The Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) is an armed fundamentalist Muslim terrorist group which is waging war against the elected governments of Syria and Iraq. This terrorist group, in the name of religion, has not only slaughtered thousands of women, children and senior citizens in broad daylight, but also proudly uploaded all the pictures on its websites, proclaiming that it is an Islamic duty to do so.

The ISIS, which has captured parts of Syria and Iraq, has proclaimed Abu Bakr Al Baghdadi as Caliph or head of International Islamic Empire. Its goal is to convert the whole world into an Islamic Empire, and it has published a map in the name of Dar-ul-Islam (Islamic World) and vowed to make all regions marked in it Islamic states.

It has christened India as Qursan and declared it is to be made a fundamentalist Islamic state, governed by Islamic laws. Islamic organisations are playing the fool with our national integration by permitting youth to wear T-shirts highlighting the name of such a terrorist and separatist organisation. It has been reported (The Hindu) that to honour and acknowledge the “Holy men” who sent 46 women back to India unharmed after 15 days in captivity, Muslim youth of Thondi wore ISIS T-shirts; the arrested youth admitted this to Superintendent of Police Mayilvahanan.

The ISIS is not a banned organisation and hence no action should be taken against it; so say many Muslims on Facebook. The same opinion has been voiced by many Islamic organisations and self-claimed Intellectuals crowding television studios and media columns. Unfortunately, The New Indian Express echoed this viewpoint, arguing that the ISIS is not an outlawed organisation in India (TNIE, Chennai, 7.8.2014).

http://www.newindianexpress.com/states/tamil_nadu/Textile-Owner-Held-in-ISIS-T-shirts-Case/2014/08/07/article2368006.ece

But if anyone belonging to a Hindu organisation speaks out against Islamic terror, the hypocrites decry them and allege that it is only because of such people that separatism is rearing its head. But here is an organisation that has declared that it would occupy India and convert it into an Islamist fundamentalist state. That the ISIS spreads terrorism has been accepted by Muslims themselves. When this is the case, are not all those who advocate their cause even more evil than the separatists themselves?

Separatist groups train Muslim youth and send them to fight for the cause of the ISIS in Iraq and Syria from our Tamil Nadu. Haja Fakruddeen of Parangipettai, Cudallore district, said in a telephone conversation with his parents (The Times of India, July 21, 2014) that, “Having got an opportunity to slaughter many people in Syria, my mission in life has been accomplished”.

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Tamil-Nadu-youth-joins-ISIS-family-recalls-his-journey-into-insurgency/articleshow/38771536.cms

Similarly, The Hindu, March 25, 2014 published the experiences of Gul Muhammed Marakkaachi Maraikaayar of Cudallore, who participated in the Iraq war.  

http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/chennai-youth-fighting-in-syria-jihad/article5827857.ece

In similar vein, the Tamil daily, Maalaimalar, on August 14, 2014 reported that one Khaja Moideen planned to send youth belonging to Coimbatore, Chennai, Kanyakumari, and other districts to fight on the Syria front.

http://www.maalaimalar.com/2014/08/14131252/send-youths-siriya-and-get-mil.html

The same media which report that Muslim organisations are training terrorists and sending them to fight for the ISIS in Syria and Iraq, mutter platitudes when it comes to writing about the T-shirts. This is not only tantamount to helping the terrorists escape, but also abetting in their anti-national activities.

A century ago, the Caliph, the Islamic religious head who reigned in Turkey, was overthrown by the Turks themselves under the leadership of Kemal Ataturk Pasha. Yet many Muslims from India travelled north so that he be reinstated as Caliph!

“May we establish a Muslim world” - Maulana Muhammed Ali and Shauqat Ali wrote a letter to this effect to the Amir of Afghanistan and asked him to wage a war on India. When they were not able to conquer the British, they vented their fury on thousands of innocent Hindus in Kerala; many women were raped, property pillaged, and thousands of Hindus converted. The Moplah Riot has been ranked as one of the most gory in the history of the world.

During this riot and a century years before this happened, when the Amir of Afghanistan was invited to invade our country, the person who readily agreed to help and assist him was Tipu Sultan, who is today eulogised as an exemplar. Today, those who recruit for the cause of ISIS and those groups which indulge in such activities are demanding a memorial to honour this very Tipu Sultan. And government and political parties who kneel and crawl for the sake of votes are prepared to serve at the beck and call of these anti-national forces.

In the ISIS T-shirt matter too, no Muslim organisation representing the Muslim cause and indulging in riots or those who blabber from the rooftops about human rights and secular values has condemned these Muslim youth so far. But the Tamil Nadu government was pleased to announce that no Muslim organisation has been found to support ISIS!!!

When Muslims were attacked in Myanmar, protests took place in Mumbai and a war memorial of our nation was attacked. Even earlier, the American Consulate at Chennai was attacked in the context of a film (“Innocence of Muslims”) and as a consequence, Mount Road turned riotous. The whole of Tamil Nadu had to bear the brunt because one mosque was razed to the ground and a Muslim was killed in Sri Lanka. Bombs were thrown in protest against the screening of the film Visvaroopam.

The irony is that Muslim organisations which express ultra-sensitivity and protest at the drop of a hat in India, look the other way when thousands of Muslims are slaughtered in Syria, Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Nigeria and other Muslim countries. If it were true that they are fighting for the Muslim cause, why should they advocate the cause of ISIS which is guilty of slaughter of so many thousands of Muslims? Well, this protest or war is not about the rights of Muslims. Strangely, there has no reaction to ISIS’s assertion that it will destroy the Kaaba of Mecca.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/07/01/isis-destroy-kaaba-mecca_n_5547635.html#

The Tamil daily, Dinamalar, on August 13, 2014 published a statement released by the Government of India that India is not facing any threat from the ISIS. This statement comes against the backdrop of all the magazines and dailies publishing numerous articles and stories about Indian youth going to fight for ISIS and the presence of many training camps and propaganda war being waged in support of ISIS in the country.

http://www.dinamalar.com/news_detail.asp?id=1045072

on August 20, 2014, Dinamalar reported a video in which a terrorist belonging to Canada issued an appeal to the youth to enroll themselves in the ISIS has been subtitled in Tamil. This led the Central government to ask the Tamil Nadu government to investigate the matter seriously. Despite all these events, however, the state government is firmly of the opinion that there is no serious threat or activity of ISIS in the state.

http://epaper.dinamalar.com/PUBLICATIONS/DM/DINAMALAR/2014/08/20/ArticleHtmls/20082014006009.shtml?Mode=1

One fervently hopes that it will not take an unprecedented disaster for the State Government to change its perspective. The Centre needs to do all it can to avert such an eventuality.

The author is a social activist

http://vsrc.in/index.php/articles/2014-07-30-08-48-49/item/598-isis