New Delhi, Oct 7 (IANS) : An emerging pattern has been observed in the functioning of self-radicalised terror modules in India. Such modules often remain dormant for prolonged periods without engaging in any major activity.
Indian security agencies suspect that several such modules may be operating across the country, staying inactive for years before attempting to carry out a major terror attack.
An official said that these terror modules are extremely dangerous in nature. “Most of these modules in India are either inspired by the Islamic State or Al-Qaeda in the Sub-Continent. It is their patience, which is what makes them extremely lethal,” the official said.
It all begins with one or two youths with similar thoughts coming together.
“Their primary objective is to establish a self-sustaining module focused on spreading radical propaganda. Over time, they begin recruiting others, but only select a small number of people. They also thoroughly profile potential recruits before allowing them to join the module,” the official said.
An Intelligence Bureau official said that recruits are usually highly educated youths who have jobs with high salaries. There are many reasons why such persons are chosen.
“First and foremost, these persons do not come under the radar easily. Secondly, they have high-paying jobs, and the money earned comes in handy to run a self-sustained module. This helps cover the financial trail, as there is no dependence on an outside source to fund the module,” the IB official said.
Some of these modules were set up in 2014, and there has been no activity for over ten years.
The module that was busted in Pune was operating in a similar manner. It was set up in 2015, and all these years, it did nothing overt and was able to cover its trail for ten years. Such modules-in-waiting are dangerous.
Not only do they manage to stay off the radar for so long, but they also use this time to quietly radicalise and recruit more people, the official said.
Another official said that such self-sustained modules that remain dormant for so many years are not focusing on lone wolf attacks.
“This is a knee-jerk reaction, and a lone wolf attack would not just be less effective, but would expose such modules easily. Instead, they play the waiting game for 5-10 years and at the end of it set themselves up for a spectacular attack,” the official said.
Another aspect that makes tracking such modules so hard is that the members operate by blending themselves completely into the local communities. This allows them to remain dormant or sub-overt for many years before being activated for violent operations.
Officials say that the National Investigation Agency (NIA) has now shifted its strategy to proactive disruption. Further, the NIA coordinates with the state agencies and carries out raids to pre-emptively dismantle such hidden modules.
It is an ongoing operation, and there are many more such dormant modules on the radar of the Indian agencies. The Indian security agencies are not just focusing on busting such modules but also looking to prevent new ones from cropping up.
The Pune case is a classic example of how dormant modules function in the country. This module, in its initial phases, only focused on furthering Al-Qaeda’s call for the destruction of India or Ghazwa-e-Hind. It was only later, when the module felt it was ready to go the extra mile, that the members began IED attacks in areas like Kondhwa.
Intelligence assessments say that such modules will continue to crop up in various parts of the country. In order to tackle these self-sustained dormant modules, the key would be surveillance led by the Intelligence agencies, an official said.
