Zee Media Bureau
Mumbai: Weeks after the stranded Indian nurses returned home after being reportedly abducted by the Islamic State of Iraq (ISIS) militants in war-torn parts of Iraq, a Kalyan family now fears that their son has joined the Islamic outfit, a leading newspaper report said on Monday.
According to reports, Ejaz Badruddin Majeed, who is by profession a doctor claims that his son, Arif Fayyaz Majeed, had left a letter at home before leaving, saying “fighting has been enjoined upon you”.
Ejaz further said that Arif reportedly wrote a portion for his mother that the “angle of death” will ask him why he didn`t migrate to “Allah’s land.” Further he wrote to his family, “May we all meet in Paradise.”
It is believed that Arif has joined the Sunni insurgents of the ISIS along with other three Thane residents Fahad Tanvir Sheikh, Aman Naim Tandel and Shaheen Farooqi Tanki. All the four men are in their twenties, with no known past involvement in radical Islamist politics.
The report further said that Arif, an engineering student in Navi Mumbai, disappeared nearly two and half months back. According to the police, Arif travelled to Iraq on May 23, along with a group of pilgrims.
Later, he contacted his family to apologise for leaving without informing them, and told them that he had gone to look for a job. The family last heard from him May 25, when he reassured them that he was well.
The families of all the four missing youths have lodged a missing complaint with the Kalyan police. Arif`s father has also handed over a copy of his son`s “farewell letter” to the police, as per reports.
Meanwhile, Arif’s father Ejaz Majeed has said that he wants the people to be punished who pulled his son into the claws of the radical Islamic outfit.
Majeed was further quoted by the newspaper as saying, “I want to meet (External Affairs Minister) Sushma Swaraj or (Home Minister) Rajnath Singh and ask them to punish the people who seduced our children to participate in this madness. I want to ask them to warn other parents to watch out for their children being led astray. I want to beg them, also, to please help bring these children back. Please help me meet them.”
Earlier on July 5, more than 40 Indian nurses who were trapped in an area of Iraq seized by Sunni armed fighters arrived home after being freed from the rebel-held city of Mosul.
Meanwhile, the ISIS militants today assaulted the final area of the Iraqi town of Dhuluiyah which was till now outside their control, after tribesmen rejected an offer to let them enter uncontested.
Jihadist-led militants launched a major offensive on June 9, that has overrun large areas north and west of Baghdad, and appear to be making a renewed push to gain ground after a period in which battle lines were relatively static.
