ISIS in Kashmir: A new Indian move to malign freedom struggle

*Srinagar: *Occupied Kashmir state police has said that ISIS has apresence in the Valley. State police chief SP Vaid told NDTV that while thepresence was not “substantial”, it was “indeed a worrying sign, becauseISIS foothold in Kashmir will have a different meaning”.

A’maq, the propaganda publicity wing of ISIS, claimed on Monday that thegroup carried out the attack on police constable Farooq Ahmad and “a warhas just begun”.

Earlier, the global terror group had made several claims about having ahand in attacks in the valley. ISIS flags have surfaced in the valley fromtime to time, especially at the funeral of dead terrorists. When thefuneral of dead militant Mugeeb was carried out in mid-November, his bodywas wrapped in ISIS flag.

But the authorities had brushed away the claims of ISIS presence in theValley. The Central government too, had denied any ISIS presence in thecountry. Investigators said there were just isolated instances of peoplegetting indoctrinated by watching the radical speeches of Abu BakrAl-Baghdadi online.

In November, the ISIS claimed that it carried out an attack on the Jammuand Kashmir police at Zakura on the outskirts of Srinagar, in which apolice officer and an attacker were killed. But the police had dismissed itas A’maq propaganda.

Today, Mr Vaid told NDTV that it is now clear that attack too, was carriedout by ISIS and they were wrong to deny it. In the latest case, he said,the police knows the identity of the attacker and were on his trail.

The officer, however, said, “There doesn’t seem to be any substantialpresence of ISIS”. The attacks, he said, could have been carried out by alone wolf or a few people driven by ISIS ideology.

Lone wolf attacks have become increasingly frequent, especially in Europe.In most cases, indoctrinated individuals had carried out solo attacks onlarge groups of people. The most prominent example was the July 2016 attackin Nice, France, where a man had driven a huge cargo truck into a crowdcelebrating Bastille Day. ISIS had claimed responsibility for the attack,in which 86 people were killed.

For the police, the real worry, Mr Vaid said, was the cost innocent peoplehave to pay. “I only wish it doesn’t happen in Kashmir. I am sure with thecooperation of people, we will not allow another Syria or Iraq in Kashmir,”he said.