Saturday, 13 December 2014

Sorry Mr Minister, ISIS is in your backyard


It only confirms our security agencies have probably under estimated the ISIS' potential to use India as a base.
 
COL R HARIHARAN
The startling revelation that the most popular ISIS propagator and recruiter on Twitter operated with immunity from Bangalore is disturbing. Even more disturbing is that the nation had to learn it from Channel 4 TV broadcast from UK. Only two days back answering a question in the Rajya Sabha minister of state Haribhai Parathibhai Chaudhary said there were no intelligence inputs to suggest that Al Qaeda and ISIS terror groups are working together to target Indian cities. He was commenting on a video uploaded in September 2014 in which Sheikh Ayman al-Zawahiri the high priest of Al Qaeda announced the establishment of a new wing "Al Qaeda in Indian sub-continent (AQIS)."
Sorry Mr Minister, you can't be more wrong. How could he ignore the information known a few months earlier about a group of 40 radicalised students from Anjuman Islam's Kalsekar Technical College in Panvel came under the lens of the Intelligence Bureau, and the Maharashtra Anti Terrorism Squad?

They have been under observation for mining information on terrorist groups and Islamic preachings and had the potential to join ISIS. The information was later confirmed by Arif Majeed, the ISIS operative belonging to the same college who returned to India from Syria. He had also confirmed that there were 20 other Indians. Arif has also revealed the involvement of SIMI (Student Islamic Movement of India) a proscribed terrorist organisation recruiting Indian youth for ISIS.

This shows the weaknesses in our networked intelligence coordination systems. Apparently it is still a work in progress even after eight years since a dozen or so Lashkar-e-Tayyeba terrorists held the nation to ransom for four days when they struck Mumbai.

Agreed that one never can get enough advance information about terrorist operations. But since 26/11 we have made considerable progress in breaking up terror modules of Indian Mujahidin in recent times in various parts of the country.

However, there is no end to the story in the ongoing battle against terror.
A number of terrorist incidents from apprehension of a Sri Lankan operative of the ISI in Chennai to the shocking discovery of Bangladeshi JMB terrorist module operating from Bardaman in West Bengal has  shown at the operational level we need to be constantly on the alert.

And they have also shown the state police have not yet caught up with the operational systemic changes they require to make them effective in handling terorrist threats.

The information on ISIS operative (or whatever you may call him) working unchecked from Bangalore only confirms our security agencies have probably under estimated the ISIS' potential to use India as a recruiting base and strike at targets


Courtesy: India Today DailyO column 12-12-2014  
 http://www.dailyo.in/politics/sorry-mr-minister-isis-is-in-your-backyard/story/1/1043.html 

1 comment:

Kunchu said...

It is well said on growing threat of ISIS in India which has almost crept in the backyard. As all know India as a whole is very vulnerable country for ISIS infiltration due its easy-going too ignorant minded society over the larger number of Muslim population living in this soil for many centuries. ISIS and other Islamic fundamental groups from different Muslim countries are targeting India. One of their main objective is to create economic instability by carrying out isolated bomb attacks in major cities and historical locations. In order to distract focus of the intelligence agency they might chose different locations too. A good example is the bomb attack in Church street, Banglore. But one thing we should realize is the Banglore is the Silicon Valley of India. Indian Intelligence has been severely burdened with the task to workout strategies for early detections and combating terrorist operating under the guise of innocent civilians. Its high time for Indian Intelligence to develop mass scale intelligence network consisting of all walks of life to find inroads into the activities of ISIS operatives. India has to be vigilant about the activities of ISIS and other associated groups who could carryout attacks on a large scale which could jeopardize not only India but the neighboring countries also.