New Delhi: With the arrest of Umar Nisar Bhat and two of his associates on July 11, Indian intelligence agencies have unearthed a direct footprint of the Islamic State terrorist group in Jammu and Kashmir.
The National Investigation Agency (NIA) had earlier this month confirmed the arrest of Nisar aka Qasim Khorasani, along with his associates Tanveer Ahmad Bhat and Rameez Ahmad Lone for conspiring to radicalise and recruit youths from India into ISIS to wage ‘jihad’. All three are residents of Anantnag district in J&K.
Qasim Khorasani is one of the founding members of the Islamic State in Jammu and Kashmir and intelligence agencies have been on his tail for the past one year.
Indian intel agencies had in April 2020 identified Khorasani on a messaging application. He was found discussing with other members of the terrorist group about the circulation of the ‘Swat Al-Hind’ (Voice of Hind) magazine to propagate ‘Wilayat Al-Hind’ (Islamic State in India).
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The NIA stated that the Islamic State militants were operating from various conflict zones with its cadre in India, and have created a network in which ISIS-related propaganda is disseminated to radicalise and recruit members into its fold by assuming pseudo identities online.Apart from the three arrests, security agencies also seized a large number of incriminating documents and digital devices such as mobile phones, tablets, laptops and hard disks, and T-shirts having the ISIS logo.( SOURCE TIMES NOW )
