Indian ISIS fighters seen as inferior, get less perks
24 Nov 2015
There are 23 Indians fighting with terror group Islamic State or ISIS in Syria and Iraq and another six are dead, says a report from a recent assessment by security agencies.
The report, drawn up with the help of the British MI6, the US Central Intelligence Agency and some Arab countries and shared at topmost levels of government, says in the ISIS, Indian, Pakistani, African and Bangladeshi fighters are considered "inferior to Arab fighters".
They are "paid less" and are given inferior equipment in comparison to their Arab and Western counterparts. "There appears to be a clear hierarchy" among the fighters and Arabs are preferred, the report says.
Indian, Pakistani and African fighters are also considered less motivated and therefore are generally "tricked" into carrying out "suicide bombings", the report says.
It describes how: these fighters are likely to be given an explosive-laden vehicle and asked to go near "the target and call a certain number" for further instructions. However, the phone call activates a "pre-set mechanism" triggering an explosion, the report says.
It also notes that Indians are more likely to be used as cannon fodder "forced to fight in the frontline" as they are considered expendable.
The ISIS is known to lure fighters by promising them marriage to Syrian women, but even here, Indians, Pakistanis and Bangladeshis are "lowest in the priority for Jihadi brides since they are considered ethnically inferior", the report states.
Islam in India - perhaps because of a softer approach - is considered "apostate and a departure from the original teachings of the Quran", the report says and adds that there is a "clear trust deficit" between the dominant Arab fighters and fighters from South Asia.
This comes amid reports that the ISIS, which seeks to establish a caliphate and controls large swathes of Syria and Iraq, has been attempting to lure more Indian youth to join it.
More than 1,000 Indian Islamic scholars and clerics have issued a fatwa against it, describing its acts and actions as against the basic tenets of Islam.
