Ex-army officer reports daughter, gets NIA to stop her from joining Islamic State

A Delhi University graduate in her mid-20s is the latest in a list of Indians who planned to make their way to West Asia to join the Islamic State (IS). The daughter of a retired Indian Army Lieutenant Colonel reportedly went to Australia for her post-graduate studies and returned ‘a changed person’. The Indian Express reports that a couple of months ago, the retired army officer stumbled upon some internet communication linked to the IS on his daughter’s computer, that suggested she was in touch with some recruiters, and planning to travel to Syria. [caption id=“attachment_2369580” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Image courtesy: Inside the Caliph[/caption] Following her father reporting her activities to the National Investigation Agency, Intelligence Bureau officials have already held several sessions attempting to ‘de-radicalise’ the woman. This case comes on the heels of an incident a little over a week ago in which Afsha Jabeen, alias ‘Nicky Joseph’ was arrested in Hyderabad for masquerading as a British national and recruiting youths for the Islamic State. According to PTI, Jabeen – along with her husband and children – had been deported to Hyderabad from the UAE, following which she was taken into custody by the police. But last month’s incident – in which a 40-year-old Navi Mumbai man was detained by the Delhi police after he visited the Iraqi Embassy in an incredulous bid to procure a visa to travel to Iraq and join the Islamic State – really takes the cake. According to The Indian Express, self-proclaimed editor-in-chief of an oddly-titled newspaper Journalist for International Peace Zuber Ahmed Khan had put up social media posts articulating his desire to submit his ‘memorandum to Caliphate Bagdadi’ with the “desire to join the Islamic State as a spokesperson for foreign affairs or a government journalist”. A police official told The Indian Express that Khan had been in depression ever since losing his job at a Mumbai college in 2008. According to a former colleague of Khan’s at the college, “A few years after he quit… he’d become very religious”. Thirteen Indians have so far joined the Islamic State in either Iraq or Syria, reports The Indian Express_._ Among these, six are already dead. A source was quoted as saying that among the seven who are still alive, “one is an Australian citizen who is originally from Kashmir, two of the four youths who left from Kalyan, one from Bengaluru, one from Telangana, and one each from Singapore and Oman”. The report adds that 17 youths – from Telangana, Maharashtra and Karnataka among other states – who attempted to leave India and join the terror outfit, have been apprehended. One would imagine that the story of Areeb Majeed would serve as a cautionary tale to these youths. It may be recalled that the 23-year-old engineering student from Kalyan went to join the IS in Iraq and ended up spending most of his time cleaning toilets.