This is easily the most disturbing video you would have seen in a long time. Here you have a self-proclaimed jehadi, with finger digits missing and face distorted, presumably because of some explosive action, declaring in the name of Allah that he is going to kill all those who have harmed Muslims.
The man is Rilwan Hashim, sitting beside his brother Zainee Hashim and their father Mohammed Hashim. They are inside their rented home in Sainthamaruthu on the east coast of Sri Lanka, 360 km from Colombo. This video was presumably recorded on the Friday after Easter Sunday on 21 April when more than 250 people were killed in eight explosions in churches and hotels at several locations on the island nation. The ISIS claimed responsibility for the terror attack.
“We will destroy these non-believers to protect this land and therefore we need to do jihad,” Rilwan says in the video.
“We need to teach a proper lesson for these non-believers who have been destroying Muslims.”The chilling declaration is made in the presence of babies, one of who is crying his/her heart out, almost drowning out the sinister threat. Rilwan and Zainee are brothers of Zahran Hashim, the ringleader of the fidayeen squad that carried out the Easter terror attack.
The camera pans to Zainee and Mohammed Hashim, with a child seated on the former’s lap. He is also holding a weapon vertically in front of the camera as he also speaks about how their shahadat (sacrifice) will not go waste. The emphasis is on the promise that the Jehad shall continue.
“We will meet with our wife in heaven,” Rilwan says in part Tamil.
Voices are muffled but what comes through is a frighteningly disturbing image of men who have long crossed the lines of respect for human life. All that they know is their mad zeal, their only purpose, to shed blood. If in the process, children and women get hurt, there is no iota or regret. No place for a second thought.
In the theatre of the Jehad in Sri Lanka, moments later, that is precisely what happened. The family of 14 had reportedly gone missing shortly before the Easter Sunday attack and moved in to Sainthamaruthu after a couple of days. The landlord and other neighbours had felt suspicious about their behaviour and had asked them to vacate. But when one of the inmates reportedly pointed a gun at a neighbour, the police was alerted and the forces moved in.
Save a woman and a toddler, 12 people were killed. But not all those killed die in gunfight. The three men had detonated three explosives as the forces closed in. Six of those killed were children. Yes, among them was possibly the same baby who was heard wailing in the video. He/she would never cry again, put to sleep for ever.
Jehad clearly does not recognise love, affection and life.
Mohammed Zafran Hashim was a 40-something man who grew up in Kattankudy in the Eastern province, a township with a majority Muslim population. Kattankudy had hit the headlines when four mosques were attacked by some 30 armed personnel who shot at a crowd, killing 147 people in August 1990.
Whether Hashim was influenced by that incident is difficult to tell but what is known is that he was disowned and thrown out by at least four mosques as his line of thinking and advocacy was found too radical. The Muslim Council of Sri Lanka even gave inputs to the intelligence agencies that NTJ that he established was openly encouraging killing of non-Muslims in the name of religion.
So when mainstream Muslim community disowned and distanced itself from this man who took on the mosque, government and the police, how did he become popular and possibly powerful? By plugging into the internet that became his microphone to reach out to vulnerable minds who could be influenced and brainwashed into taking the militant path.
It would be a mistake to read this only as a Sri Lanka story. It is not.
Terror 2.0 knows no geographical boundaries and in any case, Lanka is just a Palk Strait away. The virus of modern-day terror especially its jehadi strain, spreads through the internet. The question is whether we as next door neighbours, have immunity to a similar move on Indian soil. Particularly south India where such elements can mingle with and get lost in the crowd.
Sri Lanka is on razor’s edge. Worried that the biggest and most frightening terror attack at least in a decade could turn into a civil war between religious communities or worse could be exploited by those waiting to fish in troubled waters. Pushed to a corner, the Muslim moderate voice may get lost in the process. And radicalisation and indoctrination too does not recognise nationalities. The call is to Allah, that dissolves any other identity.
What is happening further south has important lessons for India. Aided by a government that slept and bickered over political spoils while radicalism among Muslims took root, Sri Lanka has emerged as a successful laboratory of jehad. Having conducted a successful experiment, it will gradually eye the bigger playground. The onus is as much on the intel to have its ear to the ground as it is on civil society to look out for any tell-tale signs of stray behaviour. And hope the political ecosystem does not fan it for petty electoral gains.
With evidence emerging that Zahran Hashim travelled through India, the NIA is tracking his digital trail looking closely at people who have tailed him on social media. With the IS template of recruiting people online a pretty well-known modus operandi, the NIA has zeroed in on the houses of four suspects in Kasargode and Palakkad in Kerala.
The Sri Lanka attack has shown the signature is not that of a lone wolf attack. These wolves attack as a pack. India can ignore the Lanka lesson at its own peril.
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