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Red Jihad: Battle for South Asia is an award-winning political/military thriller by Sami Ahmad Khan. It was published by Rupa & Co. in June 2012. Red Jihad was hailed as one of the first novels to fictionalize the Maoist-Mujahideen nexus in the Indian Red corridor[1] and for dramatizing the links between religious fundamentalism and political terrorism in India.

Red Jihad was Khan's debut and led Businessworld magazine to see Khan 'as might having started a genre that will lead many youngsters to learn the English language the way an earlier generation learnt it: through our own Robert Ludlums and Fredrick Forsyths'.[2] Khan has also been labelled as the Indian equivalent of Tom Clancy by the Millennium Post [3].

File:"Red Jihad" (novel) Cover.jpeg
"Red Jihad" (novel) Cover

Plot

The novel was written in 2010, published in 2012, and set in 2014 AD, in the near-future. Pakistan has transitioned into a full-fledged democracy and is reconciling with India. However, there are forces working against this fragile peace. A Pakistani jihadi leader, Yasser Basheer, travels to the Red Corridor and enlists the support of an Indian Naxalite commander, Agyaat. Their plan: to unleash Pralay, Indias experimental intercontinental ballistic missile, on the subcontinent. As the missile changes course en route, it hits Pakistan and causes collateral damage. In response, Pakistan unleashes war on India. The battle for South Asia turns murkier as an Indo-Pak war threatens to embroil many other countries in the endgame. Have India and Pakistan sparked off the mother of all wars? A gripping thriller, Red Jihad explores the most feared nexus between the jihadis and the naxals.[4]

File:Characters in "Red Jihad" (Novel).jpg
Characters in "Red Jihad" (Novel)

Awards and Reception

Red Jihad: Battle for South Asia garnered generally positive reception and the novel went into a reprint within months of its release. It was praised by general readers for its racy thrill and fast-paced narrative[5] and by International think-tanks for its "impartiality and sensitivity towards complex geo-political relations and ideologies" and "being able to crystal gaze into the future of Indo-Pak relations"[6] and for extrapolating from contemporary scenarios.

Literary Awards: Red Jihad won the "Muse India Young Writer (Runner-Up) Award" at the Hyderabad Literary Festival 2013[7] and "Excellence in Youth Fiction Writing" at Delhi World Book Fair 2013.

Sequel

Khan is now working on his second book, a Science-Fiction sequel to Red Jihad, that is themed around Time-Travel and Alternate History.[8]

References

  1. ^ http://www.rediff.com/news/interview/interview-what-if-naxals-and-jihadis-join-hands/20121025.htm
  2. ^ http://www.businessworld.in/en/storypage/-/bw/the-story-of-a-rogue-missile/595030.0/page/0
  3. ^ http://www.millenniumpost.in/NewsContent.aspx?NID=23932
  4. ^ http://www.flipkart.com/red-jihad-battle-south-asia/p/itmdackagpfyhqs7
  5. ^ http://www.vishaalbhat.com/2012/10/gripping-fast-paced-engrossing-and-very.html
  6. ^ http://policyresearchgroup.com/book_shelf/red_jihad_in_fiction.html
  7. ^ http://www.museindia.com/newsview.asp?id=34
  8. ^ http://aseemrastogi2.wordpress.com/2013/02/19/in-conversation-with-sami-ahmed-author-of-red-jihad/
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