Home ministry preparing plan of action to check radicalisation of Jammu & Kashmir youth

NEW DELHI: The home ministry has taken serious note of the possibility of youths in Jammu & Kashmir getting attracted to the ISIS and has initiated preparation of a “plan of action” to prevent such radicalisation through both overt and covert measures.

Home secretary LC Goyal wrote a note to special secretary (internal security) Ashok Prasad on June 20 saying radicalisation of youth is increasingly becoming an issue of serious concern in the government, officials said.

Goyal said in his note that radicalisation is being seen across the world and the issue has become even more serious in the context of the ISIS.

He impressed upon Prasad the urgent need to put in place measures to prevent such radicalisation in J&K and other parts of the country.

The home ministry is in the process of consulting experts in this field before preparing a plan of action which is expected to be implemented in the states concerned.

There have been reports of ISIS flags being waved in J&K this year and at least a dozen youths being identified for these acts and put under surveillance.

Home minister Rajnath Singh had last month said that ISIS had little traction in India while conceding that a few youths may have joined the outfit based in Syria and Iraq. It was earlier reported that at least 11 Indian youths may have joined the ISIS after travelling to Iraq and Syria.

The list included four boys from Kalyan — Areeb Majeed, Aman Tandel, Sahim Tanki and Fahad Shaikh.