Unearthing ISIS moles

DAYS after the BJP swept the Lok Sabha elections, Indian security agencies discovered a new virus of terrorism that claims to have been inspired by the ISIS with hyper brutality as its main calling card. In the latest instance, five were arrested in Hyderabad for planning terror attacks in the city. What gives rise to misgivings about the claim is the arrest of two Shias. This is perhaps the only incident in the world where Shias have pledged allegiance to an organisation which, if given the choice, would not want to leave a single of Ali’s followers alive.

But the season for netting ISIS “sympathisers” began in real earnest from January this year with the arrest of 13 from six cities, followed by four in Delhi and, days later, seven in Karnataka and Maharashtra. This begs the question: why was January a defining month in the alleged spread of the ISIS? The answer is not too difficult to find. In the previous month, a mob in Dadri had lynched Akhlaq on the suspicion of possessing beef. This was also the time when the BJP-RSS ramped up its anti-beef spiel whose sub-text was to target only Muslims, never mind that its aficionados are not limited to just one community.

In the atmosphere of politically inspired fault lines, the security agencies have to maintain a professional equilibrium and not mistake wood for the trees. The youth may have had violence on their mind and will definitely face the full majesty of the law. But while their inspiration may have been the ISIS, the motivation was the climate of nastiness being whipped up of late. The ISIS’ main base is in Iraq-Syria and if at all it has the strength left to expand, it will be to Central Asia, part of the medieval Islamic empire of Khorasan it is trying to resurrect, and not India. The political class and the security agencies need to understand that a deeper malaise may be motivating Muslim youths to sympathise with and occasionally emulate the ISIS’ brutal ways.