India on High Alert Over Terrorist Infiltration... Taliban-Released Prisoners Include Anti-India Terror Group Members

[Image source=AP Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Lee Seon-ae] With the Taliban, an Islamic militant group, taking control of Afghanistan, concerns have risen over the potential influx of extremist terrorists into neighboring countries. In particular, India has experienced continuous terrorist attacks by extremists centered around the conflict-ridden Kashmir region for decades, and there are fears that the situation could worsen following the collapse of the Afghan government.

According to Indian media such as The Hindu on the 22nd, the extremist groups that the Indian government is focusing on in relation to the Afghan situation are Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) and Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT).

JeM is an organization that carried out a suicide bombing in the Indian-administered Kashmir region in 2019, killing over 40 Indian police officers. The group's leader, Masood Azhar, is listed on the United Nations (UN) terrorist list.

LeT is a group based in Pakistan, with its front organization being Jamaat-ud-Dawa (JuD). Hafiz Saeed, the co-founder of LeT and leader of JuD, is known to have planned the series of attacks on hotels and other locations in Mumbai on November 26, 2008. The attacks resulted in the deaths of over 160 people, including six Americans.

An official from Indian intelligence stated, "The Taliban have released hundreds of prisoners from jails, many of whom are former members of JeM and LeT."

He added that these individuals are expected to intensify efforts to infiltrate Indian territory via Pakistan. According to this official, JeM has dispatched leadership to support Taliban operations, and LeT militants have participated in combat alongside the Taliban. Following the Taliban's capture of Kabul, the capital of Afghanistan, on the 15th, many militants from Islamic extremist groups such as the Islamic State (IS), JeM, and LeT are also reported to have entered Kabul.

Attempts to infiltrate through the Rajouri area of Jammu, near the Pakistan border, have reportedly increased significantly recently. Another official revealed that security forces recently killed three individuals suspected to be JeM militants in the southern Kashmir region.

Kashmir has been a region of ongoing military conflict and unrest since the independence of India and Pakistan in 1947. After several wars, India and Pakistan now face each other along the Line of Control (LoC), with India administering Indian-administered Kashmir and Pakistan administering Pakistan-administered Kashmir. Notably, Indian-administered Kashmir is a region where Muslims form the majority, which is unusual in India, and it harbors significant resentment toward the Hindu nationalist Narendra Modi government.

Amid this, the federal government abruptly revoked the region's constitutional special status in August 2019, further increasing local dissatisfaction. Since then, near-martial law controls have been imposed, and alongside protests by residents, terrorist attacks by Islamic insurgents have frequently occurred. It is reported that over 200 insurgents were killed by Indian security forces last year alone.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.