By Shweta Desai
January 23, 2015
Abstract: The challenges to growing radicalisation and preventing Indian Muslims from following the path of global Jihad will be the real test. An overarching national counter-terrorism strategy, including counter-radicalisation (preventing individuals from turning terrorists) and de-radicalisation (dissuading radical individuals from violence) mechanisms, is urgently needed.
After initially downplaying the threat posed by the extremist militant group Islamic State or (Islamic State of Iraq and Syria) which has used its brutal military acumen and barbaric sectarian strategy to capture large parts of Iraq and Syria, India, earlier in December 2014, banned the group, making it illegal [1] for anyone participating or supporting the terror group to be prosecuted for unlawful and terrorist activities. The announcement, although deferred, is a candid admission by the intelligence and security agencies that India is not alien to the war ravaging in the distant lands of West Asia region. With Syria’s battlefield leading to fastest mobilization of foreign fighters in the modern history of Jihad, it is imperative for India to assess the impending security situation in West Asia and its consequences of growing radicalisation on Muslim youth.
The arrests of a young engineering student from a suburb of Mumbai, who returned to India, after volunteering to fight with ISIS and the subsequent detention of another young techie following the revelation that a popular and widely followed pro-ISIS account on social media Twitter was being operated from Bangalore, has rattled the authorities who failed to pre-empt both the events. The exposure of active ISIS support, has dealt a blow to the intelligence agencies, who are yet to ascertain how deep-rooted ISIS ideology on Indians is.
Countering the threat
Although ISIS is banned in India, how the ban will address the challenges of counter-radicalisation and preventing Indian Muslims from following the path of global Jihad, will be the real test. Like the West, India too has closely been on the radar of global terrorism due to Kashmir, which saw a large number of `holy warriors’ or foreign fighters inducted by the Pakistan ISI to replicate the battlefield success against Soviets in J&K in the 90s, and therefore cannot underestimate the threat posed by returning foreign fighters. While this time the borders between India and Pakistan remain firmly secured and guarded by the army, apprehension over returning fighters by air or their ability to influence extremism through radical propaganda, giving rise to home-grown terrorism that needs to be tackled. To counter this threat, countries in the West have devised stricter terror laws and begun monitoring returning fighters. In India, security agencies have rightfully begun to discuss strategies to counter Muslim radicalisation. However, a need for an overarching national counter-terrorism strategy including counter-radicalisation (preventing individuals from turning terrorists) and de-radicalisation (dissuading radical individuals from violence) mechanisms cannot be discounted. Such a policy will contain provisions to, firstly, detect genuine workers/travellers from the suspected (those intending to travel to Syria or other conflict zones) and, secondly, monitor the ones returning back from the troubled region of West Asia and to curb the spread of Jihadist ideology. It will be cautionary to sound that such policy should be balanced and not be a semblance for `anti-Muslim’ religious profiling or human right atrocities.
Missing numbers
The Indian involvement in the Syrian war was first reported in 2013, but failed to trigger any alarm bells. Failure to keep a track on suspected Jihadi recruits may have spurred people from volunteering in the war. Till date, the Indian government has reported cases of four citizens who have travelled to the Levant region to join ISIS as Sunni fighters. The number however could be much higher and remains highly contentious (earlier, intelligence agencies had said of tracking 18 Indians.) Iraq’s ambassador to India, Ahmed Berwari, who was closely involved with the rescue operation of Indians in captivity by ISIS, revealed that `there may be around 20 Indian fighters’. While western media has reported extensively on the phenomenon of foreign fighters, including the frugal numbers from non-Islamic countries like South Korea, Japan, Norway, Australia, documentation on the number of Indian Jihadists is missing from most of the intelligence reports as well data compiled by international terror mapping think-tanks, due to non-availability of information from the government sources. To begin with, it will be worth preparing a database of numbers of Indians involved in terror activities abroad. A policy based on empirical data and guesses will be ineffective and hamper serious intervention efforts by the security authorities.
The Indian map remains blank on the number of foreign fighters despite evidence of Indian involvement with ISIS group.
Radicalisation and Prevention
The Indian government recently blocked more than 30 major websites to prevent the spread of Jihadi propaganda which has been pivotal globally in luring more than 15000 young men and women from 80 countries to join rebel groups like ISIS. The move remains a kneejerk reaction as the websites can be accessed through proxy sites. The Indian surveillance system is confined to the servers within the country and fails to track those based outside including Google or Facebook, giving a free run for individuals like Biswas to run pro-terror propaganda. It was through one such online medium that Majid and his friends had got in touch with `handler’ who acts as go-betweens for the would-be fighters and Jihadis already on the battleground in Syria and Iraq. According to the Mumbai ATS, the youth were indoctrinated and brainwashed domestically at a karate training camp in Panvel that imparted classes on religion as well at the Islamic Guidance Centre and KotBahar Mosque. In addition to online propaganda, monitoring local mechanisms like mosques, religious institutions, where indoctrination may take place and suspected individuals, sympathisers who facilitate or coordinate recruitment, will be crucial in preventing radicalisation.
Another dimension which is largely overlooked is the burgeoning diaspora. The West Asia region, which includes 19 Islamic countries and is at the heart of the current conflict turbulence, is also home to roughly 7 million Indians who are employed in varied fields. Many are poor and work as cheap labourers in Gulf countries that espouse the radical Wahhabist ideology and are central in funding the extremist Sunni rebels in the current Syrian war. Indoctrination of these vulnerable and marginalised labourers into militant activities and possible recruitment in rebel groups against financial gains cannot be ignored. Increased security at the airports, alerting and co-ordinating with Syria and Iraqi embassies, monitoring visa approvals and dubious local agencies, religious institutions that organise travelling to the Islamic countries and from where people may look to reach the borders of Syria and Iraq as jihadists, will help in alerting the authorities in advance. The four Mumbai youth had posed as pilgrims to tour Islamic religious sites, thereby giving a miss to the conventional security radar. Taking Muslim religious groups and communities in confidence will be pertinent to this policy wherein they can play a key role in highlighting the peaceful alternatives to violent Jihad and can talk out potential fighters from travelling to conflict zones. Fostering trust between local religious communities will help security authorities to receive information on possible mobilization and launch intervention. Returning fighters are a treasure trove of information, which can be used to draw strategies to prevent individuals from volunteering to join militant groups.
The developments and successes of militant groups like ISIS are also likely to bolster domestic terror groups to create sleeper cells and boost terror activities in the name of religion. The Ansarut-Tawheed Fi Bilad al-Hind (Supporters of Islamic Monotheism in India) established in 2013 in Af-Pak region is a group largely drawn from Indian Mujaheedin fighters, which was formed by Riyaz Bhatkal. A former al-Qaeda ally, the group now supports ISIS, posting various videos with translations and subtitles in Indian languages and other Jihadi propaganda. National Security Advisor Ajit Doval has said the threat from Al Qaeda or ISIS is not of a magnitude that cannot be dealt with by India. However, the challenges thrown by the rapid surge of ISIS and its ability to draw fighters from across the globe which includes Indians are wide and many. In past conflicts, individuals have crossed over from Indian borders to POK, Pakistan or Afghanistan for arms training and terror activities. The case of Indians joining ISIS, is the first instance of individuals with no previous criminal or terror record volunteering for a war, which is largely being seen in religious and sectarian overtures. ISIS, has dedicated camps `training to its mujahidin, including physical, tactical, weapons, and sharīa, before sending them into battle or assigning them to specific units for more specialized training.’[2] Returning fighters (if they survive and chose to return to home country) pose a threat to the internal security, due to their war-time experience and battle-hardened skills. De-radicalisation programmes ``directed against individuals who have become radical with the aim of re-integrating them into society or at least dissuading them from violence’’[3] will be important. No such steps were taken for returning fighter from Iraq who was militarily trained to fight against ISIS’s Sunni army. The use of Mutual Legal Assistance Treaty (MLAT) by the NIA with the US, Canada and Australia to gather more information on the activities of returning fighter Majeed in Iraq and Syria, is a welcome step and will be able to connect several loose dots on funding, networking and recruitment of Indian youths in global Jihad. Bearing in mind the transnational nature of Jihadist groups be it ISIS or Al Qaeda, India can no more limit its investigation or restrict its intelligence assessment within the country. It will have to look for strategic international co-operation with countries in Europe, America and the Pacific which are at the centre of battling the Jihadist threat, as well as its allies in the Gulf and West Asia on those individuals trying to cross-over Iraq and Syria or those attempting to return home.
Despite all the tell-tale signs of the looming danger purported by ISIS on India, the security agencies continue to be blurry-eyed and unprepared. The case of home-grown radicals influenced by the Jihad in Syria or those of returning foreign fighters remains a danger to multi-religious, secular and democratic countries with substantial Muslim populations like India. ISIS is a real terror problem with its fangs reaching not just in the West Asia region but beyond, India needs to realise this and get its act together, before the problem escalates.
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