Brainwashing before bloodshed: Islamic State's new playbook in South India

NEW DELHI: The Islamic State has been on a recruitment spree and aims to set up its biggest module in South India, with officials saying that its focus, for some time, has been the region as the outfit has been gaining more traction here when compared to the rest of the country.

Security agencies have been busting several attempts, but have learnt that the problem is much bigger than one would have anticipated.

The Islamic State was relatively quiet in South India before the Popular Front of India (PFI) was banned. Now, it is scouting for people and is specifically targeting those who went underground post the ban on the PFI.

Agencies such as the National Investigating Agency (NIA) are keeping a close watch on some madrasas, especially in Kerala and Tamil Nadu, which have become recruitment camps for the Islamic State. Many such madrasas posing as Arabic schools have cropped up, but in reality, these have become propaganda and recruitment camps for the Islamic State, the NIA has learnt.

An NIA official said that their drive is to dismantle the Islamic State-linked networks that are operating in this part of the country. The scale of the recruitment and the agenda of the Islamic State came to light when the agency filed a charge sheet against Jameel Basha, a student of the Madras Arabic College. (IANS)

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