New Delhi: Mohammad Asif (41), one of the arrested Al-Qaeda operatives, attended the grand Shura to formally announce the formation of Al Qaeda Indian Subcontinent (AQIS) by the Al-Qaeda chief Ayman Mohammed Rabie al-Zawahiri's son-in-law in Waziristan.
Shura is a meeting to strengthen the Islamic organizations across the globe and security agencies feel that Asif was among very few sleeper cells, who managed to secure his position in the core meeting on the formation of AQIS.
During interrogation Asif claimed that he attended the Shura held in 2014 in an undisclosed location in Waziristan where Zawahiri's son-in-law was also present.
"In mid 2014, a grand Shura was held in an undisclosed location in Waziristan to formally announce the formation of AQIS. I was also present in the meeting and we pledged to take the 'frontiers of Islamic Jihad' towards the entire South Asian continent including India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Nepal and Bhutan with India being the centrepiece of action," Asif told the interrogators.
It was learnt that the high power event was not only attended by Zawahiri's son-in-law but also attended by the members of the Arabian Grand Council. “We came to know that there were two Indians including Maulana Asim Umar - Amir (head) of AQIS - and Mohammad Asif was present in the meeting. Asif is presently in the custody of Special Cell of Delhi Police and further interrogation is on," sources said.
Based on the interrogation report, Asif, a resident of Sambhal in Uttar Pradesh, was asked to return to India to head the Indian wing of AQIS. He was also asked to rope in followers and fundamentalists, who could be given training for terror related activities.
Then, Asif returned to India to develop and establish the terror groups. Asif's interrogation helped investigators to establish the identity of Mulana Asim Umar, the self proclaimed emir of Al-Qaeda in the Indian Subcontinent (AQIS). Umar emigrated from India in 1995 and joined terror group Harkat-ul-Mujahideen.
In 2012 Asif got in touch with Umar who convinced him to come to Pakistan. Asif got two more men with him and the finance was arranged by Umar. They applied for visa to do ziyarat (visit) at Ayatollah Khomaini's graveyard in Iran.
On June 23, 2013 they went from New Delhi to Tehran and through contacts they travelled to the interiors of Iran, Zahedan and then to Sarwan on Iran-Pakistan border. From there they reached Quetta in Pakistan.
The two men, who were with Asif, are still in the Afghanisatn-Pakistan region. Asif left for India through the same route but was caught by Iranian authorities. But al-Qaeda contacts helped him to escape. He went to Turkey where he met members of Uighur al-Qaeda group.
Since his visa had long expired, he told the Indian embassy that he lost his passport and got an emergency certificate to reach India. He misused the emergency certificate, which is generally handed out to Indians in distress in foreign land.
Misusing the emergency certificate by Asif has raised serious questions and loopholes in the Indian external security system. Security experts feel that there should be more stringent measures to check the practice to prevent people with anti-Indian agenda entering the country.
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