OSAMA BIN LADEN MENTIONED ONE TIME KASHMIR
Srinagar May 03 (Only Kashmir): Though no attack on India has been directly tracked back to Osama bin Laden , the motley group of radical Islamists everywhere who united under the al-Qaeda umbrella might have supported terror attacks on Indian soil.
Even though the dreaded self-proclaimed holy warrior only once mentioned India in his televised addresses, he was regarded a credible threat to the country, as a terrorist with the means to galvanise and support various groups working against the state.
In a statement aired by Al Jazeera on April 23, 2006, bin Laden spoke of India and Kashmir for the first time directly and claimed there was a Zionist-Hindu conspiracy against Muslims.
"A UN resolution passed more than half a century ago gave Muslim Kashmir the liberty of choosing independence from India. (US President) George Bush, the leader of the crusaders' campaign, announced a few days ago that he will order his converted agent (Pakistani President General Pervez) Musharraf to shut down the Kashmir mujahideen camps, thus affirming that it is a Zionist-Hindu war against Muslims ," bin Laden said.
He appealed to his supporters to support the insurgency in Kashmir. "It is the duty for the Umma with all its categories, men, women and youths, to give away themselves, their money, experiences and all types of material support, enough to establish jihad particularly in Iraq, Palestine, Afghanistan, Sudan, Kashmir and Chechnya."
Though disparate radical elements within India might have drawn inspiration from bin Laden's activities, al-Qaeda was never able to attract significant number of recruits from among India's estimated 160 million Muslims.
"Bin Laden's message is unlikely to resonate deeply in Indian states with higher Muslim concentrations. Although the country has a long and bloody history of communal violence between Hindus and Muslims, the more radical segments of India's Muslim population have kept their conflict localised and have avoided taking part in the global jihadist movement," the geopolitical intelligence firm Stratfor noted in a paper in 2006.
"Instead, bin Laden's words of inspiration will likely spur greater militant activity by Kashmir-based militants, which could materialise as an attack within a major urban centre in India," the paper added, then.
Even though the dreaded self-proclaimed holy warrior only once mentioned India in his televised addresses, he was regarded a credible threat to the country, as a terrorist with the means to galvanise and support various groups working against the state.
In a statement aired by Al Jazeera on April 23, 2006, bin Laden spoke of India and Kashmir for the first time directly and claimed there was a Zionist-Hindu conspiracy against Muslims.
"A UN resolution passed more than half a century ago gave Muslim Kashmir the liberty of choosing independence from India. (US President) George Bush, the leader of the crusaders' campaign, announced a few days ago that he will order his converted agent (Pakistani President General Pervez) Musharraf to shut down the Kashmir mujahideen camps, thus affirming that it is a Zionist-Hindu war against Muslims ," bin Laden said.
He appealed to his supporters to support the insurgency in Kashmir. "It is the duty for the Umma with all its categories, men, women and youths, to give away themselves, their money, experiences and all types of material support, enough to establish jihad particularly in Iraq, Palestine, Afghanistan, Sudan, Kashmir and Chechnya."
Though disparate radical elements within India might have drawn inspiration from bin Laden's activities, al-Qaeda was never able to attract significant number of recruits from among India's estimated 160 million Muslims.
"Bin Laden's message is unlikely to resonate deeply in Indian states with higher Muslim concentrations. Although the country has a long and bloody history of communal violence between Hindus and Muslims, the more radical segments of India's Muslim population have kept their conflict localised and have avoided taking part in the global jihadist movement," the geopolitical intelligence firm Stratfor noted in a paper in 2006.
"Instead, bin Laden's words of inspiration will likely spur greater militant activity by Kashmir-based militants, which could materialise as an attack within a major urban centre in India," the paper added, then.
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