UN to help India fight fundamentalism, terror

Maharashtra will get technical help from the United Nations’ ‘Strong Cities Network’ to curb practices among youths joining fundamentalist organisations. The police and investigating agencies will be trained in tracking social media that generates messages to indoctrinate the youth by spreading false information.

In a recent meeting held in Turkey’s Antalya city, representatives of 35 cities from across the world discussed protection of cities against terrorism and violence. The representatives from New York, Copenhagen, Stockholm, Birmingham, London participated and minister of state for home Ranjit Patil represented Mumbai.

“We have sought assistance in technical help which we are lacking at present. They have agreed to train our police and intelligence officials. They will be sending teams to train our people. They are also going to help us develop software to track indoctrination through social media. It is a challenging task in a city like Mumbai that has population of over 11 million. But, we have got assurance from the rest of the cities to help us in strengthening our technical network,” Mr Patil told The Asian Age.

The Strong Cities Network works towards building a network of international cities against terrorism and radicalisation. He also narrated at the conference how the Mumbai police tracked down a few youths trying to join fundamental organisations like ISIS. “These cities in the network have similar problems of terrorism, but they are backed by advanced technological support,” he added.

Mr Patil also talked about de-radicalisation efforts taken by the state government for the youth who tried to join fundamental organisations and were caught by the police. “We have lot of success stories of de-radicalisation, but cannot reveal them at present. It involves people who might be stigmatised if their names are revealed,” he added.

The state minister has invited a few industries to start their businesses here in Maharashtra to generate employment. “Unemployment is also one of the reasons why the youths are attracted to fundamental organisations. We have invited some international industries to come and set up their businesses here so that youths can get jobs and stay away from stray thoughts,” Mr Patil said.