them are active against the Indian government.
Hindu Terror Groups
1. Shiv Sena – Army of Shiva
2. Bajrang Dal
3. Durga Vahini-Women militants
4. BJP
5. A ragtag, government-armed Hindu militant groups have been raised in Kashmir and
northern India during this decade
Indian Occupied Kashmir
6. Hizbul Mujahideen
7. Harkat-ul-Ansar or Harkat-ul-Jehad-e-Islami
8. Lashkar-e-Toiba
9. Jaish-e-MohammadMujahideen E-Tanzeem
10. Jammu & KashmirLiberation Front
11. Tehrik-ul-Mujahideen
12. Al Badr
13. Dukhtaran-e-Millat
14. Al Barq
15. Al Jehad
16. Jamait-ul-Mujahideen
17. Jammu & Kashir National Liberation Army
18. People’s League
19. Muslim JanbazForce
20. Kashmir Jehad Force
21. Al JehadForce (combines Muslim Janbaz Force and Kashmir
22. Jehad Force
23. Al Umar Mujahideen
24. Mahaz-e-Azadi
25. Islami Jamaat-e-Tulba
26. Jammu & Kashmir StudentsLiebration Front
27. Ikhwan-ul-Mujahideen
28. Islamic Students League
29. Tehrik-e-Hurriat-e-Kashmir
30. Mutahida Jehad Council
31. Tehrik-e-Nifaz-e-Fiqar Jafaria
32. Jamait-ul-Mujahideen
33. Al Mustafa Liberation Fighters
34. Tehrik-e-Jehad-e-Islami
35. Therik-ul-Mujahideen
36. Muslim Mujahideen
37. Al MujahidForce
38. Tehrik-e-Jehad
39. Islami Inquilabi Mahaz
ASSAM
40. Bodo Liberation Tigers (BLT)
41. Dima Halom Daogah (DHD)
42. Karbi National Volunteers (KNV)
43. Rabha National Security Force (RNSF)
44. Koch-RajbongshiLiberation Organisation (KRLO)
45. Adivasi Cobra Force(ACF)
46. Karbi People's Front(KPF)
47. Tiwa National Revolutionary Force (TNRF)
48. Bircha Commando Force(BCF)
49. Bengali Tiger Force (BTF)
50. Adivasi Security Force(ASF)
51. All Assam Adivasi Suraksha Samiti (AAASS)
52. Gorkha Tiger Force(GTF)
53. Barak Valley YouthLiberation Front (BVYLF)
54. Muslim United LiberationTigers of Assam (MULTA)
55. Muslim United LiberationFront of Assam (MULFA)
56. Muslim Security Council of Assam (MSCA)
57. United Liberation Militia ofAssam (ULMA)
58. Islamic Liberation Army of Assam (ILAA)
59. Muslim Volunteer Force (MVF)
60. Muslim Liberation Army (MLA)
61. Muslim Security Force (MSF)
62. Islamic SevakSangh (ISS)
63. Islamic United ReformationProtest of India (IURPI)
64. United Muslim LiberationFront of Assam (UMLFA)
65. Revolutionary MuslimCommandos (RMC)
66. Muslim Tiger Force (MTF)
67. People’s UnitedLiberation Front (PULF)
68. Adam Sena(AS)
69. Harkat-ul-Mujahideen
70. Harkat-ul-Jehad
NAGALAND
71. National Socialist Councilof Nagaland (Isak-Muivah)– NSCN(IM)
72. National Socialist Councilof Nagaland (Khaplang)– NSCN (K)
73. Naga NationalCouncil (Adino) – NNC (Adino)
74. Tripura Liberation OrganisationFront (TLOF)
75. United Bengali LiberationFront (UBLF)
76. Tripura TribalVolunteer Force (TTVF)
77. Tripura Armed TribalCommando Force (TATCF)
78. Tripura TribalDemocratic Force (TTDF)
79. Tripura Tribal YouthForce (TTYF)
80. Tripura LiberationForce (TLF)
81. Tripura Defence Force (TDF)
82. All TripuraVolunteer Force (ATVF)
83. Tribal Commando Force (TCF)
84. Tripura Tribal YouthForce (TTYF)
85. All TripuraBharat Suraksha Force(ATBSF)
86. Tripura Tribal ActionCommittee Force (TTACF)
87. Socialist Democratic Frontof Tripura (SDFT)
88. All TripuraNational Force (ATNF)
89. Tripura Tribal Sengkrak Force (TTSF)
90. Tiger Commando Force (TCF)
91. Tripura Mukti Police (TMP)
Meghalaya
92. Hynniewtrep NationalLiberation Council (HNLC)
93. Achik NationalVolunteer Council (ANVC)
94. People’s LiberationFront of Meghalaya (PLF-M)
95. Left-wing Extremists
96. People's Guerrilla Army
Here are quick references that can help understand the India story:
Hindu Al-Qaeda: Asia’s New ‘Terror Central’ : Here is the hottest Indian story, neatly tucked under the well constructed –and expensive- veneer of ‘Incredible India’ advertisements on international television news channels: The fast rise of Indian religious terrorist organizations that have penetrated India’s military and politics. The movement is so strong, resourceful and organized that it warrants the label India’s Hindu al-Qaeda. India is quietly emerging as a new ‘terror central’. Since the start of this century, almost nine years ago, India has seen the targeted murder of over 700 Christians, 2500 Muslims, and the unaccounted hundreds of ‘untouchables’. That’s not all. India is now grooming its own ‘Hindu al Qaeda,’ terrorist militias tasked with guarding India’s dreams of becoming the next superpower. Nepal, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka beware. India is already grooming rebels to stir trouble in China’s Tibet and Xingjian. The problem with this thinking is that expensive showoff space shuttles to Moon –when almost no one else in the world is doing it for now- won't reduce poverty among the world's largest single concentration of poor people on earth.
The Face Of India Hidden From The World: There is a distinct lobby in United States and Britain that played a criminal role in fostering Indian terrorism. It did this by covering up Hindu terrorism against Christians, Muslims, Sikhs and low-caste Indians. Have you seen any of the above pictures published by any American or British newspaper or news service? See [left] the charred bodies of Indian Muslims burned alive by Hindu mobs in 2002, in the 21st century’s first genocide.
Why Hindu Extremists Invaded Taj Mahal? A group of 10 Hindutva activists-cum-militants belonging to Shiv Sena, a core fundamentalist political outfit, sneaked into the Taj Mahal at Agra on July 24 and performed prayers (puja) within the precincts on Thursday. They were taken into custody and later released without any hurdles. This is a routine matter for Indian governments when Hindus perform illegal activities. Had Muslims enter the temples and remove the idols and clean up the structure to be able to offer prayers to God, the matter would be different. Hindu outfits, who consider themselves above law and have every right to do anything they please with Muslims and their mosques, have been on a rampage for political reasons with concocted stories against Islam.
Kashmir Shakes India: Something stunning is happening in Indian controlled Kashmir. World media is not giving it projection, Indians are hiding it and Pakistani media is too busy focusing on political turmoil within. The fact is that the Indian federation has been shaken to the core over the developments in Indian held Kashmir in the last few weeks.
