Abu Dujana driving force behind AQIS, says Al Qaeda chief Zawahiri in new video message

Al Qaeda chief Ayman al-Zawahiri has confirmed that slain Al Qaeda commander Abu Dujana al Pasha was the driving force behind the formation of Al Qaeda in the Indian Subcontinent (AQIS).

According to al-Zawahiri's new video message, released by Al Qaeda's propaganda arm As-Sahab and available on social media platforms including the Twitter handles of some terror monitors, al Pasha "united several jihadi groups belonging to the Indian Subcontinent".

Abu Dujana al Pasha, also known as Abu Dujana al Basha, was Zawahiri's son-in-law and played a key role in Al Qaeda's terror operations. Reports say he was known as the "hidden commander" in Al Qaeda. Though relatively unknown to the outside world, al Pasha worked hard to establish AQIS. The US had declared him a Specially Designated Global Terrorist in 2009.

Zawahiri had announced the formation (birth) of AQIS through a video message in September 2014. Though it was widely reported that al Pasha was killed in a US drone strike in August 2014, Al Qaeda never accepted it.

But this message from the Al Qaeda chief himself has now confirmed it. Calling al Pasha a martyr, Zawahiri's long message slams Pakistan, its rulers and its military. He takes on ISIS and urges Syrian jihadis and believers across the world to unite and describes the formation of AQIS as one of the most important works.

"Allah guided him to avail his old relationships that had been formed with the Mujahideen of the Subcontinent in training camps and fronts. Allah had given him popularity amongst them, so he directed his efforts to unite these different groups in a single organisation, and thus, with the blessing and favour of Allah, Al Qaeda in the Indian Subcontinent was formed, under the banner of the Islamic Emirate," said Zawahiri.

AQIS is trying to make its present felt in India, which has virtually been non-existent so far. It recently named former Hizbul terrorist Zikar Rashid Bhat alias Zakir Musa the chief of its India unit. Before that, in June, AQIS had released a new code of conduct for its members and other terrorists who wanted to show allegiance to Al Qaeda, to follow.

ISLAMIC EMIRATE

This latest video message by Zawahiri also confirms another important development, acceptance of establishment of an Islamic Emirate in Al Qaeda's core ideology. Osama bin Laden, Al Qaeda founder, was against the idea of establishing Islamic Emirate. But with rapid rise of ISIS, an Al Qaeda offshoot that was denounced by its parent for being too cruel or extremist, as Zawahiri says here, Al Qaeda had to change its strategy, it seems.

Last year, Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), currently considered the most dangerous Al Qaeda faction, had announced to establish an Islamic Emirate in eastern Yemen, a war torn country that has become battleground for Iran and Saudi Arab to establish their regional supremacy.

ISIS is on way out. It has been driven out of its Iraqi stronghold Mosul and its headquarters in Syria's Raqqa is expected to fall soon as international forces are rapidly marching ahead. Though US Defence Secretary James Mattis doubts ISIS leader Ab Bakr al-Baghdadi's death, the Iraqi and Arabian media declared him dead. It is only natural then for Al Qaeda to reclaim its position at top of the pyramid as the most preferred outfit of terrorists from across the world with the fall of ISIS. ISIS rise had seen terror outfits the world over shifting their allegiance from Al Qaeda to ISIS.

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