Srinagar: Former Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah on Saturday expressed concern over the media reports of a missing Kashmiri student, Ehtishaam Bilal’s picture having surfaced on social media, posing with an ISIS flag and an AK-47.
“If this is genuine it’s hugely worrying. Sometimes seemingly small actions have huge consequences. If what happened to him at #ShardaUniversity has lead him to choose such a destructive path it’s even more tragic. One more life on the path to ruin & one more family in turmoil,” Omar wrote on his Twitter handle.
If this is genuine it’s hugely worrying. Sometimes seemingly small actions have huge consequences. If what happened to him at #ShardaUniversity has lead him to choose such a destructive path it’s even more tragic. One more life on the path to ruin & one more family in turmoil. https://t.co/9xMZ7pDbat
— Omar Abdullah (@OmarAbdullah) November 3, 2018
Ehtisham Bilal, 23, a resident of Srinagar’s Khanyar area, was missing since 28 October. Before he had gone missing, one of his family members said that he had called his cousin brother, also a student at the Sharda University that he was boarding a metro and that he will reach the hostel by 8:30 pm.
“He didn’t reach the hostel. We have no idea who kidnapped him. We have no idea if any agency has picked him up. We want to know where our son is,” said father of missing student.
A missing complaint was registered in the case at the Knowledge Park police station in Greater Noida as well as at Khanyar police station in Srinagar, officials said.
Purportedly, a video on social media, showing Ehtisham’s photograph with ISIS flag and him talking about how he was beaten up in Delhi was circulated.
“This is a message to all who consider Jihad is a way of fighting,” he says in the audio. “Our blood is not white, we will give you tears of blood. I was looking into the eyes of those kufaar (non-Muslims) when they attacked me in groups like dogs, I felt I had delayed to be part of Jihad for long. But not anymore.”
The pictures on social media showed Sofi dressed in a black outfit and claimed he had joined militant group ISJK, an outfit influenced by ISIS ideology.
The UP Anti-Terrorist Squad (ATS) said it has been tracking the case since October 28 and has taken cognizance of the photos, PTI reported.
“We are in touch with Jammu and Kashmir police. We are tracking the footprints of the boy from Greater Noida to Kashmir,” Inspector General, ATS, Asim Arun told PTI.
The Jammu and Kashmir police said they were “ascertaining” Sofi’s presence in the Valley.
The Gautam Buddh Nagar police, who had traced the last location of Sofi’s mobile phone to Pulwama district in South Kashmir, is also probing the matter.
“A missing complaint was registered and police teams are working on the case,” a senior official told PTI.
According to the police here, Sofi had left for Srinagar from Delhi’s Indira Gandhi International Airport in the afternoon of October 28 and reached Pulwama a few hours later.
They said his mobile phone details showed that he last spoke to his father, who lives in Srinagar, at 4.30 pm, when his location was traced to Pulwama.
However, he had told his father that he was is Delhi and was returning to the university by metro, the police said.
On 4 October, Ehtisham was physically assaulted in clashes between two groups of students at Sharda University, where he was a first-year student of bachelors in Medical Imaging Technology (BMIT). He was beaten so severely that even blood oozed out from his nose and mouth, eyewitnesses had said.
After the incident he was left injured at a hospital, where his father had visited to see him. Later the father had returned after being assured by local authorities of his safety.
His family members and relatives had staged a protest demonstration at Press Enclave on Thursday demanding his whereabouts. The protesters, including women and children, raised pro-justice slogans and demanded immediate recovery of the missing youth.
“On Sunday, he went for an outing to New Delhi. Throughout the day, he was in touch with his parents over the phone. He told his father that he would send him the pictures he had clicked at different places. But by the evening, his phone was switched off and he went missing,” said a relative of missing Ehtisham.
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