JOIN USUnion Home Minister Rajnath Singh on Monday said the Islamic State (IS) outfit has been proscribed in the country, and praised minority families for discouraging their children from being sucked into the global terror network.
“We have banned this organisation (IS) as a first step. I will like to inform (the House) that the group has been banned under Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act,” he said in the Lower House.
The act contains a list of proscribed organisations referred also in a Schedule to the UN Prevention and Suppression of Terrorism (Implementation of Security Council Resolutions) Order, 2007. The United Nations (Security Council) Act, 1947, provides for it.
Condemning the IS, Indian Union Muslim League MP E Ahmed said, “Nobody will associate with them. I assure you on behalf of my party that we will never allow anybody to support the IS. We will always oppose them tooth and nail because they are doing everything against the principles of Islam”.
Though Singh’s statement was in response to a joint query from MPs Mullappally Ramachandhran and Sultan Ahmed during Question Hour in the Lok Sabha, it did throw light on global terrorism's influence on the country at a time when Bengaluru-based techie Mehdi Masroor Biswas has been arrested for allegedly propagating IS views through Twitter.
The two MPs had asked the government whether any arrest had been made or case registered against Indian nationals for participating in the IS' activities recently as Singh himself had raised an alarm over the outfit's growing threat.
Singh said the government banned the group recognising the threat it pose world over.