In a big success for security agencies, NIA has framed charges against 7 persons who were to spread the activities of Islamic State in southern states including Kerala. The NIA has framed charges of criminal conspiracy against- Manseed Muhmood, Swalih Mohammed, Rashid Ali, Ramshad NK, Safvan, Jasim NK and Shajeer Mangalassery. Charges have been framed against the accused under various sections of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act.
According to One India report, The NIA said that the arrested people formed an ISIS module in Kerala called the Ansarul Khilafa-KL. The group was using social media to peddle their sinister agenda. The NIA also said that the arrested people had conducted a meeting at Kanakamala in Kannur district of Kerala. The group had become very dangerous and was also looking for collecting funds and launching recruitment drive across Kerala and other parts of southern states. Omar al-Hindi was supervising the module, and he is suspected to be operating from Syria. They used to exchange material over online platforms and also talked about building a strong module in southern states and carrying out lone wolf strikes in south India.
The NIA has also arrested a person named-Subhahani Haha Moideen- who had moved to Iraq in 2015 and fought alongside the Islamic state. After his return to India, Moideen had continued with his pro-ISIS activities in Kerala.
Kerala has become a safe haven for ISIS activities. Maximum recruits to ISIS have come from Kerala. An ISIS terrorist named Shafi Armar from Karnataka used to recruit Kerala Muslims for the ISIS. NIA believes that more than 80 people from Kerala have joined ISIS as of now. Many youths from Kerala joined ISIS and travelled to Iraq, Syria and Afghanistan. Their main motive is to get training and then return to India to launch terrorist attacks.
According to a report, more than 600 people went missing between 2012 and 2017. The National Investigation Agency (NIA) has uncovered some unnerving facts in its preliminary probe, which reveal some threatening and disturbing situations. The probe confirmed that total 648 people have gone missing, which includes 297 women. The scariest fact is that the investigators have subsequently failed to trace their whereabouts. The probe suggests that a good number of missing persons have joined ISIS to participate in Jihad.
In various probes it has come out that activists of a radical Islamist organization -Popular Front of India (PFI) – are working for ISIS. This group has links in communal clashes, love-Jihad, ISIS, forced conversions, etc. A Times Now investigation suggested that some of the organizations funding radical Islamist, PFI, have also been linked to the global terrorist organization, the Al-Qaeda. Kerala CM Pinarayi Vijayan is, surprisingly, yet to ban the PFI and its activities in the state where it has the most support.
It is the duty of the government to put a permanent ban on this terrorist outfit for the sake of national security. Not only recruiting people for ISIS, the PFI is also responsible for various cases of Love Jihad that take place throughout Kerala. There is an urgent need to curb on terror activities of PFI and other radical organizations working for ISIS before Kerala becomes another Kashmir.