While it is still under the realm of speculation whether the US-led western powers really approve of the Ukrainian move to use the dreaded Jihadists against Russia, but the signals do point towards such a possibility by Gopal Misra
The growing ties between Ukraine and the Jihadists of the Caucasian region, especially Dagestan, against Moscow are expected to further fuel the ongoing war in Europe.
These Jihadists are known to be allies of the Pakistani terror outfits having financial and strategic support of its army and its Inter-Services Intelligence or ISI. India, naturally, has to be worried about this new bonhomie, especially in the wake of the recent upsurge of terrorism in Jammu and Kashmir.
The worldwide ramifications of the new found love between the ISI and the Islamists of Eastern Europe need to be studied.
Within a few months of the terrorists’ attack in Moscow, the recent shooting of policemen, beheading a Christian priest and severely wounding a number of civilians in key Dagestan towns indicates that the Ukraine, with the backing of its US-led western allies, is keen on expanding the ongoing conflict to other areas of Eastern Europe. For many, it could be a shocking revelation to common people that how the Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, a Jew, could find the Jihadists his close ally. The students of strategic and international affairs, however, know that in a war or love every action is legitimate to trounce the enemy.
In this backdrop, it is quite well-known that a large section of the Muslim majority regions of Chechnya and Dagestan continues to be alienated with Moscow. These two regions are considered to be Russian President Vladimir Putin’s Achilles heel. It is true that Putin has successfully brought the Chechen to the country’s secular political system, but Dagestan having 13000 feet high mountains, now a hotbed of terrorists, continues to be a challenging task for Moscow. Russian soldiers are not trained in mountain warfare, and that too against the committed Jihadists, well-entrenched in the unfriendly hilly terrain.
A desperate move
It is being stated that with the defeat appearing imminent of his forces in the ongoing 900-day old war with Russia, Zelenskyy has decided to tie up with Jihadists. Earlier, Ukraine had evolved strategic understanding with Pakistan by obtaining huge supplies of explosives for its artillery from the country, where the world’s most dreaded Muslim terrorists are being trained. In spite of its War against Terrorists, the US has allowed Pakistan to retain its terror training centers.
For the Pakistani army, the decision to supply the much-needed explosives to Ukraine facing Russia’s formidable firepower, became a god-sent opportunity. It enabled it to reinvigorate strategic ties with Washington. Also, its civilian face led by Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif could now liberally access the US dominated international financial institutions such as the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank
It could not be known immediately whether the US-led western powers really approve the Ukrainian move to use the dreaded Jihadists against Russia, but the indications do not rule out such an eventuality. It may be recalled that more than a decade ago, the US announced a five million US dollars award for getting Doku, a Chechan terrorist having al-Qaeda ties in Afghanistan and Pakistan, but it could never be ascertained if Doku and his followers were eliminated or arrested.
During the past 13 years, however, the West has never condemned these Muslim terrorists attacking Russian institutions. On the other hand, all these years, the American media has been calling them freedom fighters. It needs close observation how the Russian province, Dagestan, the picturesque region of the Northern Caucasus nestling amidst high peaks, has become the new abode of Jihadists.
The Tablighi role
The role of Pakistan-based Tablighi volunteers in converting the peace-loving Cucasians against Jews and Christians is yet to be revealed. It is intriguing how the American deep state, Central Intelligence Agency or CIA, continues to influence the Jihadists worldwide. It is difficult to ascertain how much funds have been made available to them. The information is under wraps, maybe because officially the US and the western powers continue to mouth their much pronounced war against terror.
It, however, appears that it took more than a decade for the Islamists to finally percolate down in the valleys and mountains in the Northern Caucasus, a region that continues to be a part of the Russian democracy.
A section of the scholars of strategic affairs in New Delhi, suspects, perhaps rightly, that the Jihadists’ June 23 Sunday attacks on various churches and synagogues of two prominent cities, Derbent and Makhchakla of Dagestan, could be a part of a new Ukrainian strategy, blessed by the West to expand the war front against Russia in Eastern Europe. The Muslim terrorists have not only killed 15 policemen, they have beheaded a Christian priest. The exact number of the injured could not be ascertained immediately.
India’s worries
There is a natural affinity among Indians towards the Northern Caucasus, including Dagestan, where Islam’s liberal traditions evolved in the isolated natural environment. Both Islam and Christianity flourished. The Jews too have been living in this predominant Muslim area. In India, the country has successfully evolved a plural and socially developed society, but it’s all inclusive approach giving equal rights is being sabotaged by the West, which, may still be harboring their dated colonial agenda
It is natural for the Indian security agencies to be apprehensive regarding a massive penetration of the Tablighi volunteers in the country, as they are being empowered with the liberal financial assistance obtained either directly from the West as well as the secret drug funds of the ISI. The current role of the Chinese proxies is yet to be revealed.
The cause of the Indian worries regarding the rise of radical Islam in Eastern Europe is also being attributed to the growing role of the Salafi cult among Muslims in the region. The Salafis hate Sufism which has a long traditional presence in India. In the northern state of India, Uttar Pradesh, the earlier Samajwadi Party government led by Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav having support of the Indian National Congress, had allowed the conservative Wahabi Sunnis, also known as Deobandi, to penetrate and occupy key positions in the management of Sufi properties. They have been opposing this interference, but the political considerations weighed in favor of the conservative elements. Like Dagestan, in India the Sufi orders like Naqshbandi and Qadiriya have a large number of followers, including among Hindus.
Another common factor between Dagestan and India is that the minorities have seldom been harassed. The communal riots began with British colonial rule. The partition was accomplished after funding Mullahs and Razakars, the hired killers. They were the predecessors of the present day Talibans. If British intelligence MI -5 took 60 years to turn Indian Muslims into separatists, the CIA, through the West’ client state, Pakistan, had been funding the Muslim terrorists against the USSR and finally evicted them from Afghanistan. In recent years, it has been targeting Russia for ending its influence in Eastern Europe and Central Asia.
Amidst these international developments, China has positioned itself as a key player without joining the war. It has quietly deploying its resources to surpass the West in scientific research and technologies
It knows that the ongoing conflict in Europe is going to weaken the economies of the US and even the Western Europe. Meanwhile,China already has surpassed Russia in industrial production. It is being stated that China already has become a Superpower, next to the US only.
India is yet to formulate it’s economic strategy, especially it has already coughed up about one thousand billion US dollars to China during the past 10 years due to her huge perennial trade deficit with her northern neighbor.
In this context, the reemergence of Jihadists from Europe to Jammu Kashmir is quite alarming.
