Under this one roof

Last month,when suspected Lashkar militant Nasir Tadiyandavede and his accomplice,Shafaz Shamsudheen,were arrested in Bangladesh for their role in the Bangalore blasts of July 2008,the terror count in the Puthiyapurayil House stood at five. Fathimas son Abdul Jaleel,sons-in-law Majeed Parambayi and V.K.V. Firoz,and Nasir and Shafaz,married to her granddaughters,are all in custody for alleged terror activities.

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The story began nine years ago,when a broker came to Fathima and her husband Moosa with a marriage proposal for their third daughter Sabitha,now 29. The groom was Majeed Parambayi,a district leader of the Peoples Democratic Party,floated by Abdul Naseer Madani of the Coimbatore blasts infamy. Majeed was arrested last month on charges of burning a Tamil Nadu bus in Kochi in 2005.

Over the next few years,the puyyapilla (a North Kerala lingo for a newly-married man) played matchmaker for the girls of his wifes family. In 2005,Majeed introduced Nasir,who had then returned from Saudi Arabia,as the bridegroom for Fathimas granddaughter Femitha. Femitha is the daughter of Fausiya,Fathimas eldest daughter.

We had no money for dowry or gold. Nasir,who looked pious,did not ask for any money. And since Majeed had brought Nasir to us,we didnt dig into the bridegrooms background, says Fausiya,Femithas mother. Besides the Bangalore blasts,Nasir is accused of being part of an alleged Lashkar-e-Toiba plot to send youths from Kerala to Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK) for terror training. On October 7,2008,security forces had intercepted four menall from Keralaas they were attempting to cross over to PoK and Nasir is alleged to be one of the masterminds of this plot.

Four months after Majeed got Nasir married to Femitha,he brought Shafaz Shamsudheen as the groom for Fausiyas second daughter Femina. She had then just completed her schooling. Shafaz,24,was without a job and belonged to an NRI family in Kannur old city. Shafaz,who was arrested with Nasir,is now in the custody of the Bangalore police. Majeed then found a groom for his wifes youngest sister,Jaseela. In 2006,V.K.V. Firoz,from Kochi,was brought to the Puthiyapurayil House,seeking Jaseelas hand in marriage. Firoz was arrested last November on charges of recruiting a Christian convert for Lashkar training. The recruit was one of the four killed in Kashmir last October.

The first in the family to be arrested was Fathimas son Abdul Jaleel,39,who works as a painter. Last October,when security forces in Kashmir intercepted the four men from Kerala who were sneaking into PoK,one of them made a distress call to Jaleel,asking to be put in touch with Nasir. Police traced the call to Jaleel and arrested him later that month.

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At Puthiyapurayil House,with all the men in the family behind bars,Fathima and her daughters live a life of forced anonymity,their doors shut for obtrusive visitors. The house once buzzed with Fathimas seven childrentwo sons and five daughtersand grandchildren,but today,everyones on guard. The children who sneak out of the doors are pulled back,shielded from outsiders. The four-room house is crumbling,a tarpaulin sheet sheltering them from the leaking roof.

The police have been saying that five men from the same family became terrorists to ensure that Lashkar money stayed in the family. But look at us. Not a penny has reached this home. We are neck-deep in debt, says Fathima,whose husband Moosa died last July.

As proof that they have no terror money,Fathimas youngest daughter,23-year-old Jaseela,shows a recovery notice that a co-operative bank in Kannur had served on the family. The house,built on six cents of land,had been mortgaged against a personal loan in Fathimas name.

Many in Kadachira believe that it was the appearance of Majeed Parambayi that turned life into hell for Fathima and her daughters.

My son Jaleel is innocent. He was arrested based on a call he received on his cellphone. He was framed for being Nasirs relative, says Fathima.

She says she was about to get Jaleel,a painter,out on bail but by then,the Karnataka police arrested him for his alleged role in the serial blasts of July 20 last year.

We didnt bring in terrorists to the family,at least not knowingly. A marriage broker brought Majeed to us. As a member of the family,Majeed later brought the others,including Nasir for my sisters daughter Femitha, says Majeeds wife Sabitha.

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About 100 metres from Puthiyapurayil House is Fausiyas house,where she lives with her three daughtersFemita (married to Nasir),Femina (Shafazs wife) and the youngest,Femnisa. Fausiya,40,Fathimas first child,had a bad marriageher husband left her for another woman. The house is unplastered and bare,the TV,a gift from her ex-husband to their daughters,is the only conspicuous asset.

Neighbours say Nasir,who stayed with his wifes family,rarely interacted with them. They say he often came home late at night and left in the mornings. Some of them claim to have seen him in an SUV.

Nasir was an orthodox Muslim. He didnt let his wife Femitha mingle with the neighbours. Soon after the marriage,Nasir fenced off the courtyard with a sari,a temporary barrier to prevent his wife from meeting others. He also covered the window that opened into the kitchen well with plywood. So when the women drew water from the well,we could only see the rope and the bucket going up and down, says a woman in the neighbourhood.

Jameela,a relative of Fausiyas,says,Nasir destroyed Femithas photographs soon after their marriage. Even her school album was not spared. He collected albums from all her relatives to make sure that they had no pictures of Femitha.

Now with Nasir gone,Femitha,only 23,is left with her three children,all below five. I have resigned to my fate. I have to bring up my children. Why would anyone help my terror-tainted kids? Everyone is afraid of meeting us, says Femitha,before breaking down.

She doesnt deny Nasir could have been involved but is certain that he didnt act alone. My husband could have never carried out a terror operation on his own. He should be punished if he is a terrorist. But what about those who backed him, asks Femitha.

Nasir and his Lashkar handlers

The Lashkar-e-Toiba connections of Nasir Tadiyandavede,the primary accused in the Bangalore serial blasts case of July 25,2008,are yet to unravel fully. Nasir and his brother-in-law Shafaz Shamsudheen were arrested in Bangladesh last month.

As investigations by the Karnataka and Kerala police show,there is growing evidence that Nasirs inclination towards radical Islam and propensity for criminal behaviour took him into the arms of the Pakistan-based terrorist outfit.

As a disciple of Abdul Naseer Madani,the former Islamic Sevak Sangh leader and now head of the Peoples Democratic Party,Nasir is said to have inherited much of the fiery speech-making qualities of Madani.

According to accounts provided to the police by witnesses and co-accused in the Bangalore blasts case,through early 2008,Nasir gave radical speeches to a small bunch of 20 youths who gathered every week for religious lessons at Neerchal Thayil in Kannur district of Kerala.

While Nasir is accused of torching buses and carrying out bomb blasts at public places in Kerala,apart from a communally motivated murder,these incidents were largely linked to the jailing of Madani,say sources. But the July 2008 Bangalore blasts and the subsequent attempt to send men from Kerala to PoK for terror trainingboth following Madanis exoneration in the 1998 Coimbatore blasts caseare seen as an attempt to find favour with his Lashkar bosses.

According to accounts by the accused in the Bangalore blasts case and confirmed by police sources,Nasir was introduced to the Lashkar in April 2006 when he met Sarfaraz Nawaz,a former SIMI activist based in the Gulf and who had links with Gulf-based Lashkar leaders.

Nawaz,who was arrested by the Bangalore police as one of the key plotters of the July attacks,told the police that he met Nasir on the sidelines of a Sufi programme at a masjid in Perambavoor in Kerala.

Nawaz says he established contact with Gulf-based Lashkar leaders Wali,a Pakistani national,and Ali,an Omani national,and told them of Nasirs proposal for carrying out attacks in India. Later,Wali is alleged to have transferred Rs 3.5 lakhas funds to carry out the Bangalore attackto Sameer,Nasirs associate from Kannur.

Wali is also said to have arranged a Lashkar reception in PoK for the five Kerala men (four of whom were intercepted and killed by Indian security forces).

Nasirs personal interaction with Lashkar operatives is suspected to have begun soon after the terror training programme went awry and he desperately sought help to leave India in late October 2008.

Wali also allegedly facilitated Nasirs escape out of India to Bangladesh in November last year. According to Nawazs account to the police,the Lashkar leaders organised a meeting in early November in Dubai to work out the modalities of shifting Nasir and his associates out of India.

According to reports in Bangladesh before his arrest on November 6 this year,Nasir was part of a 15-20 member Lashkar group that had been tasked by their Pakistani handlers to carry out attacks on Indian and US embassies in Dhaka.

Johnson TA