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‘21 missing people from Kerala joined IS in Afghanistan’
NEW DELHI/THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Twenty-one missing people from Kerala joined the Islamic State group in Afghanistan last month and their supposed leader told his family
NEW DELHI/THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Twenty-one missing people from Kerala joined the Islamic State group in Afghanistan last month and their supposed leader told his family that members of the team had finished their first “task”, investigating agencies told HT on Saturday.
Some members of the all-Muslim group – which includes five recent converts– were in touch with an office-bearer of the Islamic Research Foundation run by controversial preacher Zakir Naik. Investigators have registered 12 cases and arrested two IRF employees, Arshi Qureshi and Rizwan Khan, who reportedly said he had issued 700 conversion certificates in a day.
The group went missing about two months ago but the issue hit the headlines in July when their families met Kerala CM Pinarayi Vijayan and expressed fears that they had gone to West Asia to train as extremists for the IS, which aims to form an Islamic Caliphate.
Many of the missing are well-educated – doctors, MBA graduates and engineers -- and hail from affluent backgrounds. Two of the women are pregnant and the group contains children as young as two years old. Bindu, the mother of missing Nimisha Fatima, said her daughter’s delivery date is in the first week of August.
The coastal state in India’s southern tip is considered a breeding ground of radical Islamic ideology. Last year, a journalist, originally from the state but last working in Qatar, joined a Sunni militia waging war against President Bashar al-Assad in Syria.
The ‘leader’ of the group -Abdul Rashid alias Abdullah – sent his family a message saying seven members his team reached “Khorasan” – a region comprising parts of Afghanistan, Pakistan and India. Last year, the IS formed a branch to cover this region. The communication – sent over encrypted messaging app Telegram – ruled out further contact as the team was going towards the Tora Bora mountains. Messages on the app get deleted on their own 30 minutes after they are received.
Two days ago, Rashid sent a message to a friend, saying they reached the “Caliphate” and were leading a “true Islamic way of life”. He also said two young members successfully carried out the first “task” assigned to them. However, he did not mention name of team members and nature of job they were assigned. The messages were traced to Afghanistan. Agencies said the group initially planned to travel to Syria and Iraq but changed their plans after restrictions in the region following a failed coup attempt in Turkey.
Investigators said the group may have chosen Afghanistan as the IS chief Baghdadi’s spokesperson recently said Muslim youth could go to Khorasan if they couldn’t reach IS-held territory in Syria.
The revelations have devastated several families, who have disowned those who went missing.
“If my son Hafisuddin (24-year-old) has joined the IS, I don’t want to see even his body. If he wants to return I will meet him only after the police clear him of all charges,” said his father, a successful businessman in Mumbai. “He has brought shame to the country. For us, the country comes first.”
