Badaruddin Haqqani to head Al Qaeda in Pakistan

The Al Qaeda is Pakistan is revamping its leadership and infusing young blood as it feels that Pakistan has softened his stand on India. With Badaruddin Sirajuddin Haqqani taking over the operations the terror outfit is expected to wreak more havoc in Kashmir, reports Vicky Nanjappa.         

Al Qaeda in Pakistan are grooming alternate leaders as it looks to expand their terror activities and if reports from Islamabad are to be believed Badaruddin Sirajuddin Haqqani, one of the sons of Maulana Jalaluddin Haqqani the head of the Afghan Taliban will be introduced as the new face of Al Qaeda. Reports suggest that Badaruddin will emerge as the most feared Al Qaeda leader till date. 

The move by the terror groups of introducing new names to head its organisational and operational activities has taken the Indian intelligence agencies by surprise. The fact that a member of the Haqqani network has been roped in to head Al Qaeda is an indication that the group is planning on splitting into small cells, say sources from the Intelligence Bureau. Each splinter group is expected to focus on a particular target and this will include India as well, they added.    

Under the leadership of young Badaruddin, who is being groomed into a lethal terrorist, the Al Qaeda is expected to see a lot of changes. Badaruddin, has been in the fray to head the terror group for quite some time now. He has been trained under his father Maulana Jalaluddin Haqqani, a fierce militant who has been battling the United States troops in Afghanistan for years now, say insiders.        

The IB says that the plan to split the Al Qaeda into smaller groups is to confuse security agencies countering terror. Though these cells will report to one head they will operate independently. Moreover, Badaruddin is a surprise factor and choosing him as a head has already stumped the intelligence and security agencies. Counter-terror groups admit that they will take some time to commence their chase for him since a lot of more information needs to be derived on him. Apart from Badaruddin, the terror outfit is planning to introduce new names to head the smaller cells in the coming months, say sources.    

As far as India is concerned, a group that will operate under Badaruddin will be in-charge of terror activities in Kashmir. Under the joint operation of both the Al Qaeda and Afghan Taliban, he has recruited nearly 26,000 militants to wage a battle in Kashmir. In addition to this, they have also formed 30 suicide squads that will wreak havoc in the Valley, say insiders. The IB adds that this new faction will not restrict itself to Kashmir alone and there is every possibility of it spilling into the rest of the country.

With Badaruddin taking over the reins does not necessarily mean the end of the likes of Osama Bin Laden, Mullah Omar or Jalaluddin Haqqani. These men will continue to play a prominent part in the operations, but the introduction of a young leader is expected to provide a boost to the two outfits -- the Al Qaeda and the Afghan Taliban, the IB points out. 

Interestingly, most of these developments have taken place without the consent of the Inter-Services Intelligence. The reason why these groups decided to go aggressive against India is because they felt that Pakistan was going soft on the Kashmir issue. Moreover, the Qaeda and Afghan Taliban leaders feel that groups such as the Lashkar-e-Tayiba are under the complete control of the ISI, which is preventing them from waging a war against India effectively.   

While these groups want a solution to the Kashmir issue, the Al Qaeda feels that the ISI wants to keep the issue burning for its ulterior motive. Unfortunately for the ISI, this feeling of dissent is creeping among the Lashkar cadres as well and they are finding it difficult to keep the group united.   

The IB says that in the days to come one can expect a more aggressive approach from the Al-Qaeda towards Kashmir and Afghanistan due to this revamp within the jihadi forces.