Gujarat ATS arrests woman for promoting anti-India propaganda of Al-Qaeda affiliate
Ahmedabad: The Gujarat Anti-Terrorist Squad (ATS) has arrested a woman from Bengaluru for allegedly promoting the anti-national propaganda of Al-Qaeda in the Indian Subcontinent (AQIS), a banned terror outfit, officials said on Wednesday.
The accused, Shama Parveen Ansari, apprehended from Bengaluru on Tuesday, was in touch with Pakistani entities via phone and email. She used to post provocative content on social media, calling for an "armed revolution or jihad" against the Indian government and spreading discord in the country, they said.
She used to run two Facebook pages and an Instagram handle comprising more than 10,000 followers to share inflammatory and anti-India content of the AQIS and some other radical preachers, an ATS release said.
Ansari, who was arrested from her residence in RT Nagar area of Bengaluru, was linked to one of the four persons arrested a week ago by the ATS for sharing such content through their Instagram accounts, said the release.
On July 23, the ATS arrested four men from Delhi, Noida, Ahmedabad and Modasa town in Gujarat for allegedly sharing radical and provocative content, including jihadi propaganda videos of AQIS on social media platforms, it said.
Through these videos, the four men used to incite Muslims youth to uproot India's democratic system and implement 'sharia' (Islamic law) in the country through armed rebellion, the release said.
"One of the arrested accused, Mohammad Faiq from Delhi, had posted provocative videos calling for jihad and terror attacks in India. It was revealed that he had downloaded this content from two Facebook and one Instagram accounts and re-posted on his Instagram account after some editing," Deputy Inspector General of Police, ATS, Sunil Joshi said.
It also came to light that Faiq was in contact with the actual user of those three accounts having over 10,000 followers, Joshi said.
Subsequently, the ATS found these three pages were operated by Shama Parveen Ansari, residing at RT Nagar in Bengaluru.
On Tuesday, a team of ATS Gujarat, in cooperation with central agencies and state police, arrested Ansari and brought here on Wednesday on transit remand, the official said.
Ansari used to post provocative speeches by AQIS leader Maulana Assim Umar and slain Al-Qaeda leader Anwar al-Awlaki, he said.
"The content called for armed revolution or jihad against the Government of India, Ghazwa-E-Hind, terrorist attacks and inciting Indian Muslim youth to carry out violence on non-believers or kafirs," Joshi said, adding she was in contact with Pakistani entities via phone and email.
"Ansari had also posted a video of Maulana Abdul Aziz of Lahore's Lal Masjid. In the video, he was seen encouraging Muslims to wage armed struggle to overthrow the Indian government and spread discord in the country based on religious and caste divisions," Joshi added.
