IS/ Islamic State/ Daesh and India

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This is a collection of articles archived for the excellence of their content.

Extent of support for IS in India

2015: Very few Indians recruited

The Times of India, Dec 02 2015

IS has attracted only few Indian youths, says govt 

The government told Lok Sabha that it was keeping a close watch on possible attempts by Islamic State and its supporters to influence Indians online with its jihadi ideology, while claiming at the same time that the outfit could attract only a few of the country's youth. Minister of state for home Haribhai Parathibhai Chaudhary , in reply to a written question in Lok Sabha, said the government has directed intelligence and security agencies to identify potential recruits and keep them under surveillance. “Cyber space is being closely monitored in this regard,“ he added.

According to sources in the home ministry , as many as 150 Indians, mostly located in the southern states, are on the radar of intelligence agencies for actively following IS literature online and engaging with IS cadres or supporters on social media.

As many as 23 Indians have already joined IS, of which two have returned while six have been killed in Syria and Iraq. Around 30 In dians have been prevented from joining the terror outfit.

Chaudhary said IS uses both positive and negative imagery to attract recruits globally. He said the home ministry had held a meeting in August with all central agencies and 12 state governments to assess the threat lev el and to devise a national, cohesive strategy to deal with it.

The government has also notified ISIslamic State of Iraq and Levant (ISIL)Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS)Daesh as a terrorist organisation and included it in the First Schedule of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, 1967, Chaudhary said.

68 IS supporters arrested till Nov 2016

UNDER SCANNER - `68 IS supporters arrested in India', Nov 23 2016 : The Times of India

As many as 68 persons have been arrested so far across the country for being sympathisers or supporters of banned terrorist outfit Islamic State (IS), the government in formed the Lok Sabha in nov 2016. Of the 68, 50 were taken into custody by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) and different state law enforcement agencies this year.

Giving a state-wise breakup of arrests of 50 IS-inspired suspects this year, minister of state for home Hansraj Ahir said Maharashtra and Telangana accounted for the highest number of arrests at 11 each, followed by Karnataka with seven, Kerala with six, Uttarakhand with four, West Bengal, UP, and Tamil Nadu with two each and Ra jasthan, Delhi, Madhya Pra desh, J&K and Bihar accoun ting for one arrest each..

Government’s non-recognition

Bharti Jain, IS to be called `Daish' in govt records now, Nov 08 2016 : The Times of India

The Union home ministry intends to replace the nomenclature “Islamic State“ with “Daish“ in all official communications pertaining to the global terrorist organisation. The reason cited by a senior home ministry official is that calling the dreaded jihadi outfit `Islamic State' is like giving legitimacy to its claim of representing a “borderless Islamic State“ encompassing Muslims across the world.

Daish is the Arab acronym for Al Dawla Al-Islamiya fi Al-Iraq wa Al-Sham (the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, or Sham), for which the acronym is ISIL or ISIS was originally used by the group. However, the outfit now prefers to be called Islamic State (IS). Many believe that this is to ensure that IS is not recognised as a state limited by physical boundaries.However, counter-terror experts insist that IS is neither Islamic not a state, but only a banned terrorist entity .

Incidentally , the government of India notification banning IS as a terror outfit under the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA) names IS by all its known nomenclatures including ISIS, ISIL and Daish. The Times of India has learnt that the Union home secretary may verbally ask its departments, particularly the internal security division that deals with matters relating to terrorism, intelligence agencies and investigative agencies like NIA to ensure that only the name `Daish' is used in all official communication while referring to IS. If need be, an office memorandum in this regard may also be circulated.