Kerala is turning out to be the second most sought-after state for recruitment purposes in India for ISIS, the hardcore Islamic terror group, which is on a mission to re-establish a holy 'Islamic Caliphate' across the world.
Sources in the state police, familiar with the recruitment of ideology-driven extremists, said Kerala was the choice destination of ISIS middlemen after strife-torn Jammu and Kashmir. Officers said the middlemen had drafted the services of religious centres in at least two northern and one southern district of Kerala to 'identify' and 'indoctrinate' impressionable youngsters who could be transported to countries like Syria and Yemen where ISIS had a considerable presence.
The ISIS recruiters mostly lured the youth with seemingly repulsive and misinterpreted promises of 'a dream land in heaven' and the 'spring of eternal joy' (also in heaven). Liberal Islamist thinkers shunned the idea and said the Wahabists (hardcore groups) were resorting to a blatant misrepresentation of facts and subversion of religious principles to recruit young men and women.
Statistics
As on March 30, 2018, 90 Keralites were thought to have joined ISIS. Of this, 16 have been killed in raids by US and other forces fighting ISIS in various countries in the Middle East, since 2016. Of the 90, 21 were from Kasaragod and 38 from Kannur. At least 12 Keralites had joined ISIS from Bahrain.
Social context
Social scientists were finding it difficult to understand how the educated youths of Kerala were tacitly being turned around to embrace violence and jihadism.
The stiff political posturing at the national level was, in fact, hardening the stance of all fringe elements, they said.
Meanwhile, the state intelligence department is collating data and scanning front organisations, which are often camouflaged as charity houses, being used by ISIS. A police officer pointed to 'organised anti-sovereignty movements' like the one organised by a prominent political party in Kerala, which had sought a separate state to be 'carved out of certain north Kerala districts.'
-Via onmanorama