How India and Australia will fight the ISIS

New Delhi, Sept 4: Australia has lost 120 of its nationals to the ISIS. The radicalization of the youth in Australia is growing at a very rapid pace and the country realizes that it would need strategic partners in order to fight the problem.

A meeting between Australian Defence Minister Kevin Andrews and National Security Advisor Ajit Doval held recently in the capital discussed a host of issues which included combating the ISIS menace.

Andrews who was in India on a two day visit spoke with Doval about the implications of the online radicalization being carried out by the ISIS. Both countries have jointly decided to fight the problem of the ISIS which has a high rate of radicalization on the social media.

Online jihad cannot be fought alone:

When it comes to fighting online radicalization there is a need for all countries to unite. There is no one stop shop from where the ISIS threat emerges. It is worldwide and the group has been targeting youth from across the world and especially the West. India is already in partnership now with the UAE to combat this menace.

India and Australia would now share intelligence on a real time basis. The Indian Intelligence Bureau has a dedicated team just to watch the social media patterns where the ISIS is concerned. Australia would get real time information from India as and when such accounts are found. Australia on its part would also share information with India, so that other agencies could be alerted.

At the meeting the importance of real time intelligence was discussed. It is extremely important to stop such persons rather than react after the crime is committed, both sides agreed. The ISIS is a global threat and hence it is mandatory for all nations to fight the menace jointly. So far there has been a delay in communication and hence the number of persons leaving to join the ISIS has only increased.

Australia will cancel dual citizenship:

During the meeting Andrews told Doval that there are over 120 persons from Australia who have joined the ISIS. While sharing the increased menace of online radicalization, Andrews also informed India's NSA that a decision was taken to revoke dual citizenship and cancel the passports of such persons.

India on the other hand said that it is studying the flying patterns of persons on the suspect list. While all persons flying into the Middle East cannot be red flagged, steps are being taken to study their flying patterns and if something suspicious is found they would be placed under the watch list.

Both India and Australia have a working group on counter-terrorism. The group met recently and finalized methods of countering the threat of radicalization of youth by the ISIS and other international terrorist groups.

OneIndia News