A very disturbing trend has been emerging where the recruitment of the Islamic State in India is concerned. The Islamic State which has a strong presence in the country is looking to recruit children so that they can train them for longer periods before they become lethal jihadis.
This was discovered during the probe by the Maharashtra ATS. During the probe the electronic evidence that was collected pointed towards an Urdu manual which spoke about the recruitment of children.
During a search operation, the ATS seized an HP Elite 840 laptop from the house of accused Hufaiz Abdul Aziz Shaikh. They found a document which was titled ‘Teachers’ Guide for Physical Preparation for Children.’ The document had flags of the Islamic State. The document deals with the importance of recruiting children into the outfit.
Recruitment underway
During the probe the ATS found that Sheikh and another operative Rabiya had also radicalised their children and were raising them to follow the extreme ideology. The chat transcripts between the two revealed that the India chief of the Islamic State Shafi Armar Ali Yusuf al-Hindi had a son named Osama. His widow was raising her son to be like his father the investigation also found.
During the chat that took place in 2023, Rabiya the widow of Arman admitted that she had been brainwashing her son. She said that she wanted him to be like his father.
Armar who was initially part of the main circle in the Indian Mujahideen left the outfit and joined the Islamic State. He was on the wanted list of the Interpol and the National Investigation Agency. However he was killed in an airstrike in Syria.
Shaikh who is under arrest even confessed that he too believed in recruiting children. He even said that he had been indoctrinating his son and daughter by telling them about Armar and how they should follow in his footsteps.
The idea is to ensure that the next generation would carry forward the extremist ideology, Many attached to the ideology are already indoctrinating their children. They show them a video titled Mai Haji Ban Jung which is a tribute to Armar. There are also visuals of the Babri Masjid demolition and the Mumbai 26/11 attack. All this has been used as propaganda material to indoctrinate children.
Armar’s wife in charge
Since his death, Armar’s wife Rabiya has been playing an active role in indoctrination programmes. She was running a Facebook handle called Milestone. It contained literature, charts between Islamic State terrorists and also images of attacks in Kabul and Syria.
It has come to light that following the death of Armar, his wife Rabiya has taken upon herself to carry forward what her husband had been doing. She is the one who handled Shaikh and would often instruct him on what needs to be done. In fact it was her idea to recruit children into the outfit so that they are radicalised at a very early age. She is of the opinion that children are impressionable, and they would not ask too many questions.
Digging deeper into the search history of Shaikh, the ATS found that he had looked for terms such as the Structure of the Khilafah State, Hizb-ut-Tahrir Britain, Turkey visa, Houthi attack and Bhatkal bookings.
Shaikh would very often be in touch with Rabiya who is based out of Syria. She had become a source of inspiration for him and on her instructions, he would carry forward the propaganda for the Islamic State.
