
Islamic State jihad in subcontinent, China being run by local groups
The Islamic State (IS) terrorist group doesn’t just have a toehold in the subcontinent and China but is growing in strength as well, making India and its neighbours vulnerable to its madness.
The hated Sunni jihadist outfit may not have a direct presence in these countries but it has loyal and bloodthirsty followers in home-grown extremist groups that swear allegiance to it. Also, it has moles and modules that brainwash and recruit young Indians, Pakistanis, Bangladeshis, and Chinese Uyghurs to join its fighting ranks.
Pakistan has faced the most brutalities for its myriad jihadi groups getting attracted to the IS doctrine. It was the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan’s Jamatul Ahrar group under Qasim Khurasani, which pledged allegiance to the IS, that is behind the December 2014 attack on a military school in Peshawar, where 150 people, mostly children, were killed indiscriminately.
Since then, the group attacked several public places and military targets, including Bacha Khan University and the Easter strike on a park in Lahore.
The IS found recruits among Pakistan’s younger, educated generation. Two gruesome attacks — one on a bus carrying members of the Ismaili community in May 2015, killing 46 people, and the murder of free speech campaigner Sabeen Mahmud, in Karachi — were traced to Saad Aziz, a young and enterprising restaurant owner and his three western-educated friends. They had pledged allegiance to the IS.
Many more have left to fight for the IS in Syria and Iraq over the past two years.
China’s official opinion on the IS threat have been opaque but it too is feeling the heat, especially in the western border province of Xinjiang where Muslim Uyghur militants are fighting a separatist war. In November 2015, the IS executed Chinese national Fan Jinghui along with a Norwegian captive, prompting President Xi Jinping to condemn the incident from Manila, where he was attending an economic summit. “Terrorism is a universal enemy of mankind,” Xi said.
Soon after, an expert said the IS threat to China was real. The threat, he said, was from Uyghurs returning to China after training in west Asia. Li Shaoxian from the China Institute of Contemporary International Relations said “many hundreds or thousands” of Uyghurs are loyal IS followers.
Read | Islamic State says it has killed Norwegian, Chinese captives
The terror attacks in China – like the one at Tiananmen Square a couple of years ago and at the Kunming railway station in 2014 – were blamed on Uyghurs.
In Bangladesh, which has a long and porous border with India, the Sheikh Hasina government denied any IS presence in the country. The government blamed local groups connected with the opposition, especially the fundamentalist Jamaat-e-Islami party, for a spate of killings claimed by the IS.
Authorities held the outlawed Jamaatul Mujahedin Bangladesh (JMB), Ansarullah Bangla Team (ABT) and several little-known outfits for fatal attacks on rational bloggers, liberals and religious minority groups.
These radical extremist groups — possibly to enhance their stature by linking themselves with the dreaded international outfit or probably getting direct support from it — have become the face of the IS in Bangladesh.
An IS-run magazine, Dabiq, says its efforts to recruit “soldiers of the Khilafah (caliphate)” in Bangladesh have gained “great momentum” with many Muslims joining it.
The magazine mentioned Bangladesh as “Bengal” and said the country is strategically important and its members were up for attacks on India and Myanmar from its bases in the country.
(With inputs from HTC Dhaka)
Read | Goa tops Islamic State’s India hitlist, foreign tourists its main target

Malala signs deal with Apple TV to produce documentaries on women, children

Texas attorney journal contests Trump ban, Twitter files lawsuit

China rolls out Covid-19 vaccination certificates for cross-border travel

RNC says Trump will allow his name to be used in fundraising

Night raid on Myanmar protesters draws international alarm
- Embassies of the US, UK, Canada, Germany and others sent tweets late on Monday warning that security forces had surrounded a group of young people in the Sanchaung neighborhood of Yangon. People in surrounding areas swarmed the streets as videos of the situation spread on social media.

US Senate approves $1.9 tln bill, oil prices rise on global economic recovery

Burger King apologises, deletes 'Women belong in the kitchen' tweet

US firms in China see growth, improved ties after Covid-19 pandemic
- The surge in optimism on bilateral ties came on the back of Joe Biden’s election as the new US president, AmCham China chairman Greg Gilligan said.

A quick swab and a boarding pass: Israel's El Al launches check-in Covid-19 test
- The aim of the test was to ensure no one on the plane carried the coronavirus or could infect others. But masks were still mandatory for the duration of the 12-hour flight.

China lays out ambitious five-year targets at National People's Congress

Lawyers probing Cuomo have dealt political figures in high profile cases

Fully vaccinated people can gather without masks, CDC says

Kamala Harris to make UN debut as US VP at gender equality meeting

Myanmar protesters defy curfew; media outlets ordered shut

Wrongful death suit filed on behalf of Daniel Prude's kids
- The family claims in the lawsuit in US District Court that both the actions of the Rochester police and an “attempted cover-up” by the department and city government violated Prude's constitutional rights, attorneys for the family said.