Online recruitment by Islamic State matter of concern: Parrikar

Defence minister Manohar Parrikar on Monday expressed concern over the use of the internet by Islamic State militants for recruitment and said it was important to enhance information and communications technology (ICT) capabilities to face any threat.

“...you take the example of terrorist organisation like Daesh or IS; they use internet to ensure lot of recruitment and support. They are the ones who are the best users of Internet technology for promoting their cause,” Parrikar said at an event.

“My worry is about information blackout due to various disruptive mechanisms... information corruption can be another danger to platforms; and information overload is also a problem,” he said.

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The minister was speaking at a conference on ‘Enabling ICTEC Infrastructure and Harnessing the Human Capital for Digital Army’, organised by the Confederation of Indian Industry.

“One way to progress is through ICT use and make a more digitised army... we need to enhance our capability so that we are protected,” he said.

“ICT has a very important role to play. The future wars may be cyber wars. I see the signals for it and this is not necessarily in a way we think... I believe very strongly that ultimately a conventional army cannot be replaced but it can be equipped with all the information to fight in a well planned way without interruption,” Parrikar added.