KUALA LUMPUR, March 4 — DAP’s Lim Kit Siang chided the police today for allegedly turning a blind eye to militant group Islamic State (IS), and focusing instead on harassing and probing Pakatan Rakyat (PR) leaders.

The political veteran singled out Inspector-General of Police (IGP) Tan Sri Khalid Abu Bakar, saying that while the national police chief is busy “playing with his tweets” on microblogging site Twitter, more Malaysians appear to be joining the IS struggle.

The DAP parliamentary leader expressed concern over IS’ possible local leadership structure here, with dedicated recruiters scouting for new members to fight in strife-torn Syria and Iraq.

“These are all the marks of a failed police operation to check IS from spreading its terrorist tentacles in Malaysia,” Lim said in a statement.

“What is most galling to Malaysians is that such dismal police failures in national security is taking place when the IGP is on a frolic playing with his tweets,” he added.

The Gelang Patah MP then accused the IGP of harassing PR leaders and NGO activists, whom he claimed are only exercising their peaceful, lawful and democratic rights to freedom of assembly and expression.

But in comparison, he said, the police are seemingly “giving a field day” to potential terrorists who have no qualms about participating in atrocities like beheadings, crucifixions and public stonings, he claimed.

Earlier today, the police said they had identified two Malaysians in a video that purportedly showed a decapitation by IS fighters in Syria last month: Mohd Faris Anwar, 20, and Muhamad Wandy Muhamad Jedi, 26.

Bukit Aman Special Branch Counter Terrorism Division senior official Datuk Ayub Khan Mydin added that the two are part of a new IS wing dubbed Majmu’ah al-Arkhabiliy encompassing Malaysian and Indonesian fighters who enlisted with the terrorist group.

The police had declared that the #KitaLawan rally to support jailed Opposition Leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim this Saturday is illegal, but PKR insisted that it will still proceed with it.

On February 21, police arrested activists Adam Adli Abdul Halim and Fariz Musa for participating in another such rally, while PKR Youth chief Nik Nazmi Nik Ahmad was detained the next day. All were subsequently released.

The IGP also ordered the probe of several opposition leaders for sedition, including cartoonist Zunar, DAP MP Nga Kor Ming and PKR MP Rafizi Ramli, for criticising the verdict of Opposition Leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim’s second sodomy case on Twitter.

The Federal Court last month upheld the Court of Appeal’s 2014 ruling that had reversed Anwar’s acquittal of sodomising former aide Mohd Saiful Bukhari Azlan, also sentencing him to five years’ jail.