Missing Valley student has joined militant ranks?
A picture and an audio message, purportedly of Ehtisham Bilal, the Kashmiri student who went missing from Sharda University, Greater Noida, on Sunday, has gone viral on social media in Kashmir.
In the picture, the person appears wearing black outfit with some weapons strapped to his body and is posing with a flag of the Islamic State (IS) while a voice in the audio claims to be Ehtisham’s and announces his joining the IS operating in Jammu and Kashmir.
Police said that they are verifying the authenticity of the picture and the audio.
“We are verifying these things. This has to be confirmed,” said additional director general of police (ADGP) Munir Khan.
If authentic, the picture and the audio raises fear that the teenager, a first-year student of bachelor in medical imaging technology, might have joined militancy.
Former J&K chief minister (CM) Omar Abdullah termed the development as ‘worrying.’
“If this is genuine it is hugely worrying. Sometimes seemingly small actions have huge consequences. If what happened to him at Sharda University has lead him to choose such a destructive path, it is even more tragic. One more life on the path to ruin and one more family in turmoil,’’ Omar Abdullah tweeted.
On Friday, the family members appealed for his return.
“Please release him as he is the only son among the family. For God’s sake please allow him to come back,’’ said one of Bilal’s relative in a video, which has gone viral on the social media. Since Bilal went missing, the family had made several appeals for his return. Ehtisham, a native of Khanyar in downtown Srinagar, had shifted to Greater Noida three months ago after enrolling in Sharda University and was living in the varsity’s hostel at the Knowledge Park area in Greater Noida.
On October 4, he was roughed up by a group of students who mistook him for an Afghan during a clash between Indian and Afghan students at Sharda University campus in Greater Noida.
Police had lodged a first information report against 350 students of Sharda University for rioting.
Without mentioning the place or the incident specifically, the voice in the audio mentions some people who attacked him like “dogs” and states that he had made up his mind to join Jihad that day.
The teenager had informed his father on Sunday that he was going on a ‘sight seeing’ trip to Delhi while as per Noida Police, his call details showed his location in Delhi till 12 pm and in Jammu by 2.30 pm, thereby raising speculations that he caught a flight from Delhi. J&K police have also been checking on people who have been visiting Ehtisham in Kashmir. Sajad Shah, SP, north Srinagar, on Wednesday said he was not sure of any militancy connection of the missing boy. However he mentioned that the boy was friends with a youth who had later joined militancy.