As I read the report of Al-Qaeda’s call for jihad in India, one question occurred to me: why haven’t Osama bin Laden’s appeals for jihad iover the grievances related to Israel and Spain similarly been extended to India? I thought the grounds were “once Muslim, always Muslimâ€. Sort of a Brezhnev Doctrine.
After all Muslims ruled nearly all of India for a couple of hundred years. The Islamic rulers of India were Turkic, not Arabs. Does that make a difference?
So, why not India?
Hat tip: James Joyner
Probably because of the animosity between Pakistanis and Indians. After all, if he begins appealing to his Indian brethren, what would Pakistanis say? It would likely alienate some of them from him, without him getting much of a return of support from Indian muslims who like living in a democratic India. The only way to appeal to a part of India, is to bring up the Kashmir issue which energizes his Pakistani base and provides him training camps, and safe havens along the Indo-Pakistan border, not to mention fighters willing to fight for him so long as his struggle is their own.