Kerala’s Taliban link is too huge to ignore

Something is terribly wrong with Kerala. The southern state of India is grappling with three lethal viruses – Communism, Coronavirus and Zika virus together. Another virus has come to form a stranglehold over the state, posing a big national security challenge to the Indian state. The virus of Islamism and radicalism is spreading at an unprecedented pace in Kerala, as the Communist government watches on helplessly and does absolutely nothing to curb the same, fearing a backlash from its Muslim vote bank. Unfortunately, it is now turning out that some Keralites are joining terror organisations simply out of hatred for India, and with the dream of establishing an Islamic state which stretches from Kashmir to Kerala.

It is this hatred for India which is driving people from the state to join the Taliban. It was known for quite some time that many from Kerala were fascinated by the ISIS and had flown to Syria to join its ranks. However, recent revelations of Malayali-speaking Talibs celebrating with joy on the streets of Kabul as the Taliban took over Afghanistan has sent shockwaves across India. Most recently, a Mathrubhumi report has claimed that eight Keralites, who had left for Afghanistan to join ISIS, were also there among the prisoners released by the Taliban after taking over the war-torn country.

A video has been circulated on the internet, which shows that Taliban militants are overwhelmed with joy, speaking Malayalam after reaching the outskirts of Kabul. One of the militants goes down on his knees with tears in his eyes and speaks in Malayali, while the other militant seemed to understand what his colleague was saying. Congress MP Shashi Tharoor on Tuesday shared the same video on Twitter and seemed to proudly confirm that the gun-wielding monkeys were indeed speaking Malayali.

It sounds as if there are at least two Malayali Taliban here — one who says “samsarikkette” around the 8-second mark & another who understands him! https://t.co/SSdrhTLsBG

— Shashi Tharoor (@ShashiTharoor) August 17, 2021

In 2020, a fidayeen attack killed twenty-five Sikh devotees in Afghanistan including an Indian national at a Kabul Gurudwara. One of the Kabul Gurudwara attackers identified as Mohammed Muhsin was a resident of Kannur, Kerala. He was previously an active member of the PFI. In fact, he was radicalised by the radical Islamist outfit before he joined the ISIS. The Muslim youth from Kerala involved in the attack, in 2018 joined the IS in Khorasan Province (ISKP) – an organisation that bears links with the Taliban as well as the Pakistan-backed terror group Lashkar-e-Taiba.

PFI has been leading the process of radicalisation in the state of Kerala for quite some time now. It has been very active in promoting Jihad and classes on Jihad are conducted by some of its members. In these classes, the PFI even preaches that killing right-wing activists who oppose Islam would provide them ‘religious rewards in the afterlife’.

As reported by TFI earlier, four IS brides from Kerala, whose husbands have died fighting in Syria were in an Afghan prison until June. Now, the Taliban has released at least one of them – Nimisha Fathima, while the status of others remains unknown. They too will most likely be released by the Taliban, in a glowing testament to the bonhomie between Kerala’s extremists and the terror organisation.

Kerala has currently the distinction of being the Covid-capital of India. In the past 24 hours, Kerala has accounted for close to 60 per cent of all new infections reported in India. The situation turned from bad to worse as Kerala’s Communist government decided to relax restrictions on Eid-ul-Adha last month. This decision was taken in order to not antagonise the Muslim community of the state, who have shown a propensity to join violent extremist outfits around the world at the drop of a hat.

Ignoring Kerala’s connection with the Taliban will do India no good. There is something fundamentally going wrong with Kerela’s society, and the need of the hour is to address such faults. The Communist government of the state will not do so, which is why the threat emanating from Kerala must be dealt with by the Centre and Indian agencies. Radicalism in Kerala is reaching new heights, and the same cannot be allowed to foster.

Why is it that Kerala has become a hub and breeding ground for IS and Taliban recruits? Wahhabism, Jihadist ideology and Arabisation are the issues that are forcing Kerala youth into radicalism, while the Communist regime keeps inculcating a false sense of supremacy in Kerala, vis-a-vis other states. The Islamist threat emanating from Kerala must be dealt with as a matter of immediate urgency, and with an iron fist. Now that the state’s link to the Taliban has come out in the open, India cannot mutely spectate while some of its own radicalised citizens fly off to Kabul to join the organisation’s ranks.