“I wanted to join the ISIS… I was promised unconditional financial support. I wanted to leave India. I feared the arrest for keeping contacts with those who worked for the ISIS,” confesses a 38-year-old man, based in Chennai, as he testifies to News18 detailing his past association with the terror outfit.
Initially, charged under the UAPA (Unlawful Activities Prevention Act) by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) in 2017, and later turned approver, the man, who at present works with a leading IT firm, was charged with terror financing and recruiting Indians for the ISIS (Islamic States of Iraq and Syria).
He was booked with seven others over the allegations of hatching a conspiracy to launch terror attacks at the behest of ISIS.
THE RECRUITMENT
Stuffed in an armchair in corner of a dimly lit room, dressed in a suit, the man says, back in 2016 he used to learn karate at a martial arts school in Chennai, which he only realised was an ISIS recruitment camp in disguise, by the time it was “too late”.
Caressing his mid-length beard recurrently, tapping the carpeted floor with his right foot, suggestive of anxiety, he goes on to recall how he was offered unconditional financial and emotional assistance to lure him in, as a member of the outfit.
“Karate school was an ideal place to zero in on vulnerable yet skilled at fighting targets. The man who disguised as karate coach was an ISIS recruiter. Sometime later, after I quit the karate school, some persons from there contacted me. Monetary promises were unconditional and so was the emotional support. They were ready to pay hefty monthly stipends, as good as a salary paid by any multi-national company. I also realised I was in contact with people at the karate school who were very closely linked with Haja Fakhruddin (a Tamil who was working in Singapore before he went to Syria and joined the IS in 2014),” he said.
There was another man at the karate school who was the main contact between the ISIS and students at the school, he said.
“The person who instigated me used to collect funds for the ISIS. Others only did the recruitment work. They would show us examples of other people who they said had gone outside India and went to Syria or Iraq. They even showed us how some billionaires were joining the ISIS and instigated others to follow. Videos of some influential people, who, they claimed, had joined the ISIS, were also shown to us, specially to those who were financially weak to lure them into building a better life,” the man said.
But those who did not give in because of the money crunch were lured either religiously or were pulled in emotionally.
JIHAD CENTRED RELIGIOUS PREACHINGS
Anagha Jaigopal is a similar case. Based in Thiruvananthapuram, born in a Brahmin family, she had turned to Islam about six years ago. But, last year, she switched her religion back. Her reason, as she says, was that she suspected her religious preachers did not restrict themselves to preaching Islam, but introduced her and many others, to the idea of “ultimate sacrifice and jihad”.
“I believe no religion promotes any activity backed by Jihad. Anyone, who converts to Islam, must not be introduced to ultimate sacrifice. What we were being taught was that Allah loves those who believe in the ultimate sacrifice and Jihad. This made me suspect that this was not about Islam. I feared that there were ulterior motives behind us being told about such ideologies. I believe the next step would have been introducing us to extremist groups,” the 27-year-old says.
For almost five years, Jaigopalan says she offered Namaz and also would sport a hijab.
She says she started following Islam because most of her unaddressed curiousness regarding certain Hindu rituals turned into confusion as her friends who followed Islam would often question such Hindu acts.
“Since I did not have any answers, I started looking for options. This was the time when Islam sounded very logical. I was introduced to Islam by my friends but when I started taking interest I was approached by groups who physically and over social media addressed my queries. But I listened to them only till the time I was being told about its true purpose that largely supported peace and love. As the stage progressed, and we were told how important is ultimate sacrifice and jihad, it rang a bell. I realised this was not just about converting to any other religion. I was also told that a person who dies in the war for Allah will be given the highest position in heaven,” she said.
However, even as Anagha managed to distant herself from her alleged radical preachers not many could free themselves from the clutches on their own.
A 17-year-old Indian origin boy, American by citizenship, currently lives at a reformation centre in Kerala. Talking to News18, he admitted that he was brought to India by his parents, who had realised that he was in touch with some men belonging to extremist outfits in Afghanistan and Pakistan.
“I was brought to this centre in Thiruvananthapuram for reformation. My parents wanted to be de-radicalise me. They believed that I had been radicalised by the people with whom I got in touch over Facebook. There was also a time when I was in touch with people who were associated with Taliban. I supported Taliban for some time. Eventually, my thought process changed in a way that I did not like the Indian government or any other non-Sharia state. I started believing that Muslims must get more united, globally and attack the non-Islamic ones,” he said.
The boy went on to reveal how “his radicalisers”, would contact him and others over Facebook, Instagram or Tiktok.
“I was in touch with them only over social media but never met them physically. They prey upon the vulnerable and disgruntled. Eventually, when I started communicating regularly, they also said the ISIS was a western creation but all Muslim units like ISIS, Al Qaeda or Taliban have the same belief that the world should be ruled by the divine Law of Sharia,” he added.
COUNTERING RADICALISATION
In 2019, one Jamesha Mubin, was questioned by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) after it busted of an ISIS module. Three years later, when Coimbatore blast took place on October 23, 2022, investigators found that it was Mobin who was carrying the improvised explosive device (IED). He also was the only casualty in the blast which was believed to be a failed attempt.
Further probe revealed that Mobin had accessed ISIS-related material online. It was also established that he had immensely listened to the Easter bomber of Sri Lanka, who also was ISIS backed.
V Balakrishnan, commissioner of police, Coimbatore, admitted that radicalisation does exist in Tamil Nadu, if not in extremity.
“Ever since the ISIS module was busted in 2019, we had started an extensive preventive study on this module and managed to list out a number of suspects. The challenge is that radicalisation is now happening very easily as all the radical material is available on the internet, accessible effortlessly,” he said.
The commissioner said his team looks at de-radicalisation holistically. “We have multiple de-radicalisation programmes and it is done in two phases – first, identifying vulnerable candidates who can be a possible target, and second, zeroing in on those who have already been exposed to the ISIS ideologies and are potential candidates for extreme radicalisation. We have collected a lot of material on both types of candidates based on human intelligence and social media patterns with the help of the database that we have developed,” the officer added.
He further said, once identified, the youth are introduced to “our rehabilitation programmes designed to channelise their energy in libraries, sports and other constructive activities”.
“We are also engaging scholars, Maulvis, Maulanas, schools and some NGOs to spread awareness and help the vulnerable targets identify suspects when they are approached by them,” Balakrishnan said. He further said as far as de-radicalising the hardliners is concerned, help of psychologists is taken.
Arun Selvaraj, a psychologist, who assists the Coimbatore police in de-radicalisation, said most of the victims are either disgruntled or confused about life.
“Extremists exploit the weaknesses of their target and make them believe in violence and how it is justified. Even women and girls have been radicalised. The process of de-radicalisation depends on the magnitude of radicalisation one has gone through. It may take anywhere from a few days to months to bring one person to mainstream. Most of these victims are radicalised to be used as pawns for jihad. I have interacted with some victims who were even aware that they were waging war against the nation,” Selvaraj said.
Chief of Anti-Terror Squad, Kochi (Kerala), P Vijayan, said they have initiated several pre-emptive actions against the ISIS radicalisation.
“The Kerala Police has a social policing division that focuses on intervening at a stage when the radicalisation has just begun. Our programmes focus on schoolchildren. We identify those who are academically weak as they end up either quitting school or failing to secure an employment for them after school. The financially insecure and emotionally unstable (persons) become easy targets,” he added.
Vijayan said they have trained over three lakh children in their program so far. “This became a national programme in 2018. Another programme is Jan Maitri where beat officers visit houses to connect with the community. Thirdly, the Project Hope project helps school dropouts develop employment skills. Over 3,000 children have been helped. Lastly, one of our programmes identifies children with emotional problems who are vulnerable to crime, rehabilitate them and reintegrate them (into the society),” the officer added.
Despite all these measures put on ground, there have been multiple reports and organisations claiming rampant conversions to Islam has been one of the factors injecting sympathy towards the ISIS ideology in the states like Kerala and Tamil Nadu.
Refuting such claims, Mohammad Shah, advocate and member of Muslim League, said radicalisation is happening all over the country and Muslims too are fighting against it.
“At Muslim League, we have a history of speaking out and acting against such agendas. The rise of ISIS in some state is a result of religious polarisation promoted by certain political parties for their personal benefits. We have always been against radicalisation. No one from our party supports it. The ISIS ideology has only worked against the image of Muslims and we should oppose the ISIS agenda together. If any Muslim or organisation is supporting it, we should stand against it,” Shah said.
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