Kashmir footballer who joined LeT last week surrenders
20-year-old Kashmiri man who had joined the Lashkar-e-Taiba militant group surrendered after his mother launched a tearful appeal to him to return in a video that was widely shared on social media, police said on Friday.
A resident of Anantnag in south Kashmir, Majid Khan was a bright student and a popular football goalkeeper before he became the LeT’s latest recruit in the Valley last week, triggering grief among family members.
Khan, dressed in a black pheran (traditional Kashmiri overcoat) and a skull cap, was presented before the media at an army headquarters at Awantipora in south Kashmir. He reportedly took up arms because a close friend was killed in a shootout with security forces this year.
A photograph of Khan brandishing an AK 47 rifle was shared widely on social media last week, leaving his parents distraught. Hindustan Times was the first to report on his parents’ plight, caught on a short video. “Majid, come back. Come back and kill your father and me, and then go back again,” the mother wailed.
Two local news agencies, GNS and KNS, quoted Mahmood Shah, a self-styled chief of LeT in Jammu and Kashmir, as saying that Khan was “permitted” to leave on the plea of his mother.
Police said such surrenders have occurred in the past.
“Today, due to social media, the wailing of the mother is a thousand times more projected,” said state police chief SP Vaid.
The army refused to give
AWANTIPORA:A
details of Khan’s return, with major general BS Raju only saying it had received intelligence that the man had told his family about his wish to come back.
“Majid had decided on his own to come back having realised the folly of the path he had taken,” Raju said, assuring that no charges were brought against the second year commerce student.
Initially there was confusion over whether Khan was caught or had had to surrender in combat. Police said it was neither.
“He has come back on his own. His parents and friends were instrumental in getting him back,” said inspector general of police, Kashmir range, Muneer Khan, who said a day ago the government was considering a new surrender policy for militants.
Khan has two elder sisters who are married. He had made a name for himself as the goalkeeper of an Anantnag-based club he joined when he was in Class IX.
Khan’s father, Irshad Ahmed Khan, a government employee, told reporters in south Kashmir, “We had no support apart from Majid. He is our only son. I had a heart attack after news came that he has gone to join the militants. I want to thank everyone involved in his return.”