The Islamic State is Unsuccessful in India. Here’s Why

Why the ISIS is largely unsuccessful in India.

Don’t worry about the Islamic State’s, or ISIS’s appeal in India because the regressive terror outfit has largely been unsuccessful here, high-placed officials in the country’s intelligence community have told The Quint.

Not Alarming: The ISIS India Story

Intelligence reports suggest that over the past year or so, 23 Indians have enlisted to fight for the ISIS in Syria and Iraq. Six others are suspected to have died in “battle”. But this is an insignificant number, according to a former senior intelligence officer. who wishes to be anonymous. This is insignificant, not just in comparison with recruitment rates elsewhere in the world, but also in comparison to India’s Muslim population.

There are eighteen crore Muslims in India, if the ISIS manages to recruit eighteen, it means nothing.

Former senior intelligence officer to The Quint

But Security Agencies are Vigilant

However, sources add that security agencies remain vigilant. Some regions in Marathwada, Maharashtra are under surveillance because a number of uprooted families settled there after the 2002 Gujarat riots. Sources say that ISIS picks its targets based on the social and communal climate of a region. Muslim organisations that have to fight discrimination are also an ideal target for the ISIS, add sources.

Indian Muslims Oppose ISIS’s Brand of Islam

Yet, sources say the ISIS’s failure to recruit a larger number of Indians to its medieval cause is that the brand of Islam followed by Indian Muslims is soft. Indian Muslim clerics have in fact filed over a thousand fatwas against the ISIS, claiming that their actions go against the basic tenants of Islam.

In addition, the intelligence community believes that the limited successes of the ISIS has largely been a result of Hindu radicalisation. Muslim extremist activity especially pertaining to the ISIS is mostly reactive, not proactive, they say.

Southern states are susceptible because they export a large workforce to the Gulf countries, say sources. In addition to Kerala, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu, Western Uttar Pradesh, Jharkhand, Orissa and Assam are also being monitored.

The ‘Web’ of ISIS

Intelligence sources also told The Quint that despite their lack of success, the ISIS continues its attempts to recruit from India.

For instance, intelligence officers intercepted messages on social media encouraging people to avenge the hanging of Yakub Memon in a case relating to the 1993 blasts in Mumbai. The messages encouraged people to hang unarmed constables from a tree or stab an unarmed Hindu on the street. They add that all this is in spite of the fact that the Memon case has no connection with the ISIS.

So while the ISIS has not been successful in radicalisation or carrying out any fidayeen style suicide attacks in India, sources say, they continue to try to establish a network through the internet.

We have our ears to the ground. We closely monitor web activities, since that is the breeding ground. But the ISIS is more than a force, it is an ideology and a mindset making it all the more difficult to monitor.

Former senior intelligence officer to The Quint

Community Policing

The intelligence community believes that dealing with the ISIS threat is difficult. There is no narrow geographical demarcation to monitor, there are no physical training or recruitment camps and no sleeper cells.

The most effective way to curtail the presence of ISIS in India is through citizen vigilantism. Sources say community policing is already taking place in various regions in South India and needs to be expanded to other parts of the country as well.