NEW FACE OF JEHAD

Is terrorism or jehad supposed to be only related with Islam? Is it got to do with religious fanaticism that the Islamic clergies preach or is it for the setting of new world order which favors the Islamic State? And what is the role of the Hindus in this new Islamic Order?

As far as India is concerned, there is a changing face of the jehadis that operate from the Kashmiri Valley. There has been a lot of induction of Hindu men into the militant groups like the Hizbul Mujahideen which would come as a surprise to most of the Indians! Some of these Hindu jehadi foot soldiers have made up the Hizbul ranks too with Muslim members under them.

So what is cause of Hindus joining the militant groups in the regions of Doda-Rajouri-Pir panjal of the Kashmir Valley? Well it does not come as a surprise when these youngsters were born under the shadow of the guns and see it as a way to be local dons, whereas others find it easy to get money as on joining they get Rs 50,000 and then per month get Rs 2,500 and if they are slain on course of their job their families get a compensation of Rs 50,000 to Rs 1 lakh and if you are a top militant then his family get regular financial aids, whereas other jobs get a paltry pay of Rs 1,000, so becoming jehadi is another way of becoming employed in this poverty stricken areas.

The other reason that the Hizbul outfit wants Hindus in their ranks is that these locals know the topography of these regions and will help the mercenaries’ better places as hideouts in unsuspected Hindu homes as cover which is hardly checked by the security forces.

But the most bizarre matter is that Hindu militants often take Muslim code names, but rarely do conversions to Islam happen. In fact Muslim and Hindu terrorists respect each other’s religious sentiments by eating separately. Muslim militants shun liquor whereas the Hindu ones abhor beef! This comes as a surprise when in the rest of the nation, Hindu-Muslim rift is so powerful that they gun for each others neck the moment they cross each other on a street.

The presence of a Hindu in the outfit does not insulate his community in and around his native place from attacks. As a matter of fact several massacres of Hindus have occurred in the Kandi-Budhal belt from where four Hindus have joined militant ranks. Sometimes Hindu terrorists attack people from their own faith to settle personal scores.

The freak phenomenon of Hindu youths raising the outcry of jehad has little to do with faith or ideology. Propelled more by poverty and unemployment it could well be the last hurrah of the fake crusaders of a lost cause.