By Lt. General P.C. Katoch (Retd) Former Director General of Information Systems, Indian Army

The West has reportedly developed technology where location of videos shot can be pinpointed with fair accuracy. The focus came after the series of macabre beheadings the ISIS undertook to attract the bizarre. Talk about this technology surfaced after Ayaman al Zawahiri, Al Qaeda chief, announced the formation of the Al Qaeda in the Indian subcontinent (AQIS) last year. But even at that time it was assessed that his video announcement was recorded on the Af-Pak border but significantly ‘inside’ Pakistan.

So when the AQIS chief Asim Umar through his video message of May 2, 2015, titled ‘From France to Bangladesh: The Dust Will Never Settle Down’ mentioned Prime Minister Narendra Modi in context of what he claims as the war against Muslims, one can be assured it was shot in Pakistan. One can be doubly certain that when Umar talked of attack on Muslims “through World Bank and IMF policies, drone attacks, satanic conspiracy of Kerry-Lugar bill, Charlie Hebdo’s writings, UN charter, official sermons by muftis and Narendra Modi’s speeches which call for Muslims to be burnt alive—this is the same war”, that the video was filmed under the aegis of the ISI of Pakistan, who also would have provided the script. It would be so because this propaganda could only be the handiwork of the ISI.

No speech by Modi, even before becoming Prime Minister, ever had any such mention with respect to Muslims. If such was the case, then why would the PDP agree to forming a coalition government with BJP in Jammu and Kashmir (J&K)? And, why would India rescue some 4,400 Muslims amidst the Indians rescued from the recent earthquake in Nepal? The fact is that Asim Umar has been shaped in radicalised seminaries and madrasas of Pakistan. He is known to have facilitated Osama bin Laden’s move to a safehouse in the Pakistani city of Abbottabad, where he lived undetected for years before US forces killed him. Asim Umar’s mother organisation HUJI used to run branches in Kashmir and Myanmar and that is why he has been tasked to head Al Qaeda activities from Afghanistan to Bangladesh and Myanmar.

Pakistan’s ISI is notorious for its links with some 14 major terrorist organisations. It has always had firm links directly with Al Qaeda and Al Qaeda’s off -shoot Haqqanis. Michael Hughes had said sometime back, “Pakistan has had a close relationship with the Haqqanis for over 30 years, who are still seen as a crucial anti-Indian asset....Nine years, nearly $300 billion and 1,900 dead coalition soldiers later, the US has officially verified that the entire war effort has been focused on the wrong side of the mountains.”

Even Pir Zubair Shah and Carlotta Gall wrote in New York Times, “The Haqqani family, which runs the network like a mafia, maintains several town houses, including in Islamabad...known to visit military facilities in Rawalpindi...Experts say leaders... may be hiding in plain sight in cities rather than in remote tribal areas.”

Little wonder then that the Pakistani military was sheltering Osama bin Laden. Ayaman al Zawahiri has also declared his full support to Mullah Omar, the Afghan Taliban head. The LeT and Al Qaeda were behind training the cadres of SIMI since early 1990, raising of the IM and the PFI, latter headquartered in Kerala. But what should cause serious concern of our policymakers are reports of the meeting held in Myanmar during March 2015 bringing nine militant groups of north-east India combining into the ‘United National Liberation Front of West South East Asia’ with active indulgence of Chinese intelligence. This includes the NSCN-Khaplang who abrogated the 14-year-old ceasefire with Government of India recently and the ULFA faction led by Paresh Baruah, latter having been sheltered in Ruli, in China, past several months.

India is apparently being caught in a giant subconventional pincer of the China-Pakistan strategic pincer. Continuing US support to Pakistani military and the $47 billion Chinese largesse has buoyed Pakistani mischief, as indicated by seditious speeches and waiving of Pakistani flags in J&K while China is upping the ante too because of her nefarious and illegal claims to Arunachal Pradesh. This unholy China- Pakistan nexus requires constant monitoring. One example is Maldives, with its over 1,000 uninhabited islands, that has been systematically radicalised over the past decade through the LeT, which is a proxy of both China and Pakistan. India needs to take note and stop looking inwards.

The views expressed herein are the personal views of the author.