Al-Qaeda document issues warning to India, says will target army officers who killed 'Kashmiri brothers'

The Al-Qaeda in the Indian Subcontinent (AQIS) has released a 20-page ‘code of conduct’ document detailing its objectives, future targets, and reiterating its allegiance to Al-Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri. The AQIS, in the document, says that its members are fighting with the Taliban and calls on Muslims throughout the Indian Subcontinent to join or support the “Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan”, as a  The Long War Journal report points out. [caption id=“attachment_3020604” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Representational image. AP[/caption] Apart from Afghanistan, AQIS has its tentacles spread in India, Pakistan, Myanmar and Bangladesh. The code of conduct specifically looks at Kashmir and says that the outfit will target Indian security installations and leaders of Hindu “separatist” organisations, according to a report in The Times of India. “All personnel of the military are our targets, whether they be in the war zone or in barracks at their bases. Even the personnel on vacation are not exempted due to their battle against the implementation of sharia,” the outfit said in the document. While stating that jihadi groups, sponsored by Pakistan and fighting Indian forces in Kashmir, share much in common with the Taliban and the Al-Qaeda, the document stated that it was not enough. It invited all Muslims “to pledge their allegiance to the Islamic emirate.” While targeting the United States, the AQIS document said that Americans are a priority target in Pakistan. America is “the ringleader of the global system of infidelity” and “the central enemy standing against Islamic and jihadi awakening,” the document states. “It is our conviction that the defeat of America and its agents would result in victory for the religious forces in this entire region,” the guide further notes, as reported by PJ media. AQIS further believes that an American withdrawal from Afghanistan will be a boon for their cause. The main objective of AQIS, as the document states, is to defend Afghanistan and bring stability to it. The AQIS has a similar strategy of dealing with the military forces of Pakistan, India, Bangladesh and Myanmar. It calls for attacks on the Pakistani military over soldiers and points out that military targets throughout the above-mentioned countries are all deemed appropriate. “Officers are a greater priority than soldiers. The greater is the seniority, greater is our priority to kill him. Those officers of the military who have the blood of our Kashmiri brothers on their hands are our targets,” the outfit said in the released document. The Times of India quoted intelligence sources as saying that they are keeping a close tab on the development since it comes soon after former Hizbul Mujahideen commander Zakir Musa floated a new outfit and openly acknowledged support to Al-Qaeda. Musa left the Hizbul outfit after he was rebuffed over his threat to behead Hurriyat leaders, as Ishfaq Naseem points out in this _Firstpost_ article. Musa declared his support for Al-Qaeda in a video and said that he wants to thank the global militant organisation for supporting Shariah. The Al-Qaeda ‘code of conduct’ also refers to Maulana Asim Umar, a resident of Uttar Pradesh’s Sambhal, as the chief of the AQIS. AQIS says it wants to “avoid fighting and offending all such people who do not take up arms against us.” The document said, “We consider it a must to avoid even hitting permissible targets in such places, because such operations may hurt the Muslims masses, and thus make one deserving of Allah’s punishment.”