Dr Adil Rasheed, author of ISIS: Race to Armageddon, speaking to The Quint, argues that the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) is more than just a security threat, it needs to be looked at from a socio-cultural, psychological and historical angle.
According to him, the existence of the ISIS raises civilisational questions of where we are heading as a society. While he contends that ISIS is a violent form of Islam, he also adds that chaos and disorder exist in every community – one community may be slightly more than the other. Hence, he believes that even if the ISIS is exterminated, the threat that emanates from an organisation of this nature will continue to haunt mankind.
Dr Rasheed is also a counter-radicalisation expert and he emphasises that the vulnerable community and its leaders must be taken on board, else it will lead to more radicalisation.
Dr Rasheed contends that, as far as India is concerned, ISIS is a ‘potential’ threat and there is a need to be vigilant but there is no need to ‘cry wolf’. He believes that the ISIS is more concerned with protecting its territory in Iraq and Syria which is being bombed by half the world and does not have an India plan. However, he says in the book that the ISIS threat to India is ‘indirect’. Extremist groups in Afghanistan and Pakistan are increasingly affiliating themselves to the ISIS. Erstwhile Al-Qaeda and Taliban groups have also shifted loyalties and may pose as a bigger threat than the forces in Iraq and Syria.
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