IS recruitment drive keeps govt on toes

IS recruitment drive keeps govt on toes
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Highlights

The Intelligence Bureau (IB) has recommended that the Islamic State (IS) terror group, active in Iraq and Syria, should be banned as it is making efforts to recruit Indian youths to carry out attacks across the country.

  • IB wants the group be banned using the provisions of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, an anti-terror law
  • NIA has been directed to submit a proposal in this connection to the Home Ministry


New Delhi: The Intelligence Bureau (IB) has recommended that the Islamic State (IS) terror group, active in Iraq and Syria, should be banned as it is making efforts to recruit Indian youths to carry out attacks across the country.
Islamic State fighters surround captured Iraqi soldiers  (file pic)
A home ministry note, accessed by Mail Today, said credible inputs have revealed that the Islamic State, an international Jihadi group, is also trying to recruit new cadres in India to use them for terrorist activities in Syria and Iraq. “Once they are indoctrinated and trained, they would deploy them to cause terrorist attacks in India,” the note stated.

Sources said the IB, based on these inputs, suggested that the group be banned using the provisions of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, an anti-terror law.

The National Investigation Agency (NIA) has been directed to submit a proposal in this connection to the home ministry. The IB sent its recommendation to the home ministry after assessing a proposal from the NIA, which sought the home ministry’s approval to register a case for probing the activities of the Islamic State in India.

Recent intelligence inputs have indicated that banned terror groups like the Indian Mujahideen and the Student’s Islamic Movement of India (SIMI) are invoking the name of the Islamic State to recruit youths. If the group is banned, action can be taken against such elements, sources said.

Reports of recruitment drives by the Islamic State in India came after four men from Maharashtra went to fight for the group in Iraq.

Following these reports, the NIA sought permission for registering a case as it was felt that an open case could be filed under different provisions of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act and the United Nations conventions for brainwashing youths for terror activities. The home ministry, however, was reluctant to register a case as there was a view among senior officials that the IS is not active in India and any action could lead to a backlash against Indians in Iraq and Syria. Some 40 Indians are still being held captive by the IS in Iraq. Sources said banning the group will do away with the hurdle of asking a security agency to file a First Information Report (FIR).

“There will be no need to register a specific case against the IS. Cases can be registered if there is any input or information of any person having links with the banned group under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act,” a home ministry official said.

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