Skip to main content

Al-Qaeda's Zawahri eyes India but stays silent on Islamic State

Al-Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahri announced plans to expand his organization into India, but refrained from criticizing the rival Islamic State's advances in Iraq and Syria.
RTR2NGEI.jpg

Ayman al-Zawahri, al-Qaeda's Egyptian emir who lives in Pakistan, released a 55-minute video this week announcing the formation of a new al-Qaeda organization to “return Islam’s rule” to the Indian subcontinent. The video is Zawahri's first this year and threatens a wave of jihadist attacks are coming to India. Zawahri, normally very loquacious, failed to discuss the jihad in Iraq and Syria or Caliph Ibrahim (Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi).

The new group is called al-Qaeda in the Indian Subcontinent (AQIS), and Zawahri named as its leader Asim Umar, a Pakistani who had written previous messages for al-Qaeda threatening India. Last year, Umar said to Muslims in India, “You ruled India for 800 years,” and that it was time to return to the Islamic rule and law across the subcontinent. This ideological fantasy of restoring the Mughal Empire in India is not unique to al-Qaeda; other terror groups in Pakistan share it.

Access the Middle East news and analysis you can trust

Join our community of Middle East readers to experience all of Al-Monitor, including 24/7 news, analyses, memos, reports and newsletters.

Subscribe

Only $100 per year.