A 30-year-old woman arrested by the Gujarat Anti-Terrorist Squad (ATS) for allegedly spreading Al-Qaeda propaganda had publicly appealed to Pakistan Army Chief General Asim Munir to launch an invasion of India during Operation Sindoor in May, officials revealed Wednesday.
Shama Parveen Ansari, originally from Jharkhand and residing in Bengaluru’s Manoramapalya area for the past five years, was taken into custody on July 29 following a coordinated raid by the Gujarat ATS, which acted on intelligence inputs from suspects arrested earlier this month.
She is accused of being a key conspirator in a terror module linked to Al-Qaeda in the Indian Subcontinent (AQIS), a UN-designated terror group.
According to ATS officials, Ansari ran the entire online propaganda network from Karnataka, using multiple social media accounts — including two Facebook pages and an Instagram handle — to disseminate extremist content. The platforms, with over 10,000 followers combined, were used to promote AQIS ideology, radical Islamic preachers, and anti-India sentiments.
In a Facebook post dated May 9 — two days after India launched Operation Sindoor targeting terror infrastructure in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir — Ansari posted an appeal to Gen Munir with his photograph. She wrote:
“You have a golden opportunity… adopt Project Khilafat for the implementation of Islam, unify Muslim lands, and march forward to eliminate Hindutva and Zionism… So march forward.”
Officials said the post was one of several alarming pieces of content shared by Ansari, who reportedly glorified violence and called for an Islamic revolution in India.
In a video uploaded to Instagram, a radical preacher could be heard condemning Indian Muslims for supporting the Indian Army and for denouncing the Pahalgam terror attack.
Another video shared by Ansari featured Lal Masjid Imam Abdul Aziz of Lahore, issuing incendiary remarks about establishing a Khilafat system in India through armed revolt.
A third video included a speech by an AQIS leader promoting “Ghazwa-e-Hind” — a term referring to a prophesied war — and inciting violence specifically against Hindu communities and Indian democratic institutions.
The ATS noted that Ansari was linked to four individuals previously arrested — Mohd Fardeen, Sefullah Kureshi, Zeeshan Ali, and Mohd Faiq — from Gujarat, Delhi, and Noida. Aged between 20 and 25, the four were allegedly in contact with each other via a social media app and were assigned high-profile targets across the country.
"Parveen used Instagram and other platforms to propagate extremist content and radicalise youth, especially by promoting the concept of ‘Ghazwa-e-Hind’,” a senior ATS official said.
She was produced before the 8th Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate in Bengaluru, who approved her transfer to Gujarat police custody for further investigation. All five accused have been booked under various sections of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA).
While AQIS remains a relatively less-known entity within India, a 2017 report by the Middle East Institute noted that Al-Qaeda Central announced the formation of its Indian subcontinent wing in September 2014. The group, currently led by Osama Mehmood, is reportedly seeking to expand its influence into Jammu & Kashmir, Bangladesh, and Myanmar, according to a recent UN Security Council report.
With inputs from agencies
