Adilibad: 6 Burn to Death

October 12, 2008 15:21 IST
Last Updated: October 12, 2008 19:28 IST

The communal violence in Adilabad district of Andhra Pradesh on Sunday took a violent turn with miscreants burning alive six members of a family in a village in the early hours of Sunday.

State home minister K Jana Reddy said three houses were burnt in Vatoli village near the riot-hit Bhainsa town, where six persons, including three children, were killed.

The victims have been identified as Mahboob Khan, Naoman, Arsalan, Rizwana, Sfia Begum and two-year-old Tuba Falak.

Fresh wave of tension and panic gripped the people in the rural areas of the district as the news of the fresh incidents of violence spread on Sunday.

Jana Reddy told reporters in Hyderabad that the police had rushed to the village and patrolling had been intensified in the surrounding areas.

"Police are investigating the case and we will catch the culprits," he said. He described the situation in Bhainsa as peaceful and under control.

Inspector General of Police, Warangal Range, J Poornachandra Rao, who was camping in Bhainsa, also reached the scene of the ghastly incident.

The incident has occurred two days after the communal riots broke out in Bhainsa, killing four people and burning and looting of shops and businesses at a large scale.

Lok Sabha member from Hyderabad and Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen president Asaduddin Owaisi, who rushed to the village, charged the state government with failure in ensuring the safety and security of minorities.

"Despite our repeated pleas, the government has failed to provide protection to Muslims," he said.

Osama BIn Laden

Osama bin Laden, with some spelling variations, is the name used in English to refer to Usāmah bin Muḥammad bin `Awaḍ bin Lādin (Arabic: أسامة بن محمد بن عوض بن لادن‎); born 10 March 1957). Variations commonly seen in the English version of the name include "Usama" for "Osama," and/or "bin Ladin" for "bin Laden". Osama bin Laden is a member of the prominent Saudi bin Laden family and the founder of the jihadist organization Al-Qaeda.^[1] He has been designated as a terrorist by scholars, journalists, analysts and law enforcement agencies.^{[2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11]} In conjunction with several other Islamic militant leaders, bin Laden issued two fatwas in 1996 and then again in 1998 that Muslims should force the United States and its allies to withdraw their military forces from the Arabian peninsula, by attacking American military and civilian targets.^[12][13]

He has been indicted in United States federal court for his alleged involvement in the 1998 U.S. embassy bombings in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania and Nairobi, Kenya, and is on the US Federal Bureau of Investigation's Ten Most Wanted Fugitives list.

Although bin Laden has not been indicted^[14] for the September 11, 2001 attacks on the United States, he has been reported to have orally claimed responsibility for them in audio and video tapes released to the general public.^[15][16] The attacks involved the hijacking of United Airlines Flight 93, United Airlines Flight 175, American Airlines Flight 11, and American Airlines Flight 77; the subsequent destruction of those planes and the World Trade Center in New York City, New York; severe damage to The Pentagon in Arlington, Virginia;^[17] and the deaths of 2,974 people excluding the hijackers.^[18]

Terrorism in India

Terrorism in India can be attributed to many low intensity conflict within its borders. If terrorism can be defined as "peacetime equivalent of war crime", then these sites of low intensity conflicts are prime spots for terrorism in India. The regions with long term terrorist activities today are Jammu and Kashmir, Central India (Naxalism) and Seven Sister States (independence and autonomy movements). In the past, the Punjab insurgency led to militant activities in the Indian state of Punjab as well as the national capital Delhi (Delhi serial blasts, anti-Sikh riots). As of 2006, at least 232 of the country’s 608 districts were afflicted, at differing intensities, by various insurgent and terrorist movements. ^[1]

Terrorism in India has often been alleged to be sponsored by Pakistan. After most acts of terrorism in India, many journalists and politicians accuse Pakistan's intelligence agency, the Inter-Services Intelligence of playing a role. Recently, both the US and Afghanistan have accused Pakistan of carrying out terrorist acts in Afghanistan.^[2]

SIMI

The Students Islamic Movement of India was formed in Aligarh, Uttar Pradesh state, in April 1977. The stated mission of SIMI is the ‘liberation of India’ from western materialistic cultural influence and to convert it into an Islamic society. This organization is believed by many, including the Government of India, to be involved in terrorism ^[1].

SIMI was banned by the Indian Government in 2002 for its involvement in terror activities in India. However, in August 2008, a special tribunal lifted the ban on SIMI. The ban was subsequently reinstated by the Supreme Court of India on 6th August 2008

Fears exist in government circles that SIMI has been penetrated by Al-Qaeda^[2]. It is suspected that SIMI is now also operating under the name of Indian Mujahideen, an outfit that has taken responsibility for the 2008 Ahmedabad blasts, Jaipur blasts and 2008 Delhi blasts^[3]. Indian Mujahideen has taken responsibility of several terrorist acts in India and communicates with the Indian media under the pseudonyms of Al-Arbi and Al-Hindi^[4].

IM email

The Indian Mujahideen have sent several emails claiming responsibility for several bombings.

The complete text of the 14 page carefully drafted Indian Mujahideen email, sent 4 minutes before Ahmedabad blasts can be seen at ^[9], ^[10]. The message refers to Islamic conquerers of India -Ibn-e-Qasim, Ghauri, Ghaznawi.

It warns about havoc about to happen in five minues:

"... Here we are back - the Mujahideen of India - the terrorists on the disbelievers - the radicals of Islam - after our triumphant and successful assault at Jaipur, once again calling you all, who disbelieve in Allah and His Messenger Muhammad (peace be upon him) to accept Islam and bear witness that there is none to be worshipped except Allah, and that Muhammad (peace be upon him) is the Messenger of Allah. Accept Islam and save yourselves.

O Hindus! O disbelieving faithless Indians! Haven’t you still realized that the falsehood of your 33 crore dirty mud idols and the blasphemy of your deaf, dumb, mute idols are not at all going to save your necks, Insha-Allah, from being slaughtered?

We call you, O Hindus, O enemies of Allah, to take an honest stance with yourselves lest another attack of Ibn-e-Qasim sends shivers down your spines, lest another Ghauri shakes your foundations, and lest another Ghaznawi massacres you, proving your blood to be the cheapest of all mankind! Have you forgotten your history full of subjugation, humiliation, and insult? Or do you want us to repeat it again? Take heed before it is too late!

So wait! ................ Await now……….! Wait only for five minutes from now! .... Wait for the Mujahideen and Fidayeen of Islam and stop them if you can - who will make you feel the terror of Jihad. Feel the havoc cast into your hearts by Allah, the Almighty, face His Dreadful Punishment, and suffer the results of fighting the Muslims and the Mujahideen. Await the anguish, agony, sorrow and pain. Await, only for 5 minutes, to feel the fear of death...".

The email was in the form of a pdf document that included several Arabic quotes from the Quran with translation.

The past emails by Indian Mujahideen include the following ^[11]:

• Serial blasts in three towns of Uttar Pradesh in November 2007^[12]
• May 13 2008, after the Jaipur blasts email^[13], traced to a Ghaziabad cyber cafe^[14].
• July 26, 2008, four minues before Ahmedabad blasts, email traced Kenneth Haywood's WiFi IP address in Sanpada, Navi Mumbai.
• August 2008, after the press conference held by the Gujarat Police, IP address traced to WiFi network of Khalsa college in Matunga, central Mumbai.
• September 13 2008,during the Delhi serial blast, IP address traced to WiFi network of Kamran Power Control Pvt Ltd, at 201-202 Eric House, 16th Road, Chembur.

They did not sent any e-mail messages claiming responsibility for the serial blasts in Bangalore on July 25, 2008.

Indian Mujahideen

Indian Mujahideen is the name of a militant Islamist group in India, that has claimed responsibility for several attacks against civilian targets in India.^[1] Recently being addressed as NIM - Non-Indian Mujahideen because of their Anti-India Attacks.^[2]

Believed to be a "shadow amalgam of the SIMI and Lashkar-e-Toiba", the Indian Mujahideen have been declared a "terrorist" organization, and membership in the group has been banned in India.^[3]

Investigators believe that Indian Mujahideen is one of many groups composed of lower-tier SIMI members. According to the Indian Intelligence Bureau, SIMI took new titles because the top leadership of SIMI have been detained and would be available for interrogation.^[4] The change in names is also believed to signal a change in tactics as SIMI-affiliated militants attempt to garner more support from India's Muslim community rather than be seen as a group consisting of foreigners.^[5]

Two days after the 13 May 2008 Jaipur bombings, the Islamic extremist group^[6] sent an e-mail to Indian media in which they claimed responsibility for the attacks^[7] and said they would "demolish the faith (Hinduism) of the infidels of India".^[8]

The biggest and boldest attack to date by the group was the 2008 Ahmedabad serial blasts, where it gained national notoriety with a casualty count towards 50.

This group also claimed to be responsible for the 2008 Delhi serial blasts.

Attacks claimed by Indian Mujahideen

The emails sent by Indian Mujahideen claimed that they were responsible for the following terror incidents. One warning email was received 5 minutes before the first blast in Ahmedabad. Another was received soon after the first blast of the Delhi bombings. The timing makes it impossible for any other groups to have sent the two emails.

• 23 November 2007 Uttar Pradesh serial blasts
• 13 May 2008 Jaipur bombings
• 25 July 2008 Bangalore serial blasts
• 26 July 2008 Ahmedabad serial blasts
• 13 September 2008 Delhi serial blasts

Suspected leaders

It is suspected that these are the major leaders of the Indian Mujahideen group^[32].

• Abdus Subhan Qureshi Alias Tauqeer, 36, sought: A software engineer from Mumbai. An expert in bomb-making and is an expert hacker.

• Safdar Nagori, 38, under arrest: Architect the transformation from SIMI to Indian Mujahideen.

• Mufti Abu Bashir, 28, under arrest: A preacher from Azamgarh in Uttar Pradesh.

• Qayamuddin Kapadia, 28, sought : A trader of Vadodara, he started the first-ever mosque of the Ahle Hadis Tanzeem in Vadodara a few years ago.

• Sajid Mansuri, 35, under arrest: A graduate in psychology and formerly a marketing executive.

• Usman Agarbattiwala, sought, 25: A PG diploma holder from Vadodara in human rights

• Alamzeb Afridi, 24, sought: A jobless youth from Ahmedabad. He purchased bicycles and then planted them in Ahmedabad after tying bombs.

• Abdul Razik Mansuri, 27, sought: An embroidery unit owner.

• Mujib Shaikh, 25, sought: A stone polishing artisan.

• Zahid Shaikh, 27, sought: A mobile phone repair shop owner from Ahmedabad.

• Amil Parwaz, sought: A native of Ujjain. Believed to be involved in the court bomb blasts in Uttar Pradesh in November 2007.

JEHAD and ISLAM

Through the actions of some elements, the western world visualizes a wrong concept of Jihad (Holy War). The word Jihad conjures up the vision of a marching band of religious fanatics with savage beards and fiery eyes, brandishing swords and attacking the infidels.

• Jihad in Islamic terminology means to make an effort, to endeavour and to strive in a noble way. Over the centuries this meaning of Jihad has been obliterated or at least diluted. The critical juncture in the Islamic world requires reviving and recapturing the true and pristine meaning of Jihad.
• Jihad can be divided into two broad categories. First is Jihad-e-akbar. This is Jihad against one's own person to curb sinful inclinations, i.e., purification of self. This is the most difficult Jihad and hence in terms of rewards and blessings is the highest category of Jihad.
• The second is Jihad-e-asghar. This is Jihad of the sword. This is communal Jihad and presupposes certain specific conditions. The Quran speaks of fighting only against those who first attack Muslims and this is the very condition laid down in other verses of the Holy Quran as well. The so-called verse of the sword in the Islamic scripture is often taken out of context as if it inculcates an indiscriminate massacre of all unbelievers. The Quranic words such as kill whatever you find them apply only in cases where the enemy has first attacked Muslims and apply to those unbelievers and enemies who break their oaths and firm agreements. They do not apply to unprovoked wars and battles. To interpret these verses in any other manner would be a travesty of the lofty ideals of Islam. There is not a single instance in the life of the Holy Prophet where he offered the alternative of the sword or Islam to anyone.
• The Western media and even some scholars sometimes ignore the distinction between these two aspects of Jihad. It must be remembered that the Holy Quran does not make Jihad, the holy war, in context of an article of faith. The sayings and traditions of the Holy Prophet render it into a formula for active struggle that invariably and incorrectly tended towards a militant expression. Modern day terrorism is contrary to the purview of the real spirit of the Islamic Jihad.
• The presentation of Islam as a crude and barbaric religion which gives itself the right to cause unwarranted human and material suffering and destruction under the guise of Divine authority, is not the kind of Islam we find in the Holy Quran and in the precepts of the Holy Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him!)

DOSTRINES OF ISLAM

The following are the basic doctrines that every Muslim must believe no matter where he lives, or what Islamic sect he belongs to:

1. God: There is only one true G-d and his name is ALLAH. Allah is all-seeing, all-knowing, and all-powerful.

2. Angels: The chief angel is Gabriel, who is said to have appeared to Mohammad. There is also a jinn (demon) named Shaitan (from the Hebrew, Satan), as well as the followers of Shaitan, the other djinni (demons).

3. Scripture: Muslims believe in four G-d-inspired books: the Torah of Moses (what Christians call the Pentateuch), the Zabur (Psalms of David), the Injil (Gospel) of Jesus, and the Qur’an. But the Qur’an is Allah’s final word to mankind, so it supersedes and overrules all previous writings.

4. Mohammad: The Qur’an lists 28 prophets of Allah. These include Adam, Noah, Abraham, Moses, David, Jonah, and Jesus. Of course, to the Muslim, the last and greatest prophet is Mohammad.

5. The end times: On the “last day,” the dead will be resurrected. Allah will be the judge and each person will be sent to heaven or hell. Heaven is a place of sensual pleasure. Hell is for those who oppose Allah and his prophet, Mohammad.

6. Predestination: Allah has determined what he pleases and no no one can change what he has decreed.