New Delhi, October 30, 2026 (Yes Punjab News)
Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) has reportedly expanded its tactical focus towards southern India on the recommendation of the Kashmir Study Group (KSG), seeking to exploit existing radicalised networks in states such as Kerala, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu as security measures intensify across northern India, including Jammu and Kashmir, intelligence officials have said.
The KSG, an internal study group established by the ISI after the abrogation of Article 370 in 2019, is currently led by senior military officers holding the ranks of Brigadier and Colonel.
Initially tasked with advising the Pakistani establishment on Jammu and Kashmir, the group’s mandate is understood to have expanded over the past two to three years to include other parts of India.
In its latest assessment, the KSG is understood to have advised the ISI to explore the recruitment of radicalised individuals in southern states.
An official said the proposed shift followed increased security pressure in Jammu and Kashmir and the disruption of networks operating in northern India. Security agencies in Jammu and Kashmir remain on high alert, making it increasingly difficult for terror groups to operate, the official added.
“The KSG had earlier recommended proxy organisations, including The Resistance Front (TRF), the People’s Anti-Fascist Front (PAFF), Kashmir Tigers and Allah Tigers. These groups were created to provide both the Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) and Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) with a degree of deniability,” the official said.
In northern India, following the Red Fort car bomb blast in Delhi last year, the ISI, acting on the KSG’s advice, reportedly recruited Shahzad Bhatti to facilitate recruitment through social media. The network, which was recently dismantled, had recruited individuals across northern India, according to officials.
Those recruited were allegedly assigned tasks including drug smuggling, installing surveillance cameras at sensitive and crowded locations, and carrying out targeted attacks. Officials said recruits were paid to transport drugs, install surveillance equipment and undertake hit jobs.
Another official said the failure of these modules had prompted the KSG to recommend shifting the ISI’s focus towards southern India.
“Shifting attention to the south could divert the focus of security agencies from Jammu and Kashmir and northern India. It would also give the ISI time to review and reorganise its operations in those regions,” the official said.
An Intelligence Bureau official said Al Qaeda and the Islamic State had sought to expand their influence in parts of southern India over the years, particularly in Kerala, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu.
“Kerala, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu have been hot hubs for these terror outfits. The radicalisation is so deep in south India that the KSG felt that it would be fit to tap these individuals and get them to carry out terror acts for the ISI,” the official said.
Officials alleged that the ISI maintains agents in several countries and has relied on overseas contacts to facilitate recruitment in India. According to them, Pakistan-based handlers have attempted to avoid direct contact with recruits, making it more difficult for investigators to establish links to the Pakistani establishment.
They said these precautions had assumed greater importance after Operation Sindoor, when India declared that future acts of terrorism would be treated as acts of war rather than merely as cross-border terrorism. This, officials said, had increased pressure on Pakistan-based networks to conceal their involvement.
During recent interactions with senior ISI officials, the KSG is understood to have recommended targeting radicalised youth in southern states. According to officials, the ISI would not need to establish radicalisation networks from scratch, as Al Qaeda and the Islamic State had already sought to cultivate ideological influence in the region.
The proposed approach would allow the ISI to draw from an existing pool of individuals and allegedly recruit them for subversive activities, officials said.
They further claimed that exposure to radical Islamist ideologies circulating in West Asia could make some individuals vulnerable to recruitment by ISI-linked handlers.
According to officials, the shift is not merely a temporary arrangement while the ISI reorganises its networks in northern India and Jammu and Kashmir. They described it as part of a broader strategy to recruit radicalised individuals across the country and build a pan-India operational network.
Officials also argued that individuals radicalised by the Islamic State or Al Qaeda do not necessarily maintain exclusive affiliations with either organisation.
They said the two groups sought to promote a broader violent ideology centred on jihad, rather than limiting radicalisation to membership in a particular organisation.
Another official claimed that Al Qaeda and the Islamic State would not necessarily oppose ISI efforts to approach individuals influenced by their ideology, arguing that their objectives were hostile to India and that they could welcome such intervention.
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