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Three

Kalyan youths who joined ISIS may return from Syria

The four youths from Kalyan who reported joined ISIS

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15 Hyderabad youngsters, including a girl, wanted to join ISIS ranks

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Thane businessman radicalized Kalyan youth who joined ISIS, funded their Iraq trip

NEW DELHI: An NDA regime may be naturally seen as “tough on terror”, but the Narendra Modi government seems to be toying with the idea of taking a humanitarian approach towards Indian youths who are suspected to be fighting alongside the Islamic State (also known as ISIS ) in Iraq.Faced with a proposal by NIA to lodge an FIR against ISIS, the home ministry is exploring if these youths can be deradicalised when they come back from Iraq rather than pushing them behind bars. The argument in favour of this idea is that an FIR will not only scare the youths from coming back but also prevent parents from reporting to police.“We are still trying to find an answer to the question: ‘How will an FIR help us?’. Legally speaking, these boys have done no wrong in India. Would it not be wiser to let them come in and keep them under observation and deradicalize them. May be they would be of more help then. The matter, however, is still under discussion,” said a senior home ministry official.A move like this, if actually taken into stride, would be a significant departure from the generally hawkish attitude of the security establishment and put in place a new paradigm for tackling terror.Intelligence agencies suspect as many as 18-20 Indian youths to be fighting in Iraq with ISIS. The family members of one of these youths, Arif Majid (from Thane, near Mumbai), had recently met home minister Rajnath Singh and requested him to take action against those who are radicalizing the youth. Majid is now suspected to be dead.Singh had subsequently, in a press conference, brushed aside the threat of ISIS on India as media hype. He had said that Indian Muslims are opposed to ISIS and would not join it in large numbers. He had said that the community leaders were working against such developments and that there were no fresh reports of youths joining ISIS after the first burst.Days later, Prime Minister Narendra Modi echoed the sentiments while talking about the threat of Indians joining al-Qaida. In an interview, Modi said Indian Muslims are patriotic and would not dance to the tune of al-Qaida.NIA has asked the home ministry for permission to lodge an FIR against ISIS, based on sanctions on the outfit by UN convention. A decision is likely to be taken soon after discussions with the Intelligence Bureau and NSA Ajit Doval. In a counter argument, an NIA officer said, “Even if arresting these boys is not desirable, is it not important to find the guys who are radicalizing them and sending them to Iraq? How would that be done without an FIR?”Maharashtra cops get cracking in ISIS recruitment case