In its crackdown on the ISIS terror module cases across India one of the key accused being investigated by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) is absconding terrorist Farhatullah Ghori.
Ghori was working as an ISIS handler under several aliases and coordinating with ISIS operatives across cities running terror modules. He went by the names Abu Sultan, Abu Suleman, Mohammad@Bhai, Abu, Abu Sufiyan, Sardar Saheb, and Faru.
As per reports, Farhatullah is also suspected to be the leader of Hizb-Ut-Tahrir (HUT), the global Islamic fundamentalist terrorist organisation. His focus was to expand his network and implement terrorist activities mainly in Delhi, Maharashtra and Kerala.
Ghori targeted and radicalised Muslim youth and engaged them in terror plans. He also leveraged his personal connections and networks to link operatives to al-Qaeda and ISIS. Ghori’s also raised funds through “Maal-e-Ghanimat” (spoils of war) with the objective to reportedly build a “home-grown” and “self-radicalised” network.
ISI, ISIS and Hizb-Ut-Tahrir (HUT) link
Ghori’s activities for ISIS were supported by Pakistan’s ISI. He is reportedly hiding in Pakistan. This exposes the outright connection between Pakistan ISI, ISIS and Hizb-Ut-Tahrir (HUT).
In July and August 2023, the NIA apprehended HUT affiliates in Hyderabad. A total of 16 youths linked to the HUT were arrested in operations across locations including Bhopal, Chhindwara, and Hyderabad.
This was after the Madhya Pradesh Anti-terrorism Squad (ATS) busted an HUT module operating across the state. At least 8 of those terrorists held by the NIA were converts to Islam.
Additionally, in October 2022, the Hyderabad police thwarted a Pakistan ISI plot to carry out terror attacks in the city. Three accused were arrested in the case namely Abdul Zahed, Mohammed Sameeuddin and Maaz Hasan Farooq.
Abdul Zahed was in contact with ISIS operative Farhatullah Ghori and his accomplices Siddique Bin Osman alias Rafique alias Abu Hamzala and Abdul Majeed alias Chotu. All three absconded to Pakistan and are living there.
Zahed reportedly was motivated and financed to carry out terrorist attacks in Hyderabad by the above-mentioned Pakistan-supported and now Pakistan-based handlers revealing a direct ISI-ISIS-HUT connection.
How terrorists used Love Jihad & conversion as a weapon
Another shocking revelation from the ongoing NIA investigation is that some of the chats, tracked by the agency as per sources, by Ghori and his network reveal conversation about “love jihad”-related operations.
Notably, Hizb-ut-Tahrir terrorists are known to have used love jihad as a weapon to spread terror. Amongst the 17 HUT terrorists arrested by the MP ATS, 3 of those arrested from Bhopal had married Hindu girls and later forced them to convert to Islam.
Moreover, amongst those arrested in Hyderabad was Hizb ut-Tahrir (HuT) module chief Mohammad Salim aka Saurabh Rajvaidya, who had converted to Islam. He was a professor at Asaduddin Owaisi-owned Deccan Medical College in Hyderabad who also forced his wife to convert.
In February 2022, Ziyavudeen Baqavi, believed to be a member of the ISIS-affiliated Hizb-ut-Tahrir (HuT), was detained on suspicion of intending to brainwash Tamil Nadu’s Muslim population in order to create an Islamic State.
These facts clearly expose that Love Jihad and conversion are indeed a mass weapon used by the terror trio HUT, ISIS and ISI to spread terrorism in India.
On 6th July 2023, UP ATS arrested Mohammad Tariq who was spreading ISIS ideology on several social media platforms. Tariq was in touch with the Islamic State of Khorasan Province (ISKP) terrorist Sumera Bano, whom the Anti-Terror Squad (ATS) of the Gujarat Police arrested along with three others.
According to reports, Sumera used to provide Mohammad Tariq training to execute ‘love jihad’, in which Hindu girls are trapped by Muslim men who later either forcefully convert them to Islam, push them into terrorism, groom them or murder and rape them.
What is Hizb ut-Tahrir?
Hizb ut-Tahrir is an international pan-Islamist and fundamentalist political organization whose stated aim is the re-establishment of the Islamic caliphate to unite the Muslim community and implement sharia globally.
The group aims to unify all Muslim countries to form an Islamic state or caliphate. After establishing the Islamic State, they plan to expand the caliphate into non-Muslim areas, through “invitation” and through military jihad.
The terror group is spread across at least 50 nations.
These revelations expose a web of terrorist networks involving different terror groups acting as branches for each other. This reveals that global terrorist organisations like ISIS and HUT are localising their attempts in order to export their network to India using Love Jihad and conversion.
Moreover, Pakistan and its agency ISI along with its home-grown terror groups is very much actively in cahoots with ISIS and HUT to further its agenda of spreading violent unrest across India.
