India: Prime Minister Modi Says Al-Qaeda Will Fail to Recruit Country's Muslims

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has said that terror group al-Qaeda will fail in its recruitment mission in the country because Muslims there "will die for India".

Last month, Al-Qaeda leader Ayman al Zawahiri countered the growing coverage of Isis (now known as the Islamic State) by announcing the creation of a new Indian front in a call to Muslims in South Asia to join the "caravan of jihad".

In the 56-minute video, Zawahiri says the "Al-Qaeda in the Indian Subcontinent" is to be "the standard bearer" of former leader Osama bin Laden's "global message which aimed to unite the [world's Muslims] in jihad against enemy, liberate occupied lands and establish the caliphate".

Despite Zawahiri's words, Modi said that the group would not succeed in its mission.

"My understanding is that they are doing injustice towards the Muslims of our country," he said.

"If anyone thinks Indian Muslims will dance to their tune, they are delusional.

"Indian Muslims will live for India. They will die for India. They will not want anything bad for India," he added.

"This is a crisis against humanity, not a crisis against one country or one race. So we have to frame this as a fight between humanity and inhumanity. Nothing else."

It is believed that, in the face of the spreading influence of the Islamic State in the Middle East, Zawahiri is now turning his attention to the almost half a billion Muslims who reside in Pakistan, India and Bangladesh.

India, a predominantly Hindu country, holds a population of approximately 175 million Muslims (15%), the third largest Muslim population in the world.

According to the Pew Research Center, approximately 1 billion Muslims live in the Asia-Pacific region and 322 million in the Middle East and North Africa.