IS plays ‘oppression’ card to radicalise youth
PROPAGANDA Islamic State supporters appear to keep a close watch on sensitive incidents across India, especially Jammu and Kashmir, to attract sympathisers
Within hours of singer Sonu Nigam’s tweets about the ‘azaan’, or the Muslim call to prayer, chat groups on the Telegram messaging service frequented by the Islamic State members and sympathisers from India lit up with conversations on the incident.
Screen grabs of his tweets and media coverage of the row were widely shared among the members, mostly from India and neighbouring countries such as Bangladesh. IS supporters appear to keep a close watch on incidents across India, especially Jammu and Kashmir, that can be used to attract more sympathisers to the terror group.
Other incidents widely tracked and shared on chat groups in recent weeks and sometimes cited as examples of the government’s alleged oppression of minorities included:
* The arrest of three suspected Islamic State operatives by Uttar Pradesh police on April 20
* The seven-year jail term given to two men from Jammu and Kashmir, and Maharashtra for links with Islamic State on April 21
* The viral video that showed the army using a Kashmiri man tied to a jeep as a human shield against stone-pelters in Kashmir
* The month-long suspension of 22 social media sites, including Twitter, in Jammu and Kashmir on April 26
One active IS supporter from India posted: “Keep Kashmir in your (prayers), oppression is really intense! Youngsters are being hit with sticks on their faces and being killed by the (polytheist) Indian forces.”
A majority of posts on chat groups frequented by South Asian supporters of IS are devoted to sharing the group’s jihadi propaganda – glossy images and videos of fighters firing guns and carrying out attacks in Syria and Iraq – or discussions on Islamic concepts (or the IS’s interpretation of these matters to suit its ends).
But the number of posts referring to developments in India that can be used to incite and radicalise impressionable youngsters has been growing recently, according to security officials who track online jihadi activity. “More than any other group, the IS has used online forums and chat groups to spread its message through its magazines in various languages, videos and images. It’s a low cost way of ensuring its message reaches the maximum people,” said a security official on condition of anonymity.
Amarnath Amarasingam, a senior research fellow at the London-based Institute for Strategic Dialogue who has closely tracked the online activity of IS’s foreign fighters, said chat groups were like a “home” for disaffected youngsters attracted to the terror group.
“They are producing their own content, sharing content, translating content, having in depth debates and conversations with fellow supporters. These environments become deeply important for these youth who, in their real life, may feel out of place or discriminated against,” Amarasingam told HT.
Authorities in India have been trying hard to gain access to accounts and groups operated by jihadis on services such as Telegram but have run into difficulties because of free speech issues and the fact that most of these services are based in the West. Often, when a chat group frequented by jihadis is shut down, it is replaced by one or more similar groups and accounts. Amarasingam said, “I think there’s been some reporting that applications like Telegram are already compromised by a variety of intelligence agencies. I’m not sure how true this is, but I think it’s definitely a challenge for intelligence agencies to keep track of all the channels, all the groups, and all the different arenas these youth are meeting and exchanging ideas.
“You need people who are presumably going undercover on these platforms and getting involved in the conversations, gaining trust with others, and so on.”
More than any other group, the Islamic State has used online forums and chat groups to spread its message ... It’s a low cost way of ensuring its message reaches maximum people