Chaos in Kabul and the lurking danger of Keralites who joined the Islamic State trying to return

With reports stating that nearly 20 persons from Kerala who joined the Islamic State Khorasan Province (ISKP) are roaming free in Afghanistan, an alert has been sounded in India.

Security agencies say that these persons could try and make their way back into India. An alert has been sounded at the airports as the agencies suspect that they may try and make their way back into India.

Several have already indicated that they wanted to return to India, but the government’s position is clear that it does not want any of these ISIS returnees back on their soil.

One of the key concerns with these persons is that they could be sent back to India with an intention of further spreading the ideology of the ISKP in Kerala and other parts of the country.

The Indian government’s position is that once such persons return, they could become an inspiration for many and the recruiting may only go up.

Reports indicate that all the ISIS terrorists who were put in jail by the Ashraf Ghani led government were released after the Taliban took over Afghanistan. Pentagon spokesperson, John Kirby said that thousands of ISKP prisoners were freed after the Taliban took over.

He however said that he does not know how many were released, but estimates indicate that it could be anything in the range of 500-600. An official tells OneIndia that it is not clear whether all these persons from Kerala would want to travel back to India. However some of them are looking for options to return and India must be on guard.

This issue had cropped up in March last year as well, when the mother of one of the operatives sought the help of the government to bring her daughter back from Afghanistan. Nimisha alias Fathima had left India along with a group of 21 from Kerala and joined the Islamic State in Afghanistan last year. She along with three others and surrendered in Afghanistan and now want to return.

The Indian agencies have been watching these developments since the surrenders took place. The agencies have been intentionally slow in reacting as there is always a big worry with the ISIS returnees. The chief of the ISIS Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi prior to his death had said before his death that all fighters should return to their homeland.

He had further said that with the ISIS losing territory in Syria and Iraq, it was now time for the fighters to return to their homeland and carry out attacks. These operatives are trained in do it yourself terrorism. This kind of terrorism is taught so that these operatives are self sufficient and can carry out lone wolf attacks.

Further it must be noted that in the several attacks that have been carried out in different parts of the world, most of the perpetrators who have returned to their homeland from the ISIS mainland. This was in fact very evident in the Paris attack. Kerala is already a highly radicalised state.

The state has reported the highest number of cases. It has over the years become a hub for Wahhabi activity and radical Islam has spread its tentacles far and wide in the state.

The key concern in Kerala remains Wahhabism and radicalisation. What Kerala did not realise was allowing radicalisation itself was going to become a danger to their integrity.

In such an event letting these highly radicalised persons who had the audacity to leave their homeland and join the world’s most dangerous terror group in a different country come back would pose an immense danger to the state and the country as well.

Source: One India