Condemning the killing of 39 Indians by Islamic State in Iraq, the Jammu and Kashmir unit of the BJP on Wednesday said the emergence of the terror group in Kashmir needs to be curbed with iron hand.
Speaking with mediapersons, BJP's state spokesperson Anil Gupta said the disclosure that a youth from Telangana who was recently killed in an encounter had come to Kashmir as an ISIS fighter should act as an eye-opener for those who refuse to acknowledge the presence of ISIS in Kashmir.
"The emergence of ISIS in Kashmir needs to be curbed with an iron hand. The government can no longer afford to remain in denial mode," Gupta said.
On February 27, shortly after it was revealed that MD Toufeeq was an IS operative, the Centre sought to downplay the issue of the presence of the dreaded terror group in Jammu and Kashmir, saying it had no existence in the Valley.
"There is no physical infrastructure or manpower of the IS in the Valley. It does not exist in the Valley," a Home Ministry spokesperson had said while reacting to a statement of the terror group claiming responsibility for the killing of a policeman in the Valley.
Gupta said that terror groups Al-Qaeda and ISIS have agreed to bury their differences and unite with "Universal Jihad" as their common goal.
"Kashmir has been selected as launch pad for 'Ghazwa-e-Hind', a prophesied battle in which Muslim armies would invade Indian subcontinent and would be victorious and will establish Islamic law in the subcontinent," he said.
Gupta said ISIS was "disintegrated, but not over".
"Rather than verticals, it is working as a linear organisation with cells operating in different parts of the world, including India. ISIS is an ideology very alien to us. It is barbaric, ruthless, and non-compromising," he said.
Gupta said that Pakistan Army Chief General Qamar Javed Bajwa advocated peace with other neighbours but with India it was conditional to resolution of the outstanding Kashmir issue.
".. meaning it would continue to support terror in Kashmir," he said.
"The recent theatrics of Pakistan in which it called back its high commissioner followed by announcement to boycott WTO Conference in New Delhi was a desperate attempt to divert the tremendous international pressure following the FATF decision to place it on grey list," he said.
Having failed to achieve the desired aim, Gupta said, Pakistan resorted to the old technique of unprovoked ceasefire violations at the LoC and targeting civilian residential areas killing five members of a family in Poonch district on Sunday.
"A barbaric act similar to IS fighters. Pakistan Army has no value for human lives and shares the same ideology of IS," he said.