New Delhi: In a statement that can trigger a controversy, MoS for Home Affairs, Kiren Rijiju, said that Muslims from the southern states were attracted more to the ISIS ideology than their north Indian counterparts.
"It is a reality (some south Indian Muslims getting attracted to ISIS). It is a fact. But we should not undermine our vigil in other parts of the country," he said.
Several reports in past have surfaced that Indian Muslims, most them from South India, travelled to Syria to join terror group ISIS.
According to a PTI report, a total of 23 Indians have so far joined the ISIS of which six have been killed in different terror related incidents.
Three of the terrorists of ISIS in Syria were natives of Karnataka. The rest were from Maharashtra, Telangana and Uttar Pradesh.
All the six Indians who died after joining ISIS are: Athif Vaseem Mohammad (Adilabad, Telangana), Mohammad Umar Subhan (Bangalore, Karnataka), Maulana Abdul Kadir Sultan Armar (Bhatkal, Karnataka), Faiz Masood (Bangalore, Karnataka), Saheem Farooque Tanki (Thane, Maharashtra) and Mohammad Sajid alias Bada Sajid (Azamgarh, Uttar Pradesh).
There are reports that ISIS may carry out terror strikes anywhere in the country using a single terrorist also known as 'lone wolf' to create a mayhem.
Rijiju said that the present coalition at the Centre has taken certain steps to prevent such nefarious designs.
"Challenges are there. We have to accept that it is a reality. The threat is there. Anything that threatens the security of the country is taken seriously and the Home Ministry's mandate is to provide security to the people and the country," he said.
On incidents of the hoisting of the ISIS flag in Jammu & Kashmir, the Minister said, "These were isolated cases and not spread across the state or the country. Some web portals are under watch for their role in spreading the ISIS propaganda, but it is important to note that the servers of the web portals were not located in India."
