THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Anwar Al-Awlaki, the US-born Yemeni Islamist militant killed in a drone attack in Yemen in September 2011, has remained a deeply divisive figure even seven years on since his death. His powerful sermons - he spoke fluent English after being raised in the US state of New Mexico - were instrumental in swaying the minds of the would-be ‘jehadis’.
Now though, Awlaki’s videos have sparked concern in Kerala which has been battling a new wave of radicalised youth. The Intelligence wing has unearthed footage of Awlaki’s speech with Malayalam subtitles during the probe into the recruitment of the so-called Islamic State(IS) operatives. This is also the first time the agencies here have stumbled on Awlaki’s videos.
Though the agencies are yet to establish from which part of the world the videos were uploaded to the Internet, they suspect it was done in West Asia. However, the sophisticated technology being used by the people propagating the videos has prevented the investigating agencies from tracking down their location.
“We believe it was done in West Asia. But we are not sure because with proxy servers, one can hide their real location,” said top-placed intelligence sources.
The sources also disclosed if the assumption of the probe agencies on the subtitled videos being uploaded from West Asia is indeed proved correct, then the videos are meant for indoctrinating the average Keralite working in the region. “The educated ones don’t need Malayalam subtitled videos. So we assume these videos were made to target the ordinary labourers among the expats,” sources said.
Intelligence sleuths said Awlaki’s fluency in English has been a major factor for his popularity among educated folks. But with his sermons being subtitled, the threat of radicalisation grows manifold, they said.
Equally worrying is the spread of online jehadi literature. Earlier, it was al-Qaeda’s ‘Inspire’ online magazine and later when the IS came along, ‘Dabiq’ replaced ‘Inspire’. However, a senior intelligence officer said reading extremist literature doesn’t necessarily mean the reader has to become radicalised. “That’s not the case. Even the Kerala High Court has observed watching a video shouldn’t be adduced as evidence for extremist links. The problem arises when those who shouldn’t be reading such literature subscribe to it,” he said.