Parents of blast suspect allege torture of their son

Reyaz Malik and his wife Shameema, who claimed that they were summoned by National Investigation Agency sleuths on October 17, are in the dark about the  welfare of their son Wasim, who was studying medicine in Bangladesh.

They alleged that their son was being "pressured" by the NIA officials to accept the responsibility of the blast by giving a confessional statement.

"We last spoke to Wasim on October 19 when NIA officials made him to talk to his mother. In that brief conversation, our son told us that the policemen accompanying him had promised his migration to Jammu college only if he accepted the knowledge of the blast," Malik, a Jammu and Kashmir Government employee, told PTI here.

"Our son also told us that NIA officials wanted to pin the entire blame on his 16-year-old younger brother Junaid Akram who is missing for past one year," he said. The couple quoted their relatives, who saw him recently in Kishtawar when he was taken by NIA officials, saying that he could barely walk because of "intense torture".

NIA spokesperson denied the allegation and said "there is no truth in the charges levelled by the parents as we have to produce him before a court. Only today the Judge asked him whether he was subjected to any torture and Wasim denied the same."