The Islamic State will work on a global-local model of terror operations

After the death of its chief Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi late last month, the Islamic State (IS) plans to work on a global-local model where the terror group will provide the ideology and source its leaders, cadres and funding locally, India is said to have told a seminar in Australia.

The Indian delegation to the two day seminar on terrorism was led by minister of state G Kishan Reddy, who is also in charge of internal security at the home ministry. Discussing case studies on Islamic State-inspired modules, New Delhi said that most suspects were loosely connected to the Caliphate but followed its ideology.

The National Investigating Agency (NIA) and others have arrested 127 suspects in ISIS-related cases, with 33 of them from Tamil Nadu, 19 from Uttar Pradesh, 17 from Kerala and 14 from Telangana. Intelligence agencies fear that the IS ideology in India may fan out by local events like the Ayodhya verdict and abrogation of Article 370 in Kashmir. These events may be used by these groups to recruit cadres in India, said an official.

“The host country (Australia) though believes that the killing of Baghdadi will impact the Caliphate and its ability to raise funds, acknowledged that a rise in prominence of local affiliates will lead to a spurt in kidnapping for ransom by Daesh/ISIS,” a diplomatic source who was part of the deliberations told ET.

Reddy said investigations have revealed that the West Asian terror group ISIS has used encrypted platforms and the dark web to radicalise people and recruit cadres. An NIA chargesheet had in June claimed that IS in Jammu and Kashmir (ISJK) had links with Pakistan.

Addressing a discussion on Emerging Technologies and Terrorism Financing Risk, Reddy reminded the cyber activities of the Hafiz Saeed’s Falah-e-Insaniyat Foundation. “Despite being designated, it is active in the cyber world,” he said. Terror groups in some countries are also using not-for-profit organisations not only for propagation but also for raising funds, he said, hinting at Pakistan based terror groups.

Source: India Times