Indian diaspora vulnerable to terror attacks: IB director

Describing ISIS and al Qaeda as serious security challenges for India, Director of Intelligence Bureau Asif Ibrahim on Sunday said the Indian diaspora has become increasingly vulnerable to elements having allegiance to terror groups.

Addressing a conference of DGPs and IGPs, Ibrahim said al Qaeda and ISIS pose serious security challenges for the country if they were not dealt with on priority.

“The rapid territorial gain and the influence of caliphate on one hand glamorises the image of the group (ISIS), while on the other it enhances its capability,” he said at the conference attended by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Home Minister Rajnath Singh and several Chief Ministers.

The Director of the IB said vulnerable groups and fringe elements from over 80 countries have gone to the region (Iraq-Syria) to participate in the conflict.

Ibrahim said a splinter group of the Indian Mujahideen operating in the Af-Pak region has announced its support to the ISIS and to bolster its flagging image, al Qaeda has announced the formation of its Indian sub continent wing specifically targeting India.

“We have deliberated the serious issue yesterday and felt that the threat is likely to accentuate as the situation unfolds further in future. Indian diaspora has become increasingly vulnerable in the days to come,” he said.

Ibrahim said there is also an imminent danger of Indian youths moving to the conflict zone, emerging as a role model and stressed that such developments, may directly or indirectly, pose a threat to India.

“The threat potential is accentuated with some lower rung elements returning from conflict zone,” he said.

A youth from Mumbai suburb Kalyan, Arif Majeed, who until now was believed to have been killed while fighting for militant group ISIS in Syria, was arrested on Friday hours after he landed in the metropolis.

In May this year, four youths from Kalyan - Shaheen Tanki, Fahad Shaikh and Aman Tandel, besides Arif - had left India to visit holy places in the West Asia, but they disappeared thereafter and since then were suspected to have joined the Sunni extremist group.