New Delhi: Islamic State, which lures young men into jihad from India, Pakistan and Bangladesh, is instilling fear amongst them by saying that ‘Djinns’ would haunt them the whole life if they flee the battle field and return home.
'Djinn' are supernatural beings in Islamic mythology.
According to an intelligence report prepared by foreign agencies and shared with Indian agencies, fighters from India, Pakistan, Bangladesh as well as certain countries like Nigeria and Sudan are considered not good enough by the ISIS and are often tricked into suicide attacks.
Not only this, the IS commanders also burn the passports of the foreign fighters so that they are compelled to stay back.
The fighters from South Asia and Africa are considered to be inferior than Arab fighters and there is a disproportionately high level of casualties among the South Asian and African foreign terrorist fighters since they are forced to the frontlines of battle as foot soldiers.
Notably, the young men, who are enticed into joining IS with the promise of 'jihadi brides', also face disappointment.
Intelligence agencies say that the gender ratio in IS-controlled territory is skewed with very few women. And the few available jihadi brides are given away to senior IS commanders and ethnic Arab fighters.
The intelligence report says there is information that foreign fighters of Chinese, Indian, Nigerian and Pakistani origin are housed together and are monitored closely by the ISIS Police.
Incidentally, only Tunisian, Palestinian, Saudi Arabian, Iraqi and Syrian fighters are allowed to be in the ISIS police force, which is barred for fighters of all other nationalities.
Hence, there is a clear trust deficit between the dominant Arab fighters from other nationalities, who are mostly attracted to ISIS through its sophisticated propaganda techniques on the Internet.
