Kashmir – A recent study conducted by Criminal Investigation Department (CID) of Kashmir has revealed that only three percent of Salafis are radicalized, while 71 per cent of terrorists belong to Hanafi school of thought (Barelvi and Deobandi groups), and 23 per cent terrorists strictly follow Jamat-e-Islami.
CID conducted an intensive study by monitoring 156 local youth who joined militant groups between 2010 to 2016.
The 74 paged report was accessed by The Indian Express newspaper by interviewing and speaking to the families, friends, relatives and acquaintances of the militants.
Some of the major points of the report are:
- 32 per cent of teenagers who joined militancy had passed grade tenth.
19 per cent undergraduates and graduates while 7 per cent were post-graduates. - 56 per cent had studied in government schools, 34 per cent had studied in both government and private schools, 6 per cent had studied in private schools.
- 74 per cent had never visited Darasgah or Madrasa for any formal education.
- 90 per cent of the 156 militants were unmarried.
- 72 per cent had no criminal background, 8 per cent of recruits were also stone-pelters.
- 71 per cent were Hanafi in their religious inclination, 3 per cent were Salafi and about 23 per cent had Jamaat-e-Islami’s extreme views.
- 23 per cent had first became Over Ground Workers (OGWs) before joining militant ranks. Among them, half joined militancy within a year.
- Around 15 per cent had either any close relative or family killed by Government Forces.
- 5 per cent had suffered some kind of collateral damage to their property during counter-insurgency operations.
- Out of the 156 militant recruits, 81 per cent lived in areas which had active local militants already present in the area.
