India’s Deputy Foreign Minister V.K. Singh found his assignment, of overseeing rescue operation (“Rahat”) of trapped Indian nationals from war-torn Yemen, very unexciting. Intriguing it is, because Singh, with his vast experience in strategic security, was sitting in Djibouti — a sniffing distance away from the dreaded Al-Shabab terrorist group’s fiefdom in the horn of Africa — to make “Rahat” a grand success.
This is a politically unstable region — awash with illegal weapons, drugs and human trafficking — where militancy thrives. Given the controversial minister’s candid confession, are we to presume that the Narendra Modi dispensation is least bothered about India’s strategic interest in Africa and the Middle East? Otherwise, how can a minister, with military background, display such insouciance when he had the opportunity to obtain critical piece of classified information regarding Al-Shabab’s growing operational flexibility? After all, Al-Shabab does pose a significant threat to commercial shipping routes in the region. And India will be one of the worst sufferers given the fact that no less than $110 billion of Indian trade passes through this region annually.
Indeed, Singh putting up a strangely pococurante front throughout his Djibouti assignment will raise eyebrows especially when the clan-based Al-Shabab insurgency has continued unabated despite a resounding defeat at the hands of Somalian and Ethiopian security forces previously. Indian intelligence sources, however, prefer to put the blame on a bitter internal ego-tussle between National Security Adviser Ajit Doval — Modi’s eyes and ears — and a military veteran-cum-minister like Singh over strategic planning and the necessity to make it a truly collaborative endeavor. A livid Singh is reportedly at variance with Doval’s policy preferences and hardly sees eye to eye on matters concerning strategic security. Perhaps, this ego-battle is taking a toll on India’s preparations to deal with crisis in an extremely volatile region. As nation states and people around the globe become linked together even more closely, there is an urgent need to harmonize New Delhi’s foreign policy objective with that of the country’s long-term strategic goal, especially in the MENA region. Let us not ignore the vital fact that Al-Shabab has obtained an operational reach that covers the whole of Horn of Africa.
Besides, India is all set to become MENA’s top trading destination by 2030 as it also seeks to consolidate the already entrenched economic footprint in Africa, where China has made major inroads. So, the realistic possibility of Africa turning into a new hotspot of terrorism bore ominous portents, for India will be looking forward to benefit from Africa’s abundant mineral wealth and energy resources in the days ahead. With as many as two million people of Indian origin living in Africa and the Indian private sector investing heavily in this continent, can India turn a blind eye to the emerging security scenario in the region? Take for example the deadly attack at a Garissa-based university in Kenya by Al-Shabab militants that snuffed out the lives of 148 innocent students. Apparently, it may not draw the attention of India’s security community because Garissa is a remotely located place with little or no strategic value. But if we take into account India’s plan to boost Africa-ties through education and technology apart from the fairly large number of educators of Indian origin serving in educational institutions across the African continent, the ominous shadow of terror organizations over mainstream education in Africa should make us sit up and take notice. More importantly, a pattern is emerging that involves a clearly perceptible shift in modern-day terror tactics. The terrorists are nowadays focusing their attention on institutions of learning. From Garissa to Peshawar in Pakistan; Toulouse in France, Beslan in Russian Federation and Chibok in Nigeria, everywhere, students are paying the price with their own precious blood. We may think that nothing could be more cowardice than such violent acts, but there is a method in this madness. To every brainwashed terror actor, an educational institution is not just a place for tutoring pupils; rather it represents a culture that is alien to the terrorists’ worldview. Hence, the motive behind attacking schools or colleges is to discourage the spread of educational system inspired by western philosophies and deplete the number of institutions, which encourages liberal thoughts, to the maximum extent. But, here lies the twist in the tale. “Massacring ideological or religious non-adherents is part of the hidden agenda to generate suspicion against Muslims,” says an expert of special intelligence operations.
Gory images of lifeless bodies lying in pools of blood in classrooms help consolidate the propaganda of Islam sowing fanaticism, which leads to extremism consequently. “And when the society starts believing that Muslims hold monopoly on extremism, they are fed with a quick-fix solution of replacing the Islamic worldview with western liberalism to curb such militant attribute,” asserted the strategic intelligence specialist. The Muslim Ummah should, therefore, come forward to break the stereotypes created by methodical propaganda. For India, which experienced 143 terror attacks on educational institutions resulting in 45 fatalities in the past, it is time to identify the strategic priorities in the Afro-Arab world and prepare a blueprint for confronting radicalism of similar nature at home and abroad without denigrating Islamic philosophy.
