Security agencies flag Indonesia link to Delhi riots

The revelation comes a day after Union home minister Amit Shah said in Parliament that money had been funnelled abroad to instigate the Delhi riots and said five people were arrested for allegedly distributing money before the violence.

Indian security agencies have red-flagged an Indonesia-based non-government organisation (NGO) with past links to the Falah-e-Insaniyat Foundation (FIF), the so-called charity wing of the Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) terror group, for raising funds on cyberspace in the name of the Delhi riots.

The violence in Delhi, which erupted last month, left 53 people dead and more than 500 injured. (Sanchit Khanna/HT PHOTO.)

The money was to be ostensibly sent to Muslims who either lost their family members, were injured or lost their property in the February 24-25 riots that left 53 people dead and more than 500 injured, Hindustan Times has learnt

The funds were being collected using the Delhi riots as the excuse and using images and messages on the Internet as propaganda tools , and being routed to India from Dubai through the hawala route.

The revelation comes a day after Union home minister Amit Shah said in Parliament that money had been funnelled abroad to instigate the Delhi riots and said five people were arrested for allegedly distributing money before the violence. The minister said social media accounts had been opened to channel incendiary content.

Pakistan-based cyber warriors are at the forefront of efforts to spread toxic propaganda against the Narendra Modi government and India in countries like the UK, Canada, Germany and in parts of the US.

A large number of Karachi-based tactical groups, which have been brought to the notice of the Indian government, have been found to defame India on issues like nullification of Article 370, the Citizenship (Amendment) Act,and now the Delhi riots.

According to information available in New Delhi, the Indonesia-based NGO (name withheld) has been making attempts to send Rs 25 lakh to the
Delhi riot victims with its board of trustee members contacting local Muslim organizations in the capital to distribute
the aid.

This NGO, through its Twitter handle and other platforms, is circulating selected riot images/messages as part of its propaganda. It is also planning to send a team from Indonesia to review the situation in north-east Delhi for distributing targeted relief to the victims.

The NGO is said to be a highly radicalized group and as part of its Islamic spread, provides financial assistance to Muslim communities in different countries. It also established a camp for the displaced Rohingya Muslims at Cox’s Bazaar in Bangladesh after sectarian clashes near the Myanmar border.

This NGO also helped the Jamaat-ud-Dawa (JUD),the parent organization of LeT, in 2015 in executing outreach activities in Rohingya camps in the Banda Aceh region of Indonesia. Photographic records of the activities are available on the NGO’s Twitter handle.

This reflects the fact is that LeT is trying to expand its footprint among the Rohingya community and in south-east Asian countries.

Indian security agencies are concerned that the riot images and selected statements of politicians made during the same period will be used to weaponise innocent people through toxic ideology as has been evident in the past two decades.