Months after the Madhya Pradesh Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) busted the terror module of the Islamic terrorist group Hizb-ut-Tahrir (HuT) and the NIA named it under UAPA, 1967, the Central government is examining a proposal to ban HuT.
It is worth noting that HuT members recently raised ‘Jihad, Jihad’ slogans during a pro-Palestine street protest in London. During the protest, some people screamed ‘Jihad-Jihad’ in support of Palestinian terrorist group Hamas and its attacks in Israel. This incident has sparked calls for an international ban on HuT.
The Metropolitan police, however, issued a statement on October 21 which said that after assessing the video of the Hizb ut-Tahrir’s protests “no signs or banners were identified that were unlawful.”
Notably, the Madhya Pradesh Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) earlier this year busted a HuT module that had been operating across the state. The case was then handed to the National Investigation Agency (NIA), which recently indicted 17 people linked with Hizb-ut-Tahrir.
As reported earlier, MP ATS had apprehended 16 people from Madhya Pradesh and Telangana revealing that as many as 8 of these terrorists had converted to Islam. There are three arrested from Bhopal who married Hindu girls and later forced them to convert to Islam.
After the HuT’s MP module was busted, it was found that its chief Mohammad Salim aka Saurabh Rajvaidya was a professor at Asaduddin Owaisi-owned Deccan Medical College in Hyderabad, who was among the arrested.
Madhya Pradesh police had said that Hizb-ut-Tahrir’s objective is to topple the democratic system in India and replace it with a Sharia regime.
On November 5, the NIA issued a statement and said that the terrorists of Hizb-ut-Tahrir were clandestinely recruiting and building their cadres in Madhya Pradesh. The probe agency said that it has also been proved that the accused were influenced by the HuT’s extremist ideology, which sought to establish a Shariat-based Islamic nation in India by violent means.
NIA Files Charge-Sheet against 17 in Hijb-ut-Tahrir (HuT) Case pic.twitter.com/YKXfvuca6P
— NIA India (@NIA_India) November 5, 2023
“As an organisation, they kept their activities secret to avoid being caught, recruited like-minded people in their group and organised Training Camps clandestinely. Their plans and tactics extended to attacks on Police personnel and targeting individuals of different communities. This dangerous intent was aimed to threaten the unity, integrity, security, and sovereignty of India, with the explicit goal of striking terror among the people, ” the NIA statement said.
The accused individuals named in the charge sheet include Mohammad Alam, Misbah ul Hasan, Mehraj Ali, Khalid, Hussain, Syed Sami Rizvi, Yasir Khan, Salman Ansari, Syed Danish Ali, Mohammad Shahrukh, Mohammad, Wasim, Mohammad Kareem, Mohammad Abbas Ali, Mohammad Hameed, Mohammad Saleem, Abdur Rahman, Sheikh Junaid, and Mohammad Salman.
Notably, the Union Home Ministry has banned 44 terrorist organizations under Section 35 of the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA). Among these prohibited organisations are Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM), Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT), the Islamic State (IS), the Khalistan Tiger Force (KTF), the Student Islamic Movement of India (SIMI), and others.
Hizb ut-Tahrir
Hizb ut-Tahrir is an international pan-Islamist and fundamentalist political organization whose stated aim is the re-establishment of the Islamic caliphate to unite the Muslim community and implement sharia globally. The group aims to unify all Muslim countries to form an Islamic state or caliphate. After establishing the Islamic State, they plan to expand the caliphate into non-Muslim areas, through “invitation” and through military jihad.
HuT has managed to extend its doctrine and support base to at least 50 nations. The outfit has been training its cadres in chemical and biological warfare while evading international inspection. The group is banned in 16 countries.
