Qatari money funding terror in Malappuram, Kozhikode : Intel reports

The Qatar isolation could affect Kerala in more ways than one. Over 3 lakh Malayalees call Qatar home. Needless to say the isolation will financially cause a crisis as well. Interestingly, there is a terror money trail also which links Qatar to Kerala.

Not to mention the situation in the Gulf countries off late has not been conducive to Indians, as even UAE, Saudi Arabia will be concentrating on employing more of their own nationals rather than Indians, thus limiting access to Kerala’s goldmine as well.

With relation to Kerala, it is not just honest Qatari riyals which are coming in but there is also a hidden money trail which is supposed to be sponsoring terrorist and extremism in the state.

According to a report in the New Indian Express, a senior intelligence officer has confirmed to them that  a few institutions of Qatari origin, including government departments, have been transferring large sums to some NGOs based in Malappuram and Kozhikode districts.

The officer revealed that in 2016 alone, these organisations received over Rs 7 crore from Qatar. Now with the emerging terror and ISIS links, police are now looking into these funds as well. Earlier they were allowed to flow in because it was normal to see huge funds flowing in from the Gulf countries.

For several years the Intelligence Bureau has been saying that the radicalisation of some Muslims in Kerala is directly connected to the Gulf and off late there have been arrests and investigation to prove the links. At the base of this radicalisation is the ‘Gulf money’ that is being pumped in.

Back in 2016 there was this report of members of an Islamic State of Iraq and Syria  module being arrested in Kerala. They were planning to execute high court judges in the states and senior RSS leaders. Just a day later, the National Investigating  Agency  foiled another plan by the Islamic State-inspired module that intended to carry out a mass execution  in Kochi. The main target was an all religion gathering in the city. The chief of the terror group is Manseed alias Omar-al-Hindi who had worked for 12 years as part of the intelligence wing of Popular Front India (PFI) was behind this. He was sent out of the PFI and then he married and went to Qatar, started working there and then resumed his anti-national activities.

It is well known that a large number of people migrate from Kerala to gulf countries. There they are  largely exposed to the war waging in West Asia against Islamic State and an ideology based on hardline Islam. Brainwash and influencing happens and we have radicalised youth coming back.

Terrorism has become the number one issue of concern for the middle-east and the western world. Regular instances of bombing, killings etc. and the rise and funding of other sectarian groups like ISIS, Al Qaeda, Hamas have been proved to have links with Qatar, essentially highlighting the region as a potential threat. This image that has been built by the Qatar is causing these countries to alienate themselves.