Home Minister Rajnath Singh today expressed concern over the fact that some Indian youths have been attracted to terror group ISIS and said the government takes it as a challenge that cannot be left lightly.
Singh also blamed "state actors" in Pakistan for attempts to destabilise India and said it has not abandoned its efforts to harm the country through "various tactics".
Speaking a day after a Mumbai youth returned home after a stint with ISIS in Iraq, he said although the terror group was born out of Syria and Iraq, the Indian sub-continent cannot remain untouched by this menace which should be understood.
"It is also a matter of concern that some Indian youths have been attracted to ISIS. We cannot take it lightly. We take it as a challenge" he said addressing a conference of the DGPs and IGPs here.
Singh said arrest of Arif Majeed, who returned to Mumbai after disappearing in ISIS controlled areas in Iraq, was not an action to harass him, asserting that all such incidents will be taken on a case-by-case basis.
He described as a threat Al Qaida's declaration to form a wing -- Qaeda-ul-Jehad -- for the Indian sub-continent, and said the global terror group's intention was to bring Bangladesh, Assam, Gujarat, Jammu and Kashmir and some other parts of the country under its grip which the country would not allow to happen.
Singh said Pakistan continues to take the alibi of "non-state actors" being involved in subversive activities in India.
"If non-state actors are involved in terrorist acts in India, then is ISI a non-state actor? It is the state actors who have a role in trying to destabilising our country. Pakistan has not abandoned its efforts to harm India through various tactics," he said.
