New Delhi: Alarmed by reports of growing radicalisation of Kashmiri youth, the government would soon chalk out a plan to thwart the designs of terror groups like ISIS to swell their ranks by indoctrinating them to choose the path of militancy. In an internal communication, Home Secretary L C Goyal has entrusted this task to Special Secretary (Internal Security) Ashok Prasad, who has served as Director General of Police in the state.
The Home Secretary has asked for an urgent plan to prevent such radicalisation in the state. The move comes after central security agencies have red flagged increasing radicalisation of the youth manifested in frequent waving of Pakistani and ISIS flags during demonstrations in the Valley.
The government may also rope in former Intelligence Bureau Director Asif Ibrahim, who was recently appointed Special Envoy for Counter Terrorism and Extremism. His work on de-radicalisation has been appreciated by international security agencies and his experience may come handy for the government, the sources said. Reports said pro-militant slogans have reappeared on walls in the Kashmir valley and small religious gatherings exhorting people to join militancy are taking place with greater frequency.
According to sources, fear is palpable with fresh diktats commanding people not to watch TV and warning women not to venture out without a veil emerging on the streets quite often. Such diktats bear a striking similarity to the ones imposed by the Taliban in Afghanistan and ISIS in Iraq and Syria.
Young militants like Burhan Wani (19) and Irshad Ahmed Ganai (21) have become role models for many aspiring to become militants. Burhan from Tral and Irshad from Kakapora in Pulwama, with an appeal among the youth of the region, are now helping swell the militant ranks, a development close watchers of Kashmir feel, carry grim portents for the valley. Some in the security establishment speaking on condition of anonymity say the situation may worsen in the absence of an aggressive clampdown on militancy.
According to security sources, militants are focusing on two axes, Tral-Batapora-Panjgaon-Yaripora in South Kashmir, and Palhalan to Sopore in North Kashmir. The worrisome aspect, the officials say, is that in both the axes the leadership is in the hands of Kashmiri boys, who have joined the ranks of militancy recently, the sources said.
Security analysts said that local recruitment, which had come down to a trickle, has picked up suddenly from January this year with reports suggesting that nearly 50 boys have joined terror groups.
The worrying trend, according to officials, is that the difference between today's militancy and that of early 1990s is that the ideological conviction of the present lot of terrorists is far more superior than that of the terror groups during the early days. Kashmir is witnessing a trend of "Pan-Islamisation" where the young boys are opting for the path of terrorism knowing fully well that they are at the risk of being killed, the officials said.
