Engineered Chaos?

Advocate Mofakerul Islam, a native of village Porsa, Etahar, district North Dinajpur, West Bengal, who practices law in Kolkata HC, and his YouTuber friend Ekramul Bagani, also from the same native place, were nabbed by the West Bengal CID from Bagdogra airport in North Bengal while trying to escape to Bangalore after creating havoc in Malda district on April 1. In a sensational and sensitive incident, seven judicial officials, three women among them, who were deputed for the speedy disposal of SIR cases, were held hostage by an unruly mob led by Mofakerul. Advocate Mofakerul was the mastermind, the main culprit behind the incident. He provoked the mob for widespread violence, terrorising the judicial officials for hours without food and water, through hate speech, undermining his legal profession by taking the law into his own hands. The judicial officials were rescued in the early hours of April 2 by the police led by a senior IPS officer, Mr Jayaraman. 35 people were also arrested by the police, besides Mofakerul and Ekramul Bagani, who were nabbed by the West Bengal CID team. Malda district of West Bengal borders Bangladesh. Radical Jamaat-e-Islami has won some parliamentary seats, and that is disturbing for the security of India.

Cutting across political party lines, the ruling TMC, BJP, and Congress have all condemned the incident and demanded strict action against elements responsible for disturbing the peace and law and order in the area. Local TMC leader Hasim Uddin Ahmed from Malda expressed his concern about a conspiracy by outside elements such as the jihadi lobby of Pakistan or Bangladesh. It takes an interesting turn from this point. The majority of political leaders are not well informed about the intricate spy web spun geopolitically and its resultant implications. This is a subject which a limited number of people know and follow, only those who have an interest or in-depth knowledge in the subject. Hence, at times, when Kaliachak-type incidents take place, or for that matter, Pulwama or even Op-Sindoor, social media and the mainstream media report allegations and counter-allegations of various political parties, which actually do not focus on the complex nature of the factual issues that remain buried deep down beneath layers of propaganda and misinformation.

Informed people with geopolitical know-how are aware of the dangerous game Turkey is involved in in the region, including in India, mainly in J&K, Kerala, West Bengal, and, of late, in the North Eastern region of the country, besides in the adjacent Bangladesh, for quite some time now. In fact, IHH, a Turkish organisation with similar activities like Al-Qaeda, and that is why it is often referred to as the Turkish Al-Qaeda, along with the Turkish publicity wing TRT (Turkish Radio and Television), which serves as the mouthpiece of the majority of the Islamist lobby, has been engaged in building a fake narrative through a massive misinformation war in India. It started with J&K, where Recep Tayyip Erdogan tried playing the role of the ‘Masiha’ for the family members of terrorists who lost their lives during various operations with the security forces. Especially during Eid, he would send messages to all such families, invoking cheap sentiment and trying to gain popularity with the sole intention of Islamisation. Besides J&K, Ankara has been on overdrive in building fake narratives for Islamisation in Kerala, West Bengal, and in the recent past in Mizoram, Manipur, and other parts of North East India. Turkish involvement was also evident in Bangladesh at the time of unrest and the ultimate resultant dethroning of the Sheikh Hasina regime.

Erdogan has been active in re-establishing the Caliphate and Islamic hegemony since the time he acquired power. Initially, as the Prime Minister of Turkey, he assumed power on March 14, 2003, and later became the President in 2014 and ultimately changed to the Presidential form of government, acquiring maximum political power in 2018. Turkey under Erdogan has been funding organisations, groups, and individuals through various Turkish apparatus. He has kept on increasing the budget with heavy investment in the media to tap various think tanks and such organisations which help his cause. Additionally, he has been helping the Pakistan ISI and other jihadi radical groups in Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Myanmar, training different anti-Indian splinter groups through mercenaries to destabilise India, which is a dangerous national security threat to Indian sovereignty. In Bangladesh, he has activated the Lashkar-e-Taiba; in Pakistan, he works closely with several terror organisations and the ISI in order to spread his tentacles in the North Eastern part of India. It is believed that the recent arrest of the American mercenary Matthew Van Dyke by the NIA from Dum Dum airport in Kolkata, along with six Ukrainians and many other operatives arrested from Lucknow and Delhi, are linked with Turkey’s larger game plan to destabilise and spread unrest in India with a clear intention of Islamisation. To propagate the false narrative, he has several activists and journalists, both from the mainstream and social media, on his regular payroll. The modus operandi is to build sympathy towards Islamic causes in order to achieve the larger goal of Islamism. He has the ambition to spread the Neo-Ottoman Empire, for which arms and ammunition are supplied, besides money distributed randomly to target individuals, organisations, and countries, be it for generating sympathy towards Hamas, Iran, or any such causes. Propaganda or the information war also includes tarnishing the image of Indian nationalist leaders against payment, which is normally made through Bitcoin and cryptocurrency. The travel itinerary of such persons engaged in building and spreading fake narratives, if monitored, will reveal and confirm that it is not always Dubai, but more popular destinations now are Thailand, Nepal, the UK, etc., where such dubious acts and exchanges are conducted.

There are two misinformation warfare hubs in this region: while Pakistan is a non-NATO terror-building factory, Turkey is a NATO nation involved in such nefarious activities. Both Pakistan and Turkey are partners in spreading jihadi terror with a common goal to target India and other non-Muslim countries. That is why they have more than a thousand terror sleeper cells in Europe, which are currently operating.

Precisely in this context, the role of Mofakerul and Ekramul is significant. The plot is thick, complex, and multi-layered. The security agencies would be trying to extract specific inputs to unearth the larger game plan, to take steps to keep the nation free from such unholy activities, and it becomes the moral responsibility of the citizens to apprise the agencies in order to keep our nation safe.

Even in the past, irrespective of political differences, all opposition political parties have always joined hands with the government to strengthen the resolve to act and punish the culprits, whether individuals, organisations, or any rogue country. The challenges and threats are serious and, under all circumstances, should be tackled effectively with awareness building and cohesive actions by all citizens.

Views expressed are personal. The writer is a senior IAF officer with long experience of civil administration in government in various disciplines/ministries