My son held my feet,wept… he was forced into militancy

The father met his son in police custody in Delhi today. He fell on my feet and started crying. My son may or may not be guilty,but I want a fair trial for him. I dont want him to turn into a hardcore criminal, Malik said.

My son is a pious person,he donates blood every year. He was a good student,he scored 75 per cent in his Class 10 Board examinations.

Malik,who is a textile engineer,said unknown men had taken his son away when he was only 19. I had no information about him for a month and a half. One Friday,when I was at the mosque,a young boy delivered a letter for me,which said my son had been taken for a good cause and that I should not inform the security forces.

The courier told me he had been sent by Munna Janwari. That evening,I received a call at my sisters home. Ahtesham was on the line. He sounded terrified,and could barely speak. I asked him if he had gone with the militants on his own.

At this point,someone else came on the line. He was speaking Pashto. I asked him to speak in Urdu. The man switched to broken Urdu and told me that every household with two sons would have to give one for jihad. So they had taken the elder of my two sons.

Malik said his sisters son Zubair and a neighbourhood boy called Faisal too had been kidnapped along with Ahtesham. In September 2007,the boys managed to escape and reached Sopore,where they took shelter with Maliks sister and called him in Kanpur,where he was then posted.

Malik brought the boys to Kanpur,and after some days took them to a senior police officer. The officer released them after 10-odd days,advising Malik to admit them in an educational institution outside Kashmir.

Malik decided to move his family to Hazaribagh in Jharkhand,from where his wife was. Ahtesham enrolled for a lab technicians course at a local college.

During Eid last year,Ahtesham went to Sopore along with other members of the family, Malik said. I had no idea that he would be contacted by militants again. Even when he returned to Hazaribagh after a month,I found nothing suspicious.

However,Malik said,Ahtesham had been contacted by a militant named Muzamil Amin Dar alias Usman. When my son met me today,he told me that Usman had threatened to harm me and my family if he did not work for them. I suspect that my son may have agreed out of fear, Malik said.

Malik did not deny Ahtesham had travelled to Pakistan it was a trip that was planned long ago,he said,to visit the family of his mothers sister. Maliks wife was supposed to go too,but could not because her passport had expired.

Ahtesham went there alone and came back after a month. Today,he told me that he was kidnapped as soon as he entered Pakistan. He was put in a car and taken somewhere, Malik said.

I dont know what happened in Pakistan. He was weeping. I wept too. I wish he had told me all of this earlier. I would have tried to help him,save him from those people like I did five years ago, Malik said.

On February 25,Ahtesham left home in Hazaribagh after telling his parents he was going to Patna to look for a job. He landed up in Delhi instead,where he was arrested.

I called him on February 26,and he told me he is in Patna, Malik said. He was arrested a day later in Delhi,and I got a call from security officials.

Malik said he knew nothing about Shafqat,the man from Sopore with whom Ahtesham was staying in Tughlaqabad Extension in south Delhi. Shafqat was arrested as well.

Also arrested was Tawseef Ahmed Pir,Ahteshams cousin. Tawseef is innocent,he had recently enrolled for an English speaking course in Hazaribagh. He is my sisters son. I dont think he is involved in any terror activity, Malik said. I can vouch for his innocence.