India born former Masood Azhar aide could be going separate ways
India Today
A Hyderabad born former key manager of Pakistan-based terror outfit JeM, Farhatullah Ghauri, could now be taking a separate path.
A Hyderabad born former key manager of Pakistan-based terror outfit Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) could now be taking a separate path, away from the methods long dictated by the old regime headed by Masood Azhar and his brother Abdul Rauf Azhar.
According to new analysis of recently created social media accounts, Farhatullah Ghauri—a key JeM operative, has been using a network of online assets to amplify terrorist propaganda calling on Indian Muslims to revolt.
Often identified as ‘Ustad’ among the JeM ranks, Ghauri left India for Dubai in the mid 90s when he was about 30 years old. According to intelligence inputs, Ghauri—a follower of JeM chief Azhar, later moved to Rawalpindi in Pakistan and has been a key player in planning and plotting violent attacks in India since then. The JeM operative has been believed to undergo several surgeries during his stay in Dubai to protect his identity.
The report points out a suspected concerted attempt by an online network associated with Ghauri, often seen posting videos in Facebook groups and pages dedicated to socialism, Islam, and minority rights in India. “These groups are frequented by larger, more mainstream audiences of domestic users who are critical of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) ruled government”, Ayushman Kaul, Senior Threat Intelligence Analyst at Logically observed in the report.
The report analysed three Telegram channels, two associated Facebook pages, and three YouTube channels operated by the group and noticed that the terror propaganda amplified via those channels consisted of professionally edited videos with voice-overs by Ghauri.
Although JeM’s conventional communication model has been using the social media platforms, there are certain contrasting differences that make Ghauri’s renewed campaign appear to be breaking the pattern from the established JeM campaigns. JeM’s communication has been centered on its mouthpiece Al-Qalam—a weekly paper published every Wednesday from Peshawar.
The magazine featured a regular column by Masood Azhar who wrote under the pen name, Sadi. It also featured write ups and info-graphics by other key JeM ideologues. Azhar’s key confidant Maulana Talha Saif was tasked to record readout of Azhar’s message that was circulated over social and digital media channels.
