Crack the whip on Indians joining ISIS, Centre may tell NIA

With security agencies identifying 22 radicalised youth leaving India in response to the ‘jihadist’ call of the ISIS, the government may ask the NIA to file an FIR against unknown persons affiliated to the organisation.

With security agencies identifying 22 radicalised youth leaving India in response to the ‘jihadist’ call of the Islamic State in Syria and the Levant (ISIS), the government may ask the National Investigation Agency (NIA) to file an FIR against unknown persons affiliated to the organisation. The action is aimed at preventing more Muslim youth from going to Iraq and taking action against those who return.

The NIA can register an FIR on the basis of the UN Security Council Resolution 2170 that has placed the ISIS under terror sanctions and asked the member countries not to allow fighters from joining the extremist Wahabi group headed by Abu Bakr al Baghdadi. Several countries that voted for this resolution have reportedly been warned of retaliation in a letter from ISIS spokesman.

While security agencies believe that the ISIS should be banned as a terror organisation by listing it under the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA) to act against Indian ‘jihadists’, a section of the government feels that such a move could adversely impact the lives of 39 Punjabi labourers apparently held in Mosul since June 15. Indian diplomats dealing with the issue are convinced that the labourers are alive but in captivity.

The internal security establishment’s concerns are now shared by Indian Muslim religious outfits, who have come out strongly against the so-called Khalifat of Baghdadi and al Qaeda’s Ayman Al Zawahri’s statement establishing a branch in the Indian subcontinent. These umbrella organisations have asked youth to desist from getting trapped into the “propaganda” of Baghdadi or Zawahri.

But as the Muslim youth, albeit in miniscule numbers, are getting radicalised on the internet, the security agencies have asked all airports to maintain vigil on young Indians bound for the Middle East countries, particularly Saudi Arabia, Jordan and Turkey.