File Photo: Jammu and Kashmir Deputy Chief Minister Dr Nimal Singh.
Islamic State, the terrorist organisation which now administers swathes of Syria and Iraq, and spreading fast, was not an immediate threat to Jammu and Kashmir, said Deputy Chief Minister Nirmal Singh.
Mr Singh asked the media to ignore the waving of the group's black flag by a mere "one or two people".
"There is no immediate threat (from the ISIS)," Nirmal Singh said, when asked about the terror group's activity in his state.
The BJP leader, who was addressing a press conference at the Bharatiya Janata Party state headquarters in Panaji, said the media should stop paying attention to gimmicks like the waving of the ISIS flag, because it was precisely aimed at getting media attention.
"Tell me how many people are doing it? One or two. Thousands of people came down for prayers, and out of those thousands, two-three people keep the flag in their pocket and they take out and show it to get media attraction," he said.
"The question is how much impact they could make? I tell you, a number of attempts have been made by Pakistan by cross-border firing and all that, to push these terrorists inside, but they could not succeed except one or two," he said.
The BJP is part of the ruling alliance in Jammu and Kashmir along with the Peoples Democratic Party or PDP led by Chief Minister Mufti Sayeed.