KOZHIKODE: The recent reports on the suspected movement of Malayali youths to the IS terror camps have forced the intelligence agencies to revisit the dormant IS modules in various parts of the state. Intelligence agencies took over a drive by Malappuram police to identify the IS modules and the National Investigation Agency (NIA) is conducting a search in Kannur and Malappuram.
“Since 2014, the IS has been on a deadly pursuit to establish an Islamic Caliphate in the nation by recruiting poor youths from Kerala, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh and Jammu and Kashmir,” said an official who preferred anonymity. “For the last few years, agencies like RAW (Research and Analysis Wing) have been warning the other state-level agencies on about 100 youth who were likely to be recruited to the IS,” he said.
The early reports of Keralites joining the IS surfaced with the missing of two from the UAE and Qatar a few months ago. Abu Thahir, a native of Puduppariyaram, Palakkad, had gone to Qatar a few years back but the Indian consulate in Qatar failed t0 locate him. His FB page was active even many weeks after he went missing. The name of another youth from Kunnummal, Kozhikode, had figured on the radar of intelligence agencies after he was named while interrogating some IM operatives in Saudi Arabia.
Meanwhile, the UAE which has been hunting for suspected IS elements deported two youths from Kochi for sharing the IS propaganda on FB. Both of them were questioned and were let off on directions from the Union Ministry of Home Affairs. The youngsters are still under close watch. In another incident, four youths suspected to be part of a 20-member module were deported from the UAE for suspected IS links. The module was operating from Ras Al Khaimah in the UAE.
The module came to light when the UAE police started investigating the missing of another Keralite, Riyad, a native of Kundungal, Kozhikode, who is suspected to be in Syria. The immediate family members of Riyad also were sent back to the state in September last year. The same month the police also registered a case against Riyab-ul-Rehman, a youth from Payyanakkal, Kozhikode, for operating for IS and also for allegedly recruiting youths to the IS. Son of a textile businessman, he had left for Syria from Ras Al Khaimah one year back. The family which was staying in the UAE for the last four decades also was deported.
Facebook poem on ‘wrong quest’ goes viral
Amid reports of Muslim youths joining the Islamic State, Islam Aadujeevithamalla, a poem by P.K. Parakkadavu on the wrong quest has gone viral on Facebook with more than 2000 shares and around two lakh views. Interestingly, Mr Parakkadavu edits the Jamaat-e Islami-owned Madhyamam weekly. The name sarcastically hints at the reported ‘pilgrimage’ of the youth to wage Jihad or for living the life of a shepherd like the Prophet did.
The poem has its name from the famous Malayalam novel Aadujeevitham (Goat Days) by Benyamin in which the protagonist lives a secluded desert life as a shepherded. The poem lambasts the trend of purdah saying Islam is not a dead body that keeps the entire body covered except eyes. Mr Parakkadavu says the silence of mainstream writers forced him to express his angst on the direction taken by the Muslim youth.
