MOSCOW, September 4 (RIA Novosti) - India will not be a fertile land for al-Qaeda, who announced setting up an Indian subcontinent branch, Qasim Rasool Iliyas, a member of the All India Muslim Personal Law Board, told RIA Novosti.
“India is not a fertile ground for al-Qaeda and ISIS. Muslims will not support these groups merely in the name of Islam. Only a few people went to fight with ISIS and it’s not a general phenomenon. We will thwart the designs of these terror groups,” Iliyas said.
“Al-Qaeda will hardly make an impact in India,” said Yogendra Kumar, a former Indian Ambassador and expert on security.
He warned, however, that, “Indian security agencies have to be cautious and monitor the situation carefully since some activity is going on in Kashmir and we have to watch the trends.”
These statements come in light of al-Qaeda leader Ayman Zawahiri’s statements that the organization is to open its Indian subcontinent branch in the hopes of attracting local Islamic extremists as the Islamic State (ISIS) makes rapid advances in the Middle East.
The IS, a Sunni extremist group, originated during the US-led Iraq War and was known as al-Qaeda in Iraq. In 2012, it started fighting the Syrian government under the name of the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria. Later, all ties between al-Qaeda and the ISIS were cut.
