KOCHI: Indian intelligence agencies have sounded a high alert as Harakat-ul Jihad Islami (HuJI) leader Ilyas Kashmiri, who is reportedly named as the next al-Qaeda chief, is coordinating the activities of over a dozen terror modules in various parts of India.
While the al-Qaeda under slain Osama bin Laden did not carry out much activities in India, intelligence officials confirm that the situation could become highly volatile once Kashmiri assumes charge. “The situation is going to be adverse as Kashmiri has been in the forefront of organising terror camps. He has direct control over various sleeper cells in the country and his reach extended from Kashmir to Kanyakumari with the support of various organisations,” a senior intelligence official said.Kashmiri had direct links with suspected activists of banned SIMI in Kerala and Al-Umma in Tamil Nadu.
Jammu and Kashmir Former Special Director-General of Police and National Investigation Agency (NIA) former Director-General Radha Vinod Raju said that if Ilyas Kashmiri was selected as the next al-Qaeda chief, things would become even worse.
“Except providing facilities to train Kashmiri militants and issuing a few anti-Indian statements pointing at the tie-ups between Israel, the US and India, the al-Qaeda under Osama did not do much against India. On the other hand, Ilyas Kashmiri has taken part in ‘jihad’ in Kashmir. He is known to have taken an Indian soldier’s head to the Pakistani President as a trophy,” the ex-cop said.
Raju said Kashmiri has been planning further attacks on India using LeT activist David Coleman Headley.
“His close association with HuJI reveals that he is involved in several attacks in India. If he becomes the al-Qaeda chief, then there are chances of India figuring on al-Qaeda’s radar more vigorously,” he said.
The FBI had ascertained that Ilyas Kashmiri had coordinated with Headley since 2008. According to an official FBI report, Headley allegedly reported on his surveillance in India to several conspirators including Ilyas Kashmiri, who is presently believed to be in Waziristan in the Federally Administered Tribal Area (FATA) in northwestern Pakistan.