January 22, 2025

The recent spate of suspects arrested by the NIA clearly point to the fact that the ISIS is fast spreading its tentacles in India. While the immediate trigger for the NIA move was the visit of French President Francois Hollande as the chief guest for the Republic Day parade and the perceived threats to his safety, India has to be on its guard hereafter. This time around, the CIA and the French security agencies had provided vital inputs leading to the bursting of the terror cells, but India will not always be so lucky. The arrested terrorists were planning attacks on vital roads, malls, trains and in a shift of policy, on politicians too. This is a very alarming piece of news and Indian security agency will have to tighten their belts and build up a strong informers’ network to stop the country from becoming an easy breeding and recruiting ground for the ISIS.

It will be stupid to think that despite having the second largest population of Muslims in the world, India will remain untouched by the massive radicalization and recruitment drive of the ISIS. For, it is now not necessary to have seminaries, distribute pamphlets, use mosques to deliver incendiary Friday sermons or have the underground societies to brainwash people into believing in an ideology. Even better results are being achieved through the internet and the social media. That the ISIS monitors social media accounts is proved by the report that one of the recruits was contacted after he posted that being a Muslim, he was unsatisfied with his life in India. There is no dearth of Muslim youngsters who are unsatisfied with their lives due to various reasons but choose to blame the fact on their being Muslim and the resultant discrimination they face in the country. These are the people ISIS finds prime prospects. The terror group is gaining an expertise in injecting slow poison in their veins through its propaganda material and it does so by firing these people about how joining the group will make Islam rule the world one day.

Previously, it was thought that the ISIS recruits people to help in its war in the Middle-East. Hence, India was complacent since going out of the country was not very easy. But ever since a few arrests were made some months ago, it is clear that the ISIS has designs on opening a new front in India, either through direct recruits or by helping local disgruntled groups. Since its avowed aim is to make Islam rule the world, it will also dabble in Kashmir and its links with Pakistani terror groups should also be under the scanner of the NIA. It is imperative that Indian security agencies measure up to this new threat by being vigilant and devising a strategy to counter it. For, it is clear that what has been discovered is just the tip of the iceberg. A huge effort is being made by the ISIS to destabilize India and brutal terror attacks are likely if the country is not vigilant.