Hands out excerpts from over 50 books written on the terror group to throw a better light on its ideology and functioning
ATS chief Atulchandra Kulkarni
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Even as the ISIS has managed to spread its reign of terror in Maharashtra by radicalising youths through social media and other digital platforms, Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) chief Atulchandra Kulkarni has come up with a unique way to take the fight to the group — by educating his officers on how the terrorists think and function as explained by experts or those who've had first-hand experience of the same.
Kulkarni has decided to take excerpts from more than 50 books related to the terror group, as well as from those on Islam's history and the real meaning and teachings of the Quran, written by experts or survivors.
Excerpts by experts
Kulkarni told mid-day, "This initiative of sorts is still at the initial stage; we are doing this to just enhance our officers' knowledge. That doesn't mean that they aren't already knowledgeable on this, but this will give them more perspectives and add to what they know so far."
Also read - Revealed: How ISIS recruits youths across India
According to ATS sources, they are getting the chosen excerpts translated to Marathi. Some of the books selected for this exercise are Jihad Academy: The Rise of Islamic State, written by Nicolas Henin, who was once held hostage by the group; Islam As it is; The Next Attack: The Failure of the War on Terror and a Strategy for Getting it Right; Muhammad: A Prophet for All Humanity; The Caliphate's Soldiers: The Lashkar-E-Tayyeba's Long War; The Islamist by Ed Husain, which is the true story of one man's journey to Islamic fundamentalism and back; and the Quran.
According to ATS officers, one case of radicalisation is enough for officers to get information about the ISIS, but, they added, the excerpts are being handed out for better training purposes. The agency is taking the help of some senior journalists for this.
With kid gloves
An ATS officer said, "The ISIS is an entirely new concept of terrorism; and the youths who were radicalised by the group were Indians, so we had to handle several cases gently."
Also read - Mumbai: ISIS book to get recruits hooked resurfaces online
"We don't believe in registering cases in every matter, as many of these youths themselves are victims, falling prey to the terrorists' twisted versions of Islam and Quran's teachings and meaning. Hence, in several cases we took the help of community members as well as families of these youths. We assured them that no arrest would be made, and that we just want their help in the de-radicalisation process. And families were more than happy to cooperate with the ATS, keeping in touch with the officers and giving updates even after the de-radicalisation," he added.
In the last two years, Maharashtra ATS has got success in many such cases, de-radicalising more than 60 youths from across the state.
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