“I don’t want to see his body. We are ashamed that he fought a war against his own country.”
These are the words of M Safia, the mother of Mohammad Fayaz who was killed along with another Kerala resident, Abdul Rahim, on October 7 in Kashmir.
Relatives of the two youth have decided not to claim their bodies. Safia has called on SP, Kannur, S. Sreejith and requested him not to bring the body to the state. Kannu is 450 km north of Thiruvananthapuram. “Fighting against one’s own country is a sin. He’s not a true Muslim. Let the police bury his body wherever they want. We will cooperate with the police in further investigations,” the mother said.
Many Muslim bodies were all praise for the gutsy mother’s stand. “She (Safia) really upholds true Muslim values. Islam is always against killing innocent people,” said Muslim League head Panakkad Shihab Ali Thangal.
“He (Fayaz) left Kannur with a friend Fizal about two months ago. There was no information since then. When Fizal came for his sister's wedding recently, we were told that he was pursuing Quran studies in Ahmedabad,” Safia said.
Rahim’s relatives too have faxed their consent to the J&K police to bury his body there. “He was missing for the last two months. We don’t know how he landed up in J&K,” said Rahim’s father, a shopkeeper in Parappanangadi, near Kozhikode.
{{/usCountry}}Rahim’s relatives too have faxed their consent to the J&K police to bury his body there. “He was missing for the last two months. We don’t know how he landed up in J&K,” said Rahim’s father, a shopkeeper in Parappanangadi, near Kozhikode.
{{/usCountry}}Meanwhile, the Kerala police have intensified their search for the missing youths in the area. According to intelligence sources, more than three-dozen erstwhile workers of the banned SIMI are still untraceable.
Intelligence agencies are keeping a close watch on former SIMI members since the involvement of activists from Kerala was suspected in recent militant strikes.