The Indian Express (Delhi Edition)
‘There are many Indians... but are advised not to stay together’
PUNISHMENT FOR anyone found flouting Islamic law, shops controlled by local leaders, income from “war booty”, no salaries, a diet of mostly roti, and green tea at get-togethers.
In several messages sent to The Indian Express since September 2016 over Telegram, an encrypted service, Bestin Vincent alias Yahiya, who left Kerala with his wife last May to “join the Caliphate”, drew a rare, detailed portrait of life under an Islamic State affiliate at Nangarhar in Afghanistan.
“(There are many Indian families but)... due to security reasons, it’s not recommended for all Indians to stay together nor work together. Still everyone meets often. I cannot disclose the total number of Indians. And these come under the restrictions. And every do’s and don’ts are taken from Quran and Sunnah. Anybody transgressing these limits would be punished,” he wrote.
Last Saturday, Yahiya’s father in Palakkad received information that his son, who was among the 21 people who left Kerala for the Islamic State last year, had been killed in US bombings.
In his messages, Yahiya admitted that he knew at least two people who are under investigation by the NIA for “instigating” Indian youth to join IS. But Yahiya, a Christian convert to Islam, denied that they had played a role in his religious transformation.
On Zakir Naik’s Islamic Research Foundation (IRF) employee Arshi Qureshi, who was chargesheeted by the NIA in February, Yahiya wrote: “Qureshi was a very close person to me. It was me who told him about Islamic State and Jihad. He never talked to me anything regarding that. Also he refused to accept that Islamic State is true.”
On Rizwan Khan, another suspect who was arrested last year in Thane by Maharashtra ATS and Kerala Police, Yahiya wrote: “Rizwan brother (did not) have anypartinourhijrah.hewasjust a witness of my nikah because there were no one else.” In February, the NIA told a Mumbai court that they did not have “enough evidence” to currently file a chargesheet against Khan.
The Indian Express could not independently verify Yahiya’s claims.
Edited excerpts from Yahiya messages:
‘GREEN TEA IS SPECIAL’
“(The ruling system gives) us cash and they control the shops. When it’s difficult to arrange cash, they give all necessary things at (the) doorstep. Most people have gardens here.