Looming Danger

The latest blast on a passenger train in Madhya Pradesh that injured 10 passengers and the gunning down of a terrorist identified as Saifullah who was holed up in a house in Lucknow all point toward possible intrusion of the ideology of the dreaded radical group ISIS that, as believed, is striving to establish its footprint in India.

Lot of information pertaining to the such operations in India would perhaps have become known to intelligence agencies had Saifullah got captured alive. While ATS failed to catch Saifullah alive even after a late night encounter, they have arrested about eight of his accomplish.

However, it may seem to be a redeeming feature that the group that Saifullah led are under detention and can be expected to spill the beans to the extent they knew.

The train blast is being termed as a dress rehearsal for future bigger strikes but that the operation was largely unsuccessful goes to show that the terror recruits have some way to go before they are able to carry out more lethal attacks. That necessitates a constant vigil by Indian intelligence and law enforcement agencies and the first flush of success must not lull us into complacency.

Facing increasing heat in its strongholds in Syria and Iraq with troops from US and its allies hot in pursuit, the IS is partially shifting its operations towards the South Asian region. They have already given evidence of their nefarious activities in Pakistan and Bangladesh and with the Ujjain train blast they have heralded their presence in India.

While an overwhelming majority of 645 terrorism suspects interrogated between 2000 and 2014 by Indian authorities before the rise of IS, was from poor families, data accessed by a leading north Indian newspaper shows about 70 per cent of 152 Indians arrested, detained or counselled for links to IS were from middle and upper middle classes, with half of them holding graduate degrees and 23 per cent completing their masters.

Preliminary investigations by ATS and intelligence outfits have revealed that Saifullah was in touch with his handlers in Syria via internet. Much of the training of IS recruits is indeed done through online communications. The new strategy of the IS has been in the making for over an year.

This is indeed significant and fits in with former Union Home Secretary G.K. Pillai's recent observation that modern-day terrorism, which uses online communication and social media, demands qualified and technology-savvy recruits.