A Sri Lankan In Toronto Plot

"The number of Indian Muslim youth involved in anti-US activities and in support of the pan-Islamic objectives of Al Qaeda and the IIF (the International Islamic Front) is estimated to be still small, but larger than in the past. For the first time, this could provide an opening to Al Qaeda and the IIF to recruit Indian Muslim youth for their terrorist strikes directed against the US. Till now, the Indian Muslim youth, whether in India or the Gulf or in the West, were not subject to the same close surveillance by the Western intelligence agencies as the Arabs and the Pakistanis were. Thus, recruitment of Indian Muslims in India or abroad would provide Al Qaeda and the IIF with the possibility of recruiting volunteers for their anti-US operations, who will be able to evade detection by the Western intelligence agencies much easier than the Arabs or the Pakistanis. This is a danger which should not be lightly dismissed....."

Extract from a March article:
New Challenges

According to the National Post of Toronto (June 7, 2006), Steven VikasChand alias Abdul Shakur, one of the 17 Muslims arrested by the Royal CanadianMounted Police (RCMP) on June 2, 2006, on a charge of planning to organiseterrorist strikes against local targets, is a Sri Lankan Hindu (my comment:apparently a Tamil), who embraced Islam after migrating to Canada. He wasreportedly working as a waiter in a restaurant at the time of his arrest.

According to a Reuters' despatch, he had done military service in the RoyalRegiment of Canada, a reservist unit of Toronto.  It is not clear whetherhe did the military service before or after embracing Islam.

Mr Gary Batasar, the lawyer for Steven Vikas Chand, told the media on June 7,2006:

"'My client is being accused of plotting to storm theParliament buildings, take hostages (and) make demands to remove Canadian troopsfrom Afghanistan and to free Muslim prisoners. He is supposed to have planned tobehead hostages if his demands weren't met ... and to want to behead the PrimeMinister. The last thing was that they were going to storm the CBC (CanadianBroadcasting Corporation) building downtown (in Toronto) to take overcommunications to broadcast their message.''

The National Post reported as follows:

"Prosecutors are accusing him of wanting to behead thePrime Minister, but Steven Chand seems like an unlikely recruit into an Al Qaeda-inspiredextremist group. Also known as Abdul Shakur, Chand is a Sri Lankan who wasraised a Hindu. He converted to Islam under the influence of friends with whomhe played basketball, according to one imam. Aly Hindy (My Comment: From hisname, this imam appears to be of Indian origin), imam at the Salaheddin IslamicCentre, said he recalled little of Chand, but believes he converted the25-year-old at the request of some young Muslim friends of the suspect. ''He metsome youths and they bring me every week some people (saying): 'OK, they want toconvert to Islam.' They asked me to talk to him, just to give him the basicprinciples, things like that,'' Hindy said. ''It could be the ones who convertedhim, he played basketball with them.''

The paper further said:

"Details of Chand's journey into the embrace of a newreligion and, allegedly, a radical terror network intent on killing Canadians,remain sketchy. But the arrests come as counter-terrorism officials report thata growing number of Canadians are converting to the extremist brand of Islam. A''secret'' Canadian Security Intelligence Service study calls radical converts''a phenomenon of increasing concern to Western governments. ''It is possiblethat an attack will be carried out by a radicalized individual possibly aconvert to radical Islam seeking to punish Canada for its actions abroad,'' itsays. Canadian intelligence agencies have been reporting since 2004 thatterrorist groups are actively seeking converts, a ''small number'' of whom areadopting extremist ideology.  "Al Qaeda and like-minded organizationsare aware of the usefulness of converts for a variety of purposes: spreadingpropaganda, logistical support, and knowledge of the West, among other,'' says aCanadian intelligence report. In Europe, for example, a female Belgian convertwas sent to Iraq as a suicide bomber. Recruiters have also been ''talentspotting'' in prisons, looking for potential converts who could be useful asterrorists. ''As the fight against terrorism continues, converts could play agreater role including operational activities. These converts will be moredifficult to monitor given their Western birth, heritage or familiarity.''Another ''secret'' intelligence report released last year, titled CanadianConverts to Radical Islam, says those drawn to Islam's radical extreme are oftengoing through a time of personal or spiritual crisis. Involvement in terroristactivity "is, for some, part of a process of spiritual fulfillment,"another document says." 

B. Raman is Additional Secretary (retd.), CabinetSecretariat, Government of India, New Delhi, and, presently, Director, InstituteFor Topical Studies, Chennai.