BeyondHeadlines Research Desk
Government funded Institute of Defense Studies and Analysis (IDSA) and South Asian Portal on terrorism (SATP) are think tanks working on strategic and security affairs and terrorism related research. IDSA is under ministry of defense and it reflects unofficial opinion of military establishment and defense policy makers.
Institute has recently published a book MILITANT GROUPS IN SOUTH ASIA, edited by Surinder Kumar Sharma and Anshuman Behera. In its Indian list of militant organization, the institute and editors have carefully avoided any of Hindu extremist organization even though recent terror cases against ex-military man Colonel Purohit, Sadhvi Pragya and many Rashtriya Swayam Sewak Sangh workers are pending in Indian courts.
No doubt this list is also forwarded to the international organizations and countries that again produce international list of terrorist organizations.
This list has following names nine organizations from Jammau and Kashmir, five from North East and one from Left wing extremism category and three from Islamic groups which are Indian Mujahideen, Popular Front of India, Al Ummah.
Interestingly, list issued MINISTRY OF HOME AFFAIRS on 12th March 2013 does not include Al Ummah and Popular Front of India which clearly indicate that the IDSA is working as pressure building tactic against these two organizations.
Recently Popular Front of India had sent a legal notice to National Investigation Agency (NIA) after several media have referred NIA sources in their reports on PFI, responding to the notice; NIA has denied issuing any such report.
Another think tank South Asia Terrorism Portal has also compiled a long list of terrorist and extremist organizations in India in which 36 organizations from Assam (14 Muslim organizations), 32 organizations from Jammu and Kashmir (all Muslim), 39 from Manipur (4 Muslim), 5 from Meghalaya, 3 from Nagaland, 12 from Punjab (all Sikh groups), 30 from Tripura, 1 from Arunachal, 2 from Mizoram, and 6 from Left Wing have been listed.
Among other extremist groups, SATP has mentioned Deendar Anjuman, Students Islamic Movement of India (SIMI), and Asif Reza Commando Force. Interestingly, for SATP also, there is no Hindu extremist group in India.
KPS Gill and Ajay Sahini of Institute of Conflict Management are the mastermind of running this South Asia Terrorism Portal which clearly aims to promote only Sangh Parivar view on terrorism and to protect Hindu terrorist organizations from being listed by Human Right Groups and International organizations.
This lobbying of Hindu extremist organizations and think tanks has shown its results. In United States’ list of terrorism which they update every year, there is no Hindu terrorist organization so far while Indian Mujahideen was immediately included.
Not only that, it appears that government of India and intelligence resources are deeply relying or these organizations are relying on intelligence organizations in accessing public offices as most of the officers are retired military and intelligence officers. Its proof is that most of the terrorism related journalists such as Praveen Swamy has often being quoting and referring for these think tanks. America’s Council for Foreign Affairs which advises to the American government is also relying on reports of these Hindu extremists controlled think tanks and as a result CFR’s report on Terror Groups in India have no mention of Hindu fundamentalist and terrorist organizations. If you check on Wikipedia, it looks like there is not a single Hindu terrorist act in India or there are no Hindu extremist organizations.
It is obvious that government funded IDSA and other research organizations such as SATP are promoting a particular political view on terrorism and extremism which is based on downplaying Hindu terrorist threat to India and overstating Islamic terrorism linking it with global terrorism.
A look at projects of SATP will clearly show that this Hindu extremist’s controlled research organization is promoting a particular view on terrorism which is often promoted by Bhartiya Janta Party and RSS. Its list of contributors includes many right wing thinkers, writers and journalists. However funding of SATP is still not very clear.
