Kerala Jihadis- Recruitment in Gulf; training in Pakistan

Police to strengthen Intel setup

PNS | Thiruvananthapuram

The Kerala Home Department has started an intense programme to make the Intelligence wing of the Kerala Police in the context of the report from the Centre Intelligence Bureau that Kerala is a fertile land for extremist organizations and that outfits like banned SIMI are getting assistance from the State.

The perspective of the Union Government on the extremist situation in the State was further ascertained on Sunday by Union Minister of State for Home Mullappally Ramachandran when he said in Thrissur that there was no surprise in the reports about extremist presence in Kerala.

The IB report on Kerala’s extremist situation had come just when complaints were coming out that the operations of the anti-terror squad the State police had constituted almost a year ago had lost its initial steam, allegedly due to political interferences. The Home Department, suffering a loss of face in front of the Centre, was now going in for a massive overhaul of its methods of Intelligence functioning.

The latest report of the Intelligence Bureau had said that terror outfits had been recruiting young men from Kerala and taking them to Dubai to send them to Pakistan for training. The long history of labour migration to Gulf from Kerala was proving an advantage for the extremist organisations in this regard, the report said. It also revealed that weapons had been landing in Kerala in containers.

Intelligence officials had even earlier warned that the long history of relations with the Gulf had been becoming a factor of advantage for the terror outfits operating inside and outside the country. The outfits’ recruiters used to spot the potential recruits even before they left Kerala for the Gulf cities, especially Dubai, and the active recruitment used to take place there, officials said.

The fresh recruits would then be sent to Pakistan for “brain-washing” and training, they said. After this process, they would be sent back to India through Dubai or across the international boundaries clandestinely, it was reported. Once they were back in Kerala, the recruits would start sending assistance to their outfits, they added.

The Intelligence Bureau had learned of most of the details of the style of functioning of the terror extremist after the incident of the encounter between terrorists from Kerala and security personnel in Kupwara, Kashmir in October, 2008. Four Malayalee terrorist had been killed in the encounter and this had led to the formation of an anti-terror squad by the Kerala Police but the intensity of its functioning had now been lost.

As part of the efforts to augment the anti-terror preparedness, the Centre has also proposed to set up one of the four new “Intelligence institutes” planned for the country in Thiruvananthapuram. This institute would provide modern training to police personnel belonging to the ranks of Assistant Superintendents to constable. The training would be given by officials of the IB and the Research and Analysis Wing.

Union Minister of State for Home Mullappally Ramachandran on Sunday gave a hint of how the Centre viewed the extremist situation in Kerala. He said there was nothing new in the reports that extremist organizations had been working in Kerala. “We know about four Malayalee terrorists had gone all the way to Kashmir where they were killed by security forces. How can we say that Kerala does not have a terror background when such facts are before us?” he asked.

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