ISIS and al-Qaeda cyber-propaganda bank on translated texts and local upheavals like the hijab sow terror

India’s war on terror faces a new threat from cyber propaganda from the Islamic State (IS) and al-Qaeda who are trying to radicalize the country’s vulnerable youth to disrupt the peace where they live. resident.

After the huge success of the coalition forces in the territories controlled by the Islamic State in Syria and Iraq, the terrorist group does not favor the arrival of foreign terrorist fighters at the moment and calls for Hijrath (migration to the Islamic State theater) have been reduced. However, this has not stopped IS leaders from inciting their sympathizers and supporters around the world.

As for India, IS leaders have called for arson attacks, targeted killings of right-wing or atheist leaders, police officers and foreign tourists. Islamic State propaganda has also targeted Hindu religious symbols and there have been calls to target religious festivals.

In the outfit’s latest initiative, the Islamic State’s online magazine, “Voice of Hind”, listed lone wolf attack techniques for sympathizers.

Become regional

It was also found that following the serial Easter Sunday explosions in Sri Lanka in April 2019, Islamic State and Al-Qaeda propaganda had branched out into regional languages. Original Islamic State propaganda materials in English and Arabic have been translated into vernacular languages ​​including Tamil, Malayalam, Hindi, Urdu and Bengali, and disseminated to incite a wider audience.

Jufi Jawhar Damudi, an IS cadre arrested in Bhatkal, recruited young people from different parts of the country for the exclusive translation of terrorist propaganda material into regional dialects. Damudi’s timely arrest was a blow to IS’s propaganda machinery, which aimed to disseminate voluminous vernacular propaganda material through computer platforms.

In another worrying trend, IS and al-Qaeda are trying to use local conflicts and domestic issues by enticing vulnerable young people into community-sensitive areas.

For example, the al-Qaeda-affiliated “Nawai Ghazwa e Hind” magazine and India-focused “Voice of Hind” have published articles on the recent hijab controversy in Karnataka. al-Qaeda Central recently released a video of its leader Ayman Al-Zawahri attempting to fish on Karnataka’s Hijab Row.

In a viral video, Zawahri praised hijab-wearing girl Muskan Khan, who rose to prominence for standing up to a crowd of boys who objected to hijab-wearing women. Zawahiri called Muskan his sister and said he had written a poem praising her courage.

The thumbnail of the video and the poster that accompanied the upload were titled “The Noblewoman Of India”. The terrorist said he learned of Muskan Khan’s actions through social media. He accused the government of allegedly mistreating Muslims living in the country and called on the community to react to the hijab controversy.

After the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan in August 2021, al-Qaeda launched waves of cyber propaganda against Indian interests with a focus on the Kashmir issue.

Supporters of the terror outfit were elated with the Taliban victory and urged their supporters to do the same in Kashmir. It can also be seen as an attempt to bolster Qaeda-linked Ansar Ghazwatul Hind (AGuH) terrorists in Jammu and Kashmir, as most AGuH cadres were eliminated by Indian security forces.

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