India in a really interesting country. It’s economy is growing fast, it’s culture is rich, and it’s history is unique. But when you have over one billion people in one country, there will always be a fair amount of trouble. There are dozens of active terrorist groups in India – most of which are unknown to people in the Western world. One reason for so many groups is that India still has millions of of it’s citizens being born into poverty and environments with high infant mortality rates. This also means that there is seldom enough money to give everyone in each village or city the chance to gain a full education. Lack of education leads to more violence, and I’m sure that plays a part in the spread of terror. It is important to note that the people of India have been working hard to oppose terrorism in their country. The terrorist groups themselves are very interesting. This is a list of 10 active terrorist groups in India.
Lashkar-e-Taiba
Lashkar-e-Taiba is one of the largest terrorist groups in India. The group was formed in 1987 and has been busy spreading chaos ever since. The group actually received funding from Osama bin Laden at one point. They are thought to have terrorist training camps in Northern-Pakistan where they train their members and plan attacks on Indian civilians. They famously attacked the Indian parliament in 2001. Their attack left 6 Indian police officers dead and caused serious tension between India and Pakistan. That’s a big worry since both states are nuclear capable. Their ultimate goal is to drive Indian rule out of Jammu and Kashmir so that it may become part of Pakistan. For this reason, it is suspected that some Pakistani officials are actively supporting the group.
Hizb-ul-Mujahideen
Hizb-ul-Mujahideen is a Kashmiri seperatist group. They want Kashmir to be an independent state, not controlled by either India or Pakistan. This puts them at conflict with other terrorist groups in India like number ten on our list. It was founded in the late 1980s and by 1991 they had about ten thousand members. However, then now have as few as 200 members. They see themselves as holy warriors who can only achieve victory, so I’m not quite sure why they are now so much less successful than they were in the 1990s. Their leader is a man called Sayeed Salahudeen, who once admitted publicly that he is receiving support from Pakistan.
United Jihad Council
With a name like United Jihad Council… you know they’re up to no good. You’ll notice that so many terrorist groups in India are focused on the Jammu and Kashmir territory dispute. The United Jihad Council are no different. In fact, they’re the largest separatist group in the region. Just last month they were brought to the public attention when they attacked an Indian military airport. The attack resulted in a gun battle that lasted 17 hours. 6 of the attackers died as well as 7 officials and a civilian. Indian politicians and media sources were outraged by the attack, calling for the destruction of the United Jihad Council.
National Democratic Front of Bodoland
The National Democratic Front of Bodoland is one of the few Christian terrorist groups in India. They aim to achieve an independent nation for the Bodo Christians in North-east India. The want the establishment of their own sovereign country called Bodoland. They are thought to have over one thousand members, which do not believe in negotiating with the Indian government and were blamed for several terrorist attacks in 2014. It’s a really weird militant group as they literally have no chance of achieving their aims. Silly terrorists don’t know what they’re doing.
Babbar Khalsa International
Babbar Khalsa International is another of the terrorist groups in India who want some kind of independence. This time, they want an independent Sikh nation. It was created in the 1970s in the midst of conflict between several militant Sikh groups and the Indian government. Their membership swiftly grew and stayed strong through until the 1990s. In the 1990s, the Indian police ended up killing most of their leaders and their membership started to decline as swiftly as it had initially grown. It is now just an underground movement and will probably soon be gone. But for now, they are still dangerous.
All Tripura Tiger Force
Image Copyright J Olle/ CC BY-SA 3.0
The All Tripura Tiger Force is YET ANOTHER militant isolationist group. This time they want independence for the Tripura region of North-East India. Their membership is estimated to be about ninety percent Hindu. They are involved in the insurgency in Northeast India. The insurgency in Northeast India is an ongoing conflict between the Indian government and several terrorist groups in India who have differing aims. The conflict began in the 1960s and the All Tripura Tiger Force now plays a major role in it. The All Tripura Tiger Force came together in the year 1990 and they are currently led by Ranjit Debbarma, one of the most wanted men in the world.
Students Islamic Movement Of India
The Students Islamic Movement of India sounds reasonably peaceful by it’s name, but it is considered to be one of the most dangerous terrorist groups in India. Now banned, the group came together in 1977 with the goal of enforcing Islamic laws in India’s Muslim communities. They also want to rid India of what they see as elements of western capitalist culture. The Students Islamic Movement of India was banned shortly after 9/11 and it’s remaining members were prosecuted for membership of an outlawed organisation. This caused the movement to decline swiftly. In 2014, the ban on the group was renewed as it is still believed to be a terrorist organization.
Al-Badr
Al-Badr operate in Jammu and Kashmir. They are thought to have over 200 members and been active since 1998. It has been claimed that Al-Badr was put together by the Pakistani military in order to put further pressure on India. This might make sense as Pakistan and India are major power rivals in Jammu and Kashmir. They have been involved in terrorist attacks within both India and Afghanistan.
Kangleipak Communist Party
Indian Communist parties don’t tend to be like communist parties in the western world – they’re a lot more violent. The Kangleipak Communist Party was founded in 1980 as a Marxist-Maoist organisation. They have the standard communist aims – absolute power and to destroy democracy. So that’s why they have been categorised as one of the terrorist groups in India, because of their militant action in an armed uprising that is still going on. The uprising has been raging since the 1980s, it is against the Indian government – I guess they think they have a chance of starting some kind of Maoist revolution. They drew their name from the ancient Indian kingdom of Kangleipak for some reason. Today, their activity is just underground movement and guerrilla attacks.
Communist Party of India
The Communist Party of India is obviously another Indian communist party. Founded in 2004, it poses much more of a threat than other communist groups. In fact, they are more of a threat than most terrorist groups in India. The former Indian prime minister once called them the biggest internal threat to India. This is partly due to the chance that their Maoist ideology might spread. But mostly because of their militant activity. The group is very well funded and has it’s own military wing with at least 35 thousand soldiers.