NEW DELHI: The Research and Analysis Wing (RAW), country’s premier spy agency, has warned the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) that the Islamic State’s (IS) Af-Pak group -- Wilayat Khurasan (WK) -- and its links to various Pakistani establishments are a matter of concern for the country.
In January, the IS had declared the formation of WK and appointed former Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) commander Hafiz Saeed Khan the ‘Wali’ of Khurasan and Abdur Rauf Khadim the Deputy Wali.
Hafiz is said to have been killed while planting an IED in Khyber Agency in Pakistan, but his death is not yet confirmed.
RAW said Abdul Rahim Muslim Dost has been appointed WK’s religious head and a judge and Asmatullah Muawiya is given the charge of military leader.
Muslim Dost, a former Guantanamo Bay detainee, was handed over to Pakistan in 2008 and was a key member of a Salafi group of Kunar, the Jamaat Ul Dawa Al Quran (JDQ).
RAW has suggested that the JDQ has links to Hafiz Muhammad Saeed’s terror outfit Lashkar-e-Taiyaba in the tribal areas of Af-Pak region.
A Punjabi Taliban leader, formerly linked to TTP and Al Qaeda, Asmatullah Muawiya had made peace with the Pak army last year and had threatened India recently.
RAW, while raising its concerns, told the PMO that they have got inputs suggesting that the IS is operational in the Af-Pak region and it needs to be probed further.
“However, the creation of the WK and its possible exchanges with the the Pak establishment are a matter of concern for India,” the RAW told the PMO.
Interestingly, the IS had denied WK’s role in the recent attacks that rocked Afghanistan’s Jalalabad and its surrounding places, in which several civilians and armed forces personnel were killed.
It is pertinent to recall that while announcing Wilayats across the Middle East and North Africa, the IS did not name any groups or leaders to head them, but it did so for the WK.
While it asked other Wilayats to carry out Jihad locally, it exhorted its Af-Pak unit to join the Jihad in Syria and Iraq,” R&AW said.