ISI or ISIS: Who exactly is present in India?

New Delhi, Jan 22: Is the ISI operating as the ISIS in India? There have been various cases in the past that have been busted by the police who have gone on to say that ISIS modules are being set up in India.

However, looking at the manner in which the ISIS generally operates they are not into setting up of modules on the ground. Instead they rely heavily on their online presence and prefer attacks by lone wolves.

[2 suspected ISIS sympathsiers arrested in Karnataka]

This brings us to the question as to what exactly have the police been busting all these days. One must recollect a report that suggested that the police had busted India's first ISIS module at Ratlam in 2015.

That, however, turned out to be a false alarm. Instead it was a group of youth desperately trying to seek some attention so that they would paid and sent to Syria.

Is the ISI moon walking as the ISIS in India?

A couple of days back, the police claimed to have busted a major module at Uttarakhand. Four persons Akhlaq-ur-Rehman, Mohammad Azim Ushan, Mohammad Osama alias Adil and Mohammad Mehraj were arrested and the police claimed that all had allegiance to the ISIS.

However, now investigations show that none of them had any direct links to the ISIS. They were all part of the Indian Mujahideen and were operating on the instructions of ISI sponsored moles.

[ISIS letter threatens to kill Modi, Parrikar]

The Indian Mujahideen has split into two after the arrest of its leader Yasin Bhatkal three years back.

One faction is led by Riyaz Bhatkal who continues to remain an ISI stooge. The other is headed by Shafi Armar and this group today is called the Ansar-ul-Tawhid. The Ansar broke away from the ISI and pledged support to the ISIS.

Today it actively recruits Indians into the ISIS. The Uttarakhand module which the police say they busted owes allegiance to the Riyaz Bhatkal faction which in other words means it is an ISI sponsored outfit.

Intelligence Bureau (IB) officials tell OneIndia that this appears to be a deliberate ploy on part of the Riyaz Bhatkal faction.

By claiming that the module belongs to the ISIS, it tends to create a distraction for the intelligence agencies. The Riyaz Bhatkal faction is down today and wants to gradually set up modules in India by avoiding the heat of the intelligence.

Hence this appears to be a ploy on their part to mislead the investigators into believing that the modules are being set up by the ISIS, an intelligence bureau official also pointed out.

OneIndia News