Radicalise, recruit, refrain: A lurking danger as terrorists target highly educated youth of Kerala

New Delhi, June 29: DGP Loknath Behra earlier this week said that terrorists have chosen Kerala as their recruitment base. They target highly educated youths in the state to accomplish their agendas across the world, he also said in an interview with a news channel. He further added that terrorists recruit educated youth from Kerala and use their for unlawful activities.

This has been the trend in Kerala for several years now. It has become a happy recruitment ground for various terror groups, most recently the Islamic State. The modus operandi is radicalise, recruit, but do not attack. The recruited terrorists are sent across the country, where they either carry out attacks or continue recruiting more youth.

While Kerala has been termed as the state with the highest literacy rate, the fact is that the recruits are highly educated as well. It has been described as a ticking time bomb, thanks to problem of radicalisation and the very fact that the maximum number of cases of people leaving for the Islamic State have been reported from this state.

Several experts and security officials tell OneIndia that when it comes to Kerala, the key concern remains radicalisation. The state is a ticking time bomb and can explode if ignored. For now, the terrorists have chosen not to carry out major strikes in the state. However there have been several instances of illegal immigrants from Bangladesh who have joined the terror ranks taking refuge in the state.

NIA officials probing the Kerala ISIS case say that the prime concern is that all those who have left for the ISIS in Afghanistan are educated. The officer says that a person by the name Shihas had played a major role in building up the module. He had managed to rope in several persons including one Nashidhul, who was initially opposed to the ideology of the ISIS.

During investigations, the NIA learnt that the brainwashing was so strong that many who did not subscribe to the view of the outfit ended up getting convinced. They are repeatedly told that as Muslims they are living on unholy land and they could lead a better life and become good Muslims only if they subscribe to the view of the ISIS.