India game for ISIS

Will the dramatic advances made by ISIS in Iraq and Syria impact India’s national security apparatus? Is the presence of ISIS in Afghanistan a sign of eventual entry of the outfit into India? Recent developments indicate the strategy of ISIS to slowly enter India. In an exclusive interview to Metro India, Kovvuri Chinna Reddy, Security Consultant of United Nations, shares his perceptions on terrorist activities across the globe and morphing modus operandi of terror outfits.K C Reddy, who joined Indian Police Service in 1974, has held senior security managerial positions in Government of India for 24 years. He also worked as Chief Security Adviser in UN system for more than 14 years. He has had the unique distinction of representing India in more than 50 countries in the capacity of Chief Security Advisor to the President and Prime Minister of India.In the capacity of Security Consultant, United Nations, KC Reddy was in Israel as part of a five-member inquiry team, from 2014 November to 2015 February. The team submitted its report to the United Nations recently. The inquiry found that three empty UN schools were used by Palestinian militants to store weapons and that in two cases they likely fired from them. "The 50-day conflict claimed the lives of more than 2,260 people. At least 2,189 were Palestinians, including more than 1,486 civilians.

On the Israeli side, 67 soldiers were killed, along with six civilians,” KC Reddy said.  As for the response to the report, he pointed out that there were no immediate comments from the Hamas or the Palestinian Authority over the observations made by the committee.However, Israel had alleged that Palestinian militants used UN facilities as shields for their terrorist activities, he mentioned. "Israel-Palestine issue is a sentimental one and has been an unresolved, lingering problem,” he observed.  Conflict zones had their own significant backgrounds, and needn’t be linked with terrorist activities, he added. "We can’t generalise the conflict zones,” said Reddy, who worked as Chief of Security-United Nations Missions, and also planned security arrangements for the UN Missions, UN agencies and NGOs in countries, Tajikistan, Dushanbe, East Timor, Sudan, Khartoum, Burundi, Bujumbura, Liberia,  Monrovia, Moscow and Darfur.He established working relationships and coordination mechanisms with the host government authorities which helped in enabling environment for the UN agencies to operate and also helped in resolving "hostage-taking” incidents. He remained as the Principal Advisor to the Special Representative to the Secretary General,  on all strategic issues effecting the UN safety. Answering queries about the activities of terrorist groups, he did not rule out the possibility of ISIS entering India."Dramatic advances made by ISIS in Iraq and Syria got some support in Afghanistan. One can notice the replacement of Taliban flags by ISIS flags,” he observed.

  In the event of dispersal of ISIS’ cadre after the alleged killing of Al-Baghdadi, also have the possibility of some of ISIS elements sneaking into Pak Occupied Kashmir (POK)posing a threat to India’s national security. "ISIS already got roots in Afghanistan and can come into POK, which is an indirect indication of possible potential threat to India, in the coming two years,” Reddy said. On Al Queda, he said that it had not died and  had been fighting in Yemen.The UN security consultant suggested to the State of Andhra Pradesh to be more vigilant on coastal security, as there were vital installations across the AP coast. "The west coast of India has already experienced terrorist attacks and activities,” he said and added that security work needed to be done more on the East Coast. In the extremist point of view, East coast needed more attention by the State and efforts made were not sufficient, he observed.

People, organisations and institutions must be sensitised in a scientific manner as lot of commercial activity has been going on in Andhra Pradesh.Certain amount of budgetary allocation by each institution to support the strengthening of East coast was the need of the hour, he suggested and wanted the State to react immediately, without waiting for a problem to happen. Each port on the east coast of India should have adequate funds to support the coastal security, independent of the existing budgetary allocations. The Chambers of Commerce of the port cities should play a proactive role in strengthening coastal security. "Coastal trade and security of ports are inseparable issues,” he observed.As for Maoist activities in Telangana and Andhra Pradesh, Reddy said that the both police forces were considered successful since they had been addressing Maoist insurgencies. He suggested the need for setting up special professional training with special reference to the IM activities.