Distressed family of missing Sharda University student Ehtesham Bilal urged their son on Saturday to shun militancy and return home, a day after his purported photograph posing as IS militant surfaced on social media.
Ehtesham, a resident of Khanyar area of old city Srinagar, went missing on October 28 from his hostel at Sharda University in Greater Noida, Utter Pradesh nearly a month after he was assaulted in a group clash at the varsity between Indian and Afghani students.
On Friday evening, a gun-wielding picture of Ehtesham along with a purported audio message surfaced on social media which immediately went viral. In the purported audio message, Ehtesham pledged allegiance to Islamic State Jammu Kashmir (ISJK), an outfit influenced by the ISIS ideology.
While state police Chief Dilbag Singh said they were verifying the authenticity of the audio clip, the anxious family tried to reach Ehtesham through social media.
Ehtesham’s father, Bilal Ahmad on Saturday made a fervent appeal to the militants to let his son return as he was “young and naive.” In his plea to the militants, Bilal said, “My son is young and naive. For God's sake send him home. Have mercy on us, Allah will bless you. This is an appeal from a helpless father.”
Ehtesham’s young sister, Hadiqa is inconsolable since he went missing. "What will mother do in your absence," she says while appealing her brother with folded hands to come home.
Former chief minister and vice president of National Conference, Omar Abdullah, termed Ehtesham’s joining the radical militant outfit as “hugely worrying”.
“If this is true, it’s hugely worrying. Sometimes seemingly small actions have huge consequences. If incident at #ShardaUniversity lead him to choose such a destructive path it’s even more tragic. One more life on the path to ruin and one more family in turmoil (sic),” Abdullah wrote on micro-blogging site Twitter.
Published 03 November 2018, 15:43 IST