- Tuesday, February 25, 2025
By: Shubham Ghosh
AT least 14 residents from Kerala are part of the Islamic State of Khorasan Province (ISKP) terror outfit freed by the Taliban from Afghanistan’s Bagram jail even though there are unconfirmed reports that two Pakistanis were picked up by the group for trying to denotate an IED (improvised explosive device) outside the Turkmenistan embassy in Kabul on Thursday (26), the Hindustan Times reported.
It has been reported that one out of 14 Keralites contacted his home in Kerala recently while the remaining 13 are still at large with the ISKP terror group in the Afghanistan capital. According to the report, after the IS occupied Mosul in Iraq in 2014, many Keralites from Malappuram, Kasaragod and Kannur districts of Kerala left India to join the ISKP in the Middle East.
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Vicky Nanjappa, one of India’s prominent journalists on internal security, cited official sources to say that the bombings in Kabul on Thursday (26) may inspire many from India, especially from Kerala, to find a way to join the outfit. He reported that while the Taliban’s resurgence may have already inspired many radical elements, the bombings in Kabul that killed nearly 200 people may encourage them to recruit more heads.
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Radical elements in South Indian states like Kerala and Tamil Nadu have displayed signs of being sympathetic towards foreign terror groups, Nanjappa wrote for news site Oneindia.com. He said in Kerala, certain elements even mourned the death of Osama bin Laden in 2011 while groups like the Base Movement, which are active in Kerala and Tamil Nadu, derive their ideology from Al Qaeda.
He said several groups in Kerala have already welcomed the Taliban’s return and India’s security officials say that this a dangerous trend. One of Kerala’s Left politicians said that the Taliban’s victory raises the possibility of radical Islam drawing more citizens from the state. Those who are speaking against the Taliban are reportedly receiving death threats.
These are clear signs that the victory of the Taliban would be used as a tool to recruit and radicalise, Nanjappa cited an intelligence official as saying.
