IS widow’s mother seeks her return to India

Bindu S, the mother of Nimisha alias Fathima, one of the widows, cited her “contacts in Delhi” and said they told her about the release. She urged the government to get her daughter and grandchild back

The mother of one of the widows of the so-called Islamic State (IS) fighters from Kerala has asked the government to allow her daughter to return to India to face justice after the Taliban released them from jails after taking power in Afghanistan.

Representational Image.

HT on Tuesday reported that a dozen Indians, including several women from Kerala who travelled to Afghanistan to fight for IS in 2016, were among hundreds of those released from Kabul’s two prisons. The National Investigation Agency questioned these women last year.

Bindu S, the mother of Nimisha alias Fathima, one of the widows, cited her “contacts in Delhi” and said they told her about the release. She urged the government to get her daughter and grandchild back.

“I plead the Union government to save them. Let them come back and face the law of the land. They are desperate to come back,” said Bindu S.

Nimisha, a dentist, was seven-month pregnant when she left the country in 2016 with her husband. She later gave birth to a baby girl in Afghanistan. “Let the government punish my daughter for her wrongdoings. But her child is innocent. I can bring up the child as a responsible citizen,” she said.

Nimisha was among the 21 people from middle-class backgrounds, who went missing from Kerala in 2016 and were later traced to Afghanistan. Among the group, two men and three women were converts. Seven of them, all men, are believed to have been killed in the US drone attacks.

The Kerala Police have arrested two men from Mumbai, Arshid Qureshi, and Rizwan Khan, for their alleged role in recruiting the 21 and sending them abroad. Qureshi is an associate of controversial preacher Zakir Naik.

Families of most members of the group have disowned them saying they brought disrepute and shame to the country.

In 2020, a video of Nimisha and Merlin, another member of the group, surfaced on social media. In the video, both were purportedly heard saying they were disappointed with their lives in Afghanistan and were keen to return and face the law in India. The government then made it clear it has no plan to bring them back.

The IS overran parts of Iraq and Syria in 2014 before it was driven out of its last Syrian stronghold in March 2019.

Bindu S said she does not have more information. “I plead the union government to save them before they get into more trouble...they really repent now.”

Deputy superintendent P P Sadanadan, who investigated some of the terror modules, in 2019 said more than three dozen people from Kerala joined the IS and a majority of them got killed.

One of the relatives of Ijaz, a medical doctor, who also left India in 2016, said they have disowned them long back for bringing shame. “We are not interested to know about their fate either,” he said. Ijaz was reportedly killed leaving behind his widow Rafeela and two children.