Is India ready to fight ISIS?

A day before India’s Republic Day, over a 100 people aboard Jet Airways flight 9W 260 were hurriedly made to disembark and escorted to the boarding hall at New Delhi’s IGI Airport.

Security personnel then entered the plane, bound for Kathmandu, in search of a “gift box” apparently under one of the seats.

After all seats and overhead bins had been checked, the plane was marked safe to fly. Minutes earlier, airport authorities had received a phone call saying there was a bomb in the plane.

The incident occurred a couple of days after a similar threat had forced a GoAir flight from Bhubhaneshwar to Mumbai to make an emergency landing in Nagpur minutes after take-off.

India has been on the edge in the days leading up to the Republic Day.

On January 21, NSG commandos and Delhi policemen suddenly surrounded the posh Khan Market area, leaving shoppers worried.

Luckily, it was just a mock drill.

Similar drills were carried out at a mall in Vasant Kunj, Palika Bazaar — an underground market in the heart of the city — and a food court near Nehru Place Metro station.

The security drills came amid a series of raids in which 14 suspects with links to the Islamic State were arrested or detained across the country.

If media reports quoting intelligence sources are to be believed, the terror group based in Syria has managed to set up a wing called Ansar-ut Tawhid fi Bilal al-Hind (AuT) in India.

Muddabir Mushtaq Sheikh, who was reportedly appointed the chief of this outfit, was arrested during the crackdown.

The Islamic State was reportedly planning to attack malls and shopping complexes, including Select Citywalk, DLF Promenade and the Great India Place.

High level of security in the Indian capital is not uncommon ahead of the January 26 parade or Independence Day celebrations on August 15.

Para-military forces are deployed across the city, security blockades are set up on many roads to screen vehicles, high-rise buildings near Lutyens’ Delhi are shut down and sniffer dogs are on the prowl in metro stations.

However, drills, such as the one in Khan Market and other hot spots, are rare and indicative of an impending threat of a terror attack.

Unfortunately, what adds to the panic is India’s perennial problem of hoax calls. As it turned out, the forced landing of the GoAir flight in Nagpur was a result of a hoax call by a suspect in Pune. As was the call that led to the Jet flight inspection.

There are many existing challenges India faces in fighting terror. For example, the Pathankot attack in early January, which took place despite intelligence warnings, shows how things can go wrong. As is the trend, the Pathankot attack, like most terror strikes in India, was also traced to Pakistan.

India’s security apparatus is familiar with militant groups in Pakistan, such as Lashkar-e-Taiba and Jaish-e-Mohammed, but the Islamic State is a different kind of enemy.

Unlike any other terror organisations, Islamic State has a global footprint. The group wants to carve out an Islamic Caliphate that extends from large parts of Asia (including India) to Spain and North Africa.

It sells the idea of a “Golden Caliphate” to entice youngsters around the world to join hands in bringing back the “glory days of Islam”. They use literature that celebrates “great Islamic conquests” and romanticises the caliphate.

India needs to plan a strategy that can counter Islamic State’s propaganda. It is worrying that Islamic State's activities have been reported in neighbouring Bangladesh, Pakistan, and Afghanistan.

In fact, the latest edition of Islamic State’s magazine, Dabiq, claims that militants in Kashmir have pledged allegiance to their "caliphate". Hafeez Saeed Khan, who defected from the Pakistani Taliban to Islamic State, in an interview to the magazine said that the group is set to expand to Kashmir.

While there is no evidence of the presence of Islamic State in Kashmir, flags and posters have been seen on a few occasions during protests.

The legitimacy of Islamic State’s claims are debatable but the danger this global terror group poses cannot be denied.

The group has managed to carry out brazen attacks, such as the recent one in Jakarta, despite suffering many losses in Syria.

Its military prowess in Syria and Iraq is believed to be slowly withering in the face of the Russian, US and European airstrikes. But that has not stopped their savvy online propaganda to inspire lone-wolf attacks.

It is essential that India follows the footsteps of countries such as Indonesia and Malaysia and focus on promoting de-radicalisation programmes.

The onus also lies on Muslim institutions in India, which are against the Islamic State’s interpretation of Islam, to reach out to young minds who may fall prey to Islamic State's propaganda.

It is also important to note that an Islamic State’s attack in India will feed the ultra-nationalist Hindu narrative, which is anti-Muslim in essence and ignorant of the politics in Middle East and the complexities of Islam.

The formation of so-called "Dharma Sena" in the state of Uttar Pradesh is clear proof of how right-wing groups will use the fear of Islamic State to spur anti-Muslim sentiment in the country.

The government, while taking necessary steps to crack down on those who have been radicalised, must also take strict action against such hate-mongering groups.

The discourse on Islamic State should not be allowed to creep into the religious fault lines of the country.