Congress Leader Rahul Gandhi's US Trip: BJP Questions 'Links to George Soros, Jamaat-e-Islami'

Union Minister and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Smriti Irani, at a press conference on Wednesday, raised questions over the organisers and meetings of Congress leader Rahul Gandhi during his United States (US) tour on June 4.

“…The question that has been left unanswered by the Congress party is – Is it true that Rahul Gandhi met Sunita Vishwanath (picture in the tweet below, left) during his trip to the US?…When it is clear to every Indian what George Soros intends to do, why is Rahul Gandhi hobnobbing with those who are funded by Soros?”

She further asked: “It is also evident that this is not the only Soros connection. Even in Bharat Jodo Yatra in Karnataka, the Global Vice President of the Open Society Foundation funded by George Soros, was found accompanying Rahul Gandhi.”

Irani added: “What is extremely distressing is the link with the Islamic Circle of North America. Those in the public domain who will research how the registration process for NRI interaction with Rahul Gandhi in New York ensued will find contact of Tazeem Ansari – he has an organisational link with Jamaat-e-Islami….”

WHO IS TAZEEM ANSARI?

The event dated June 4 in New York was coordinated by one Tanzeem Ansari, the Amir Outreach Committee of Muslim Community of New Jersey (MCNJ).

MCNJ is led by a Pakistan-born national Imaam Jawad Ahmed and he is a prominent face in the US Islamist circle. He frequents the events of Jamaat front Islamic Circle of North America (ICNA), which tows Pakistan’s propaganda against India in the name of human rights. ICNA is a leading Jamaat front with several chapters and linkages with radical groups and terror organizations. The group is notoriously found to be promoting and glorifying Pakistan State sponsored terrorist such as Hizbul Mujahideen chief Syed Salahuddin.

ALL ABOUT CO-HOST IAMC; IMANA

The event was co-hosted by the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Amendment Act (UAPA)-imposed anti-India lobbying group Indian American Muslim Council (IAMC).

Since its inception, IAMC has been relentlessly targeting India on pretexts of human rights, religious freedom, and even via spreading fake news to stir communal disharmony in India.

IAMC’s mastermind Shaik Ubaid is a Jamaat-groomed member who was associated with the ICNA as its Secretary General in the 1990s. He was also the editor of ICNA’s magazine “The Message International” which glorifies Pakistan-sponsored terrorists against India.

IAMC’s current Executive Director Rasheed Ahmed is also an important figure of the whole nexus. He was Executive Director of another Jamaat-backed and Muslim Brotherhood (MB) group Islamic Medical Association of North America (IMANA).

During the dreaded COVID-19 wave in 2021, IMANA was among many Jamaat and MB fronts that exploited India’s goodwill and raised millions of dollars in the name of providing help. IMANA is also led by Ex-Pak Army/ Naval officials.

IMANA also works closely with other charitable groups such as Al-Khidmat, Helping Hand for Relief & Development (HHRD), Human Concern International (HCI) which are linked to terror groups like Hizbul Mujahideen and Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT).

It is important to note that organizations like IAMC and ICNA comprise a much-larger nexus of the Jamaat and collaborates with the Global Muslim Brotherhood which is banned in many countries.

MORE ON ORGANISERS

The June 4 event (in New York) which is co-organized by the Indian Overseas Congress USA has several names that are linked to Jamaat or anti-India lobbying groups. The list of names in the list of coordinators are linked to Islamic Circle of North America (ICNA) and Indian American Muslim Council (IAMC).

The second name on the list of coordinators Tazeem Ansari is the Amir of Outdoor Activities of Muslim Community of New Jersey (MCNJ) (as mentioned in the list). However, MCNJ is led by a Pakistan national Imaam Jawad Ahmed. And he is a frequent face at ICNA conventions.

Another coordinator of the event Mohammed Aslam (third from bottom in the list) is a member of the Muslim Center of Greater Princeton (MCGP). It is to be noted that MCGP is a close partner of ICNA as evidenced below. ICNA is a central anti-India Jamaat group that has links with radical organizations and terror groups.

ICNA is one of the leading Jamaat-e-Islami fronts in the US which is run by Pakistan nationals and JeI members. Several of ICNA heads have been associated with Jamaat and worked for it. The Jamaat head Abul A’la Maududi was the first to give the inaugural lecture at ICNA foundation. Likewise, several of its presidents have been from JeI stable including its current president Dr. Mohsin Ansari. Adding more weightage to this is the association of Ashrafuz Zaman Khan, one of the convicts in the Genocide of Bengali intellectuals in 1971. Khan was associated with ICNA Queen’s Chapter New York. He also hailed from the Islami-Chhatra-Sangh (student wing of JeI). In 2019, US Congressman Jim Banks sent a letter to the US Congress seeking investigation into ICNA for its affiliations with JeI.

In 2016, ICNA felicitated the 1971 Bangladesh mass genocide convict Motiur Rahman Nizami for his “Outstanding Contribution” to Islam.

ICNA also glorified Pakistan-state sponsored terrorist Syed Salahuddin for his conquest against the Indian state on Kashmir conflict. ICNA runs a magazine “The Message International” which in 1996 interviewed Hizbul Mujahideen commander and called him a heroic figure and glorified him for his cause of the separation of Kashmir from India and its merger with Pakistan.

ICNA is one of the leading groups that tows Pakistan’s agenda on Kashmir against India. ICNA has been one of the leading organizations that campaigns and anti-India rallies in the US.

IAMC’s co-founder Shaik Ubaid is a key Jamaat member and ICNA by-product. He was Secretary General of ICNA in 1990s and also the Editor of ICNA’s The Message International magazine. After leaving ICNA, he finds IAMC in 2003 which would start targeting India and run anti-Indian lobbying nexus with Jamaat fronts.

Currently, IAMC’s Executive Director, Rasheed Ahmed also is a key name that appears alongside IAMC’s anti-India activities. He was the Executive Director IMANA which duped millions of dollars in the name of helping Indians during the dreaded the COVID-19 wave in 2021. IMANA’s members have been members of the Muslim Brotherhood front Islamic Society of North America (ISNA).

In 2017, ISNA Canada was implicated by the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) for sending funds to a Relief organization for Kashmiri Muslims (ROKM) which was the charitable wing of Hizbul Mujahideen.

Additionally, IMANA is partners with many dubious charitable fronts of Jamaat-e-Islami in Pakistan. IMANA partners with Al Khidmat Foundation, a charity wing of Jamaat-e-Islami (JeI) in Pakistan. It is to be noted that Al Khidmat is closely tied to the U.S.-designated Kashmiri terrorist organization, Hizbul Mujahideen (HM), and its leader Syed Salahuddin.

Al Khidmat not only has links to HM and Syed Salahuddin, but it also funds the Palestinian terror outfit Hamas. In 2006, Al Khidmat Foundation presented a cheque of six-million rupees from the people of Pakistan to Khaled Meshaal, head of politburo Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas).

IMANA has extensive connections with Al-Mustafa Welfare Trust (AMT), which is part of Pakistan’s Milbus’ military capital’. IMANA sends financial aid to AMT in 2019 and during the COVID-19 crisis in 2020. In the following picture, members of Al Mustafa Welfare Trust can be seen together with IMANA’s Operations Director Zahid Mahmood, Ex-Pakistani Naval Officer who has also served in Pakistan International Airlines.

In 2001, the United States government designated a Texas-based charity organization Holy Land Foundation for Relief and Development (HLF) as a Specially Designated Global Terrorist (SDGT). The US government froze the assets of HLF to provide material support to the terrorist organization Hamas. The leaders HLF were sentenced to a jail period of 15-65 years in the convictions in November 2008. In 2007, federal prosecutors named many of these Islamist groups and their officials as “unindicted co-conspirators” during the Holy Land Foundation terrorism financing trial. And ISNA was named as an unindicted co-conspirator in the Hamas financing during the Holy Land Foundation trial.

These fronts and individuals have been an integral part of the core Jamaat and Pakistan backed eco-system with a strong base in the US. It is imperative to understand how these faces and groups collaborate and in turn stimulate anti-India interests.