Arif Majeed, the 23-year-old resident of Kalyan, who shocked the country when he, along with three of his friends, escaped to Syria to join the dreaded IS or Islamic State as jihadis, was brought back to Mumbai from Turkey on Friday morning by the National Investigative Agency (NIA). Late in the night, the NIA formally arrested him in Mumbai. It's not clear under what charges he has been arrested.
All four of them had separated from a group of 40 from Mumbai which had gone on a tour of religious sites in the Middle East in May. It is now almost clear that Arif had turned himself him in to Indian officials in Turkey after his experiments with the IS did not go according to plan.
Some reports suggested that he had fought valiantly and was given full freedom by the IS bosses and he then escaped to Turkey. So the question is whether Arif is a terrorist or a terrorised young man.
When Arif was brought to Mumbai, his mother Rezia told dna: "We are very happy to know that our son is safe."
"Arif had undergone intense terror training. He got hit in an air strike. His health was not good and that is why he opted to come back. This shows that he had gone to Iraq with the intention of joining ISIS," said the officer. The ISIS or IS, as it is known now, is led by the shady Iraqi cleric Baghdadi and has attracted jihadis from all over the world, even from Europe and the UK.
They have recently started beheading British and US citizens, live on video, to claim its position as the number one jihadi organisation fighting for the establishment of an Islamic caliphate by bringing in most countries of the Middle East under its sway.
According to sources, there is not a single case against Arif in India for alleged terror activities. Arif's story is the story of how largely innocent youth get dragged into the jihadi network after reading terrorist literature and watching videos of terrorist leaders making proclamations of an imagined Islamic global order.
Before he left for Iraq on May 25, he had left a letter for his family. The letter left his family shocked. In the letter, Arif had reportedly stated, "I cried when I saw you all sinning, smoking cigarettes, taking interest (from banks), watching TV, illegal sexual intercourse, living luxurious lives, intermingling of sexes, not praying, not growing beards. These things will lead to you burning in hell fire," he had written.
Arif had also berated his sisters and female cousins in the letter for watching television, saying, "It is a major sin. In it is music, which is an instrument of Satan."
Though this is the picture that the agencies have of him the question is why he opted to return if he was indeed deeply radicalised? The central government might also take a lenient view on the other three youth as well if it is proven beyond reasonable doubt that they were not highly radicalised and were only misled.
"The central government doesn't want to be too harsh on the not-so-radicalised men as being lenient would prompt the other youth to get back to the country and testify against the ISIS's India recruitment drive," said a NIA officer. The security agencies hope to get back the other three as well.
Muslim leaders in the city are in a quandary. Maulana Hakim Mehmood Dariyabadi, general secretary, All India Ulema Council, said, "Radicalisation in the name of faith can happen and youth may get into terrorism. First there was a news that one of them is dead. The family here conducted last rites too. Now some days ago, there was another story that he is still alive. When the four youths have been stated to have gone there, there was no ISIS. Had they been radicalised due to faith, which can happen, they could have gone to Palestine where the problem is known. The NIA should investigate and put out all the facts in front of people with all honesty."
Maulana Syed Moinuddin Ashraf, president Jamia Qadria Ashrafia Madrasa in Grant Road, said, "There should be an inquiry into this incident as to why he went there. Inquiry should certainly happen so that youth do not go in that direction in future. These four youth went there and disappeared. What was the reason of going there should come out in open."
—With inputs from Ashutosh Shukla
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