New information emerging in the aftermath of the suicide bombings in Sri Lanka links the attacks to ISIS, the dreaded Islamic militant network based out of the Middle East. Though a local terror network is suspected to have carried out the attacks, killing over 350 people, the ISIS has claimed responsibility. Investigations in this direction are progressing. India has reasons to be wary if the ISIS has reached up to Sri Lanka. ISIS is already on the prowl in Afghanistan, and seeking to have a base in Pakistan.
Recent reports were that it was making serious bids to enter India via Kashmir. At the same time, latest information is that India had alerted Sri Lanka about what was in the coming, weeks before the suicide bombings happened. A minister who has told Parliament about the intelligence alert from India has also blamed senior-level official there of failure on their part to take the matter seriously. Initially, the island nation’s government had only stated that a “foreign country” had alerted Colombo. First reports were also that India too was likely being targeted alongside Sri Lanka.
The ISIS, which originated in Iraq after the Americans overthrew Saddam Hussein and “insulted” the large Sunni population, was conceived to be a global terrorist outfit aimed at Islamic domination of the globe. Its immediate successes were in Syria, which was caught in a civil war, and the network played mayhem with life in Iraq too, targeting the Shia population. With the US fighting the ISIS on the one side and Russia on the other, its days there were supposed to be numbered. But, it is spreading out to further east. It is well-known that ISIS and other terrorist outfits are trying to have bases in Bangladesh too, though the Sheikh Hasina government keeps maintaining maximum alert, like India.
Aside of Pakistan-based outfits like Jaish and Lashkar e Taiba targeting India over the Kashmir issue, chances of ISIS making its presence in the Valley are high. India is already on the alert in this respect. That the Indian intelligence agencies got wind of the plot to attack Sri Lanka, weeks before it happened, means Indian agencies tracking terrorism are doing a good job. This is also despite the US denial that it had any knowledge of the ISIS plot to attack Sri Lanka. First and foremost, it is important that the Sri Lankan government rises to the occasion and strongly acts against the Islamic terror networks seeking to have a base there. The security alert there should match the present alert in India.