CUDDALORE: The arrests of Tamil Nadu Muslims or Muslims of Tamil origin in terror acts, aborted missions or sinister plots have raised concerns among Indian security agencies about the reach of militant groups from the Middle-East and Pakistan's ISI.

The end of the ethnic war in Sri Lanka is believed to have spawned a generation of youths there who are brainwashed by ISI to target parts of southern India which until now were untouched by terror.

Intelligence agencies claim to have uncovered crucial information following the arrests of two such alleged ISI operatives, Zahir Hussain and Tamim Ansari, by TN police. Some of the leads concern plots to target keysensitive installations located in the southern states along the coast. Tamim Ansari was apparently assigned to cultivate residents in and around the key naval base in Visakhapatnam.

Equally worrying has been the spread of extremist online propaganda and its influence on Muslim youths, driving several to enrol in jihadi wars in distant lands. Parangipettai near Cuddalore on the shores of the Bay of Bengal is one among several such sleepy towns now under the scanner after a recent report on a local resident who had landed in Syria to join the ISIS.

For decades, there have been streams of Muslims heading out to the Gulf countries, Malaysia and Singapore in search of a fortune. But Islamic scholars point to the growing influence of the more puritanical traditions of the Middle-East on youths from India, particularly those from states like Kerala and Tamil Nadu. While in pursuit of the Gulf dream, some have been indoctrinated into more radical streams of thought.

In UK, worried that "extremist poisonous narrative" on the conflict in Syria could end up with "people dead on our own streets", British Prime Minister David Cameron pressured social networking sites to take down as many as 15,000 items of 'jihadist propaganda', The Guardian has reported. In India,Cert-In (Indian Computer Emergency Response Team) director general Gulshan Rai blames non-cooperating social networking sites for India's inability to block online propaganda with a 'jihadist' tone. "They don't cooperate because of commercial gains as controversial content get more likes and more advertisements," pointed out Rai.

An inter-ministerial committee decides whether such online content falls within the provisions of section 69A of the Information technology Act 2000 based on complaints or requests by law enforcing agencies. "We keep getting requests to block URLs (with jihadi elements) and the committee discusses and decides," said Rai. But internal security agencies are worried about what they term as "dangerous content" flooding social media sites. "It is the duty of every law enforcement agency to monitor such sites," said a senior police officer, seeking anonymity.

