UN chief warns S. Asia of ISIS spread

United Nations, Feb. 10: UN Secretary General Ban Ki- moon has warned of the danger of the Islamic State ( ISIS) terror group spreading its tentacles to South Asia through organisations like the Tehreek- eKhilafat in Pakistan.

“The recent expansion of the ISIL sphere of influence across West and North Africa, the Middle East and South and South- East Asia demonstrates the speed and scale at which the gravity of the threat has evolved in just 18 months,” Mr Ban said in a report to the UN Security Council.

In Afghanistan and Pakistan, the ISIS continues to develop a network of contacts and sympathisers who carry out attacks in its name, Mr Ban said in his report which was submitted to the Security Council by Jeffrey Feltman, the under- secretary- general for political affairs during a debate on the threat posed by the ISIS — also known as Daesh — to international peace and security.

On 13 January 2016, the ISIS group “Khorasan province”, which operates in Pakistan and Afghanistan, issued a statement claiming credit for an attack on the Pakistani consulate in Jalalabad, Afghanistan, he said.

The complexity of recent attacks and the level of planning, coordination and sophistication involved raise concerns about its future evolution, he said .

“Moreover, other terrorist groups, including the Islamic Youth Shura Council and Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant Libya Province ( Derna) in Libya, the Mujahideen of Kairouan and Jund al-Khilafah in Tunisia, the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan, Tehreek- eKhilafat in Pakistan and Ansar al- Khilafah in the Philippines, are sufficiently attracted by its underlying ideology to pledge allegiance to its socalled caliphate and selfproclaimed caliph,” Mr Ban said.