Online recruitment by Islamic State major security challenge: Rajnath Singh

Home Minister Rajnath Singh

Home Minister Rajnath Singh Saturday admitted that online recruitment by Islamic State (IS) had become a major security challenge for India, but said he was happy that Muslim families were stopping youth who were getting attracted to the extremist organisation.

The minister also described Jammu and Kashmir as a “problem” because Pakistan keeps focusing on it to make it the central theme. “Our forces are at work,’’ he said without elaborating while giving a lecture on “National Security: Challenges and Strategy”.

Singh said India was facing security challenges because it was progressing at a very fast pace and could well become the largest economic power in the next 10 to 15 years, which “anti-national forces’’ don’t want to happen. He said it was not an easy task to defend the 23,000 km land and coastal boundaries. “Border security should have been a priority but it did not get due focus in the past. There were some inadequacies.’’

Quoting former PM Atal Bihari Vajpayee, he said India wants friendly relations with Pakistan and “will not fire the first bullet but won’t count bullets if fired at first. We can change friends not neighbours”.

He said that if Pakistan will fire at terrorists rather than Indian jawans then India too will fire at terrorists and the problem of terrorism will be solved. He referred to instances of unprovoked firing by Pakistan and steps taken by India to engage the neighbour in talks.

Citing Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to the UAE, he said: “Did you ever imagine UAE on India’s side in tackling terror. This is diplomatic skill. We will make use of more diplomatic tie ups.’’

He took a dig at Pakistan for trying to give India a lesion on communal harmony, and cited the oldest church in Kerala and the feeling of safety enjoyed by minorities like Parsis and Jews who were persecuted elsewhere.

Pointing out that 26 districts were affected by left-wing terrorism, he said the Centre was providing maximum help to states from providing forces to intelligence inputs.

Though the seven Northeastern states are small, he said, they account for more than 70 terror outfits. He referred to the cross-border strike in Myanmar to eliminate terrorists as India’s demonstration of its resolve to effectively fight terrorism.

First Published on: September 13, 2015 1:09 am

Source http://indianexpress.com/article/india/india-others/online-recruitment-by-is-major-security-challenge-rajnath-singh/