SRINAGAR: Jammu and Kashmir police Chief Dilbag Singh said on Tuesday that though there is no major presence of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) in Kashmir Valley, the local youth are being radicalised through its ideology.
“A very serious activity to radicalise a section of the youth to the extent possible is on by anti-national and anti-social elements. In the past also, those (ISIS) fags were displayed publicly to create the impression about a very large presence of such elements,” he said while addressing a press conference here.
The police chief, however, said that the footprint of the ISIS in Kashmir is not as big as is being claimed or projected but it is true that the local youth are being radicalised through the ideology of the Jihadist militant group. He said, “I would again say that the presence is not that big but the fact that people are being radicalized on those lines cannot be denied”.
He also said, “The Kashmir civil society as such has been a very open society...a very secular kind of culture where people extend due respect to all places of worship and other things (sic)”.
He, however, expressed his concern over the efforts being made by certain quarters to vitiate such an ambience. He was referring to a recent incident at Srinagar’s Grand Mosque.
On December 28, a group of masked youth proclaiming allegiance to the ISIS had after appearing in the historic place of worship chanted slogans in favour of making Jammu and Kashmir part of “Islamic caliphate”.
According to the witnesses, the youth captured the pulpit of the place of worship briefly and waved the ISIS flag- showing the Seal of Muhammad within a white circle, with the phrase ‘There’s no god but Allah’ written above it. It was not know if they were carrying weapons also.
On Tuesday, hundreds of the supporters of Kash-mir’s chief Muslim cleric and separatist leader Mirwaiz Umar Farooq marched along the streets of central Srinagar.
