40 Karnataka youths under scanner, fear to join ISIS

While Home Minister Rajnath Singh expressed confidence that Islamic State cannot gain foothold in India citing family values have acted as deterrents for the Islamic State (ISIS), the Karnataka Police, on the other hand says about 40 youths from the State likely to get radicalize.

Police have kept an eye on the youth’s activiies, age group 16-22, especially on their usage to social media. The youths hail from communally-sensitive districts of Dakshina Kannada, Udupi, Chikkamagaluru, Hubbali-Dharwad, Belgavi and Kalburgi.

It is to be noted that after the arrest of techie Mehdi Masroor Biswas for handling a pro-ISIS Twitter handle, Karnataka police is on high alert, keeping an eye on youths activities.

According to the Karnataka Police, central intelligence agencies had indicated that youths from south India are more vulnerable to ‘radicalisation’ by the ISIS.

“We have been following the intervention route. We are not being aggressive by directly filing cases without conducting an inquiry. If we find going to an extreme end, we first approach their parents and inform them and later counsel the youths. This approach has worked for us. We have been successful in changing the minds of over 20 youths, who wanted to identify themselves with the Islamic State,” a source in the police said.

According to India Today, police have also employed linguistic experts, including those in Arabic and Urdu, as many posts of the 40 youth are in these two languages.

“It is clear that Indian Muslims do not approve of the ISIS philosophy and their inhuman ways. Only a few get swayed towards the terror outfit by reading on the Internet and watching the outfit’s videos. They are also aware that they can reach ISIS territory from India. Our aim is to educate youths to stay away from this line of thinking,” said a police officer.