ISIS has failed to attract 'patriotic' Indian Muslims: Rajnath Singh

Jaipur, March 19: Launching a scathing attack on Pakistan, Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh on Thursday said if the neighbouring country stops supporting terrorists, the security situation in South Asia will improve significantly.

Singh also said the failure of dreaded terror outfit ISIS to attract Indian Muslims was due to their complete integration into the mainstream.

"Indian Muslims are patriots and are not swayed by fundamentalist ideologies. Extremism is alien to their nature," he said.

The Home Minister said the source of most terrorist activities in India lies across the borders and it is unfortunate that even after paying such a heavy price for itself, Pakistan and its associates find it difficult to understand that there are no "good terrorists and bad terrorists".

"Differentiating terrorists into good and bad categories has failed miserably. If the ISI and the Pakistan Army stops their support to certain terror outfits, I have no hesitation in saying that the security situation in South Asia will improve significantly," he said after inaugurating an international conference on counter terrorism here.

The Home Minister said that Pakistan should seriously rethink its strategy of using terrorism as an instrument of proxy war and that it would be in its own national interests.

"India has been a victim of cross-border terrorism for the last several decades. Terrorist organisations like Lashkar-e-Taiba and Jaish-e-Mohammad patronised by those across the border, have inflicted several acts of terror on the Indian soil. There are several instances of such proxies being used in other parts of the world," he said.

Singh said the menace of terrorism is greatly amplified in today's digital world and an incident in one corner of the globe can instantly spark a reaction thousands of miles away where a 'lone wolf' or a 'DIY (do it yourself) terrorist' can go online and learn how to carry out an attack without even leaving home.

During the three-day conference which will be attended by experts and officials, issues like illegal migration and border security, Cyber space, social media and terrorism, terror trade weapons, narcotics and fake currency would be discussed in separate sessions.

This conference will be global platform for imminent scholars, strategic thinkers, field experts and policy makers engaged in counter terrorism activities from various government agencies, think tanks, academic and research institutions from all over the world.

OneIndia News

(With agency inputs)