Countering South Asian Radicalism

For decades, efforts to counter the threat of Islamist terror have been firmly focused on Islamist movements established in the Middle East. Meanwhile, proxies for Pakistani, Bangladeshi and Kashmiri Islamist groups, and their proxies in the United States, have flourished quietly in the background.

This is an enormous problem.

Every American has heard of ISIS; most have heard of the Muslim Brotherhood. However, few Americans have heard of Lashkar-e-Taiba, the Pakistani terror group responsible for the 2008 Mumbai attacks. Few Americans have heard of Jamaat-e-Islami, the South Asian Islamist group that assisted with the murder of hundreds of thousands during Bangladesh’s Liberation War from Pakistan, and which the Indian government has accused of fomenting and funding terrorism in Kashmir. And few Americans, outside of the intelligence agencies, have heard of Tablighi Jamaat, despite its links to dozens of high-profile Western terrorism plots.

We are hard at work changing that.

The Middle East Forum’s Islamist Watch project has been working to understand and explain the threat of these South Asian Islamist groups for the last two-and-a-half years, partnering with the Indian and Bangladeshi diasporas, and educating thinktanks and media, American journalists, Congress and the Trump administration. We are one of the only organizations doing in-depth research into the activities and influence of South Asian Islamists and their U.S. franchises, and what this means for India.

So far, our efforts have been demonstrably successful. Here is a brief overview of our work (full details and links to all these items can be found by clicking here):

• Two congressional resolutions calling on the government to investigate the activities of Jamaat-e-Islami.
• Events in Washington D.C. in collaboration with Congressman Jim Banks (R-IN), the Indian embassy and the Hudson Institute on the threat posed by Jamaat-e-Islami in both South Asian and North America.
• A dozen articles published in prominent American and Indian newspapers revealing new information about Jamaat-e-Islami, Lashkar-e-Taiba, Hizbul Mujahideen and Tablighi Jamaat.
• Tens of thousands of ‘shares’ of our research on social media.
• Uncovered new terror finance links between American Islamist charities and Kashmiri terrorist organizations, leading to congressional action.
• Exposed terror links of Stand With Kashmir movement, leading to a furious response from American Islamists and their supporters in academia.
• Briefings with American, Canadian and Indian government officials about the North American activities of South Asian Islamist movements, with some of our research delivered directly to the highest levels of the administration.
• Interviews with the Hindu American Foundation (listen here) and the Sham Sharma Show (watch here) – heard by tens of thousands.
• Dozens of prominent Indian and Bangladeshi media have covered our research, with enormous news outlets such as Yahoo News syndicating our articles.
• Revealed that American Islamists were mobilizing the same infrastructure used to attack Israel to focus on Kashmir and demonize India as well. 
• Hampered the efforts of North American Islamists to the point that they have now launched a lobbying campaign in Congress to attack MEF’s efforts and downplay the links to Kashmiri terror we have exposed.

Our efforts are bearing fruit. But there is much more to do. However, we have found that the importance of our research and activism is not yet understood by those who have traditionally supported efforts to tackle Islamist extremism in North America. After all, for many, South Asian Islamism is a new topic, despite the decades of murderous history of which Indians, Pakistanis and Bangladeshis are well aware.

We need your support to carry on tracking, investigating and exposing South Asian Islamist movements. With your help, we can convince Congress, the Administration, policy analysts and journalists of the extremism and violence of these radical movements, and urge them to investigate and take action.

Click here to find out more about what we've been doing, read our articles and reports, watch our interviews, and find out more about what we plan to do with your support.