Libya abductions: Why does the ISIS like teachers?

Is the ISIS fond of teachers? Vijay Kumar and Ramakrishna, the two teachers who were abducted in Libya could only thank their stars as the ISIS militants had a change of heart.

The reason given to them, " you are teachers. We like teachers and hence we will not harm you."

Vijay Kumar and Ramakrishna both from Karnataka were abducted last Friday along with two others from Hyderabad last week. Kumar and Ramakrishna were released. The two others from Hyderabad are yet to be released.

We like teachers:

According to the two men from Karnataka who were abducted and then released, the few hours in captivity was nothing short of a nightmare. All through the dreaded images of what the ISIS does to the people taken hostage played in our minds.

At the Sirte town in Libya where they were abducted, they were kept in a dark room for couple of hours. One man later walked in and asked us what we did. When we told them we were teachers, he went soft on us.

He told us, " we like teachers. You are doing a lot for the children in Libya. Do not worry we will not harm you," he also said.

What is the ISIS thinking?

Images of brutality by the ISIS militants are posted everyday on the internet. To be taken captive by the ISIS is not something anyone would wish for his worst enemy too.

However, if one may recall the ISIS had a similar view when it had abducted several nurses from India in Iraq last year. All the nurses were let off without being harmed.

The ISIS is very selective about who it shall kill. It normally does not target Indian nationals. Construction workers, nurses and teachers are their particular favourites.

As strange as it may sound, but the ISIS has a different thinking pattern and it knows that in the long run it wants to run a full fledged government and needs persons with specializes skills.

The ISIS is in governing mode:

The ISIS in a lot of respects goes beyond a run of the mill terrorist outfit. The battle it is waging in Iraq, Libya or Syria is more against the government than the people. In fact in many parts of Iraq it does enjoy a lot of local support and this is what has made them so very strong.

The ISIS wants to overthrow the government and set up its own rule. It realizes that specialized services such as nurses, construction workers and teachers are required for it to run a nation. The Indian nurses in particular are a major draw for any country as they are considered to be the best in the world.

Security experts say that these are the several factors that could have gone into the ISIS having a change of heart where the teachers or the nurses are concerned. It wants them to return and hence has not harmed any of them.

However the ISIS is not kind to all nationalities. It ensures that it will not spare any US or UK nationality. For the ISIS, the main enemies are the US and UK apart from Shia run regimes. It does not have any particular enmity with India as of now, experts would also point out.