THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Every Friday after the regular Kuthuba at a local mosque in Kasargod, a group of young Islamic believers assemble to learn the values of the Constitution of India and the freedom it guarantees to each citizen. The mosque's Imam is one of the selected speakers who coordinate with a special team of the Kerala Police in disseminating constitutional rights of an Indian citizen and the importance of democracy to these young listeners.
For the past three months, the Kerala Police have been successfully carrying out these sessions which have been devised as part of a major deradicalisation project aimed at preventing youngsters from falling prey to terrorist organisations like Islamic State (IS), Indian Mujahideen (IM) and Lakshar-e-Taiba (LeT).
This programme is not limited to a locality in Kasargod. The Kerala Police, through a social survey, have identified vulnerable areas in North Kerala where youngsters are prone to falling victims to the nefarious designs of fundamentalist organisations and terrorist groups. The survey was conducted after the police found increasing influence of IS and other fundamental groups among Muslim youths in the state.
As per details accessed by 'Express' on the deradicalisation project, the Kerala Police have identified Muslim scholars and clerics who have indepth knowledge of Quran and Hadis for implementing the various schemes of the project. The state police are also making use of the services of retired police personnel who have very good social acceptance and knowledge of Quran for implementing the project in their respective locale.
"We are seriously pursuing the deradicalisation project based on the intelligence inputs on growing tentacles of terrorism in the state. Our's is a multi-pronged strategy to deal with terrorism and we have just begun. We are getting tremendous positive feedbacks for the project and expect it to yield good results," State Police Chief Loknath Behera said.
He said the police would expand the project in a phased manner in due course of time. "We are also keeping track of the activities of certain organisations as part of the project," said Behera.
According to the report, the project is being run in Chandera and Thalangara in Kasargod, Manjeri and Ponnani in Malappuram, Kunnamangalam, Nadapuram and Kuttiady in Kozhikode, Vadakkanchery in Palakkad and Pazhayangadi and Valapattanam in Kannur. Behera said the department has prepared a detailed report on the sessions which are being successfully conducted at identified places.