UN report on IS presence in Karnataka, Kerala factually incorrect: MHA

The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) on Sunday debunked a United Nations report claiming presence of “significant numbers” of Islamic State (IS) terrorists in Kerala and Karnataka and said it is factually incorrect.

This was disclosed by Minister of State for Home G Kishan Reddy in a written reply to questions posed by Karnataka MP GS Basavaraj (BJP) and Kerala MP Kodikkunnil Suresh (Congress) in Lok Sabha.

Reddy said the government is aware of the presence of terrorist outfits like the Islamic State, Islamic State (Khorasan) and Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) among others.

The National Investigation Agency (NIA) has registered 34 cases related to the presence of IS in India and have arrested 160. Twenty cases related to the presence of LeT have been filed in which 80 accused have been arrested, he said.

READ: Fear of irrelevance amidst Covid-19 may prompt terrorist groups to launch attacks: UN report

Last week, the MHA had said in Rajya Sabha that the NIA has registered 17 cases related to the presence of the Islamic State (IS) in southern states of Telangana, Kerala, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu and arrested 122 accused persons. Investigations by the NIA have revealed that the IS is most active in Kerala, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, West Bengal, Rajasthan, Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and Jammu and Kashmir, Reddy had said on September 16.

READ: Karnataka top cop asked to file report on internal security after UN observation on IS

To the question on the UN report, Reddy said, the report "claiming presence of 'significant numbers' of ISIS terrorists in Kerala and Karnataka, is factually not correct. The Government continuously takes necessary measures to put forth India’s correct position through established mechanism in unequivocal and categorical terms at various international, multilateral and bilateral for a and also through diplomatic channels."

The UN report -- 26th report of the Analytical Support and Sanctions Monitoring Team concerning ISIS, Al-Qaeda and associated individuals and entities -- had said one member state reported that the ISIL Indian affiliate (Hind Wilayah), which was announced on May 10, 2019, has between 180 and 200 members. It said that there are “significant numbers of ISIL operatives in Kerala and Karnataka.