A 19-year-old Kashmiri student Ehtisham Bilal, pursuing engineering at Uttar Pradesh’s Sharda University, who had disappeared from the campus last month after a scuffle with a group of students, has reportedly joined the terror group Islamic State (IS).
According to the reports, a picture of Ehtisham Bilal carrying a gun with an ISIS flag in the background has surfaced on social media, causing concerns that he has joined the Islamic terrorist outfit. In a purported audio message that has gone viral on social media, the B Tech student identified as Ehtisham Bilal pledged his allegiance to the ‘Islamic State’ group led by Abu Bakr Al-Baghdadi.
“It is a great blessing for me that I have joined Jundul Khilafah led by Abu Bakr Al-Baghdadi. I have taken the pledge that I will not rest till Islamic rule is established in Kashmir,” Ehtisham reportedly said in the audio clip.
Ehtisham, a resident of Khanyar in downtown Srinagar was allegedly assaulted by some unknown students at the university campus on October 4 following which he has left the campus. The parents of Ehtisham claimed that he was in touch till October 28, the day he left the campus.
His father, Bilal Ahmad Sofi and mother have now released a video urging his son to return back. His mother appealed to him to return home and requested “any group” which may have “kept Ehtisham” to release him. The family of the Ehtisham is reportedly disturbed after hearing about the news of his son joining IS. Appealing him to return home, his father Bilal Ahmad, said that Islam doesn’t allow anyone to disobey one’s parents.
However, the police said that they are yet to find the clip and find its authenticity to say whether Ehtisham has joined ISIS. “We are verifying the authenticity of the audio clip and the photograph,” Munir Khan, additional DGP, Jammu and Kashmir Police, said.
“The security personnel had found his mobile phone working till Sunday after he boarded a flight to Srinagar from Delhi. The family of Ehtisham also lodged an FIR with Knowledge Park police station in Noida,” the police officer said.
We had earlier reported regarding a Muslim youth named Ashfaque Majeed who had allegedly joined the IS after he was brainwashed by Zakir Naik’s Islamic Research Foundation’s manager Arshi Qureshi. Ashfaque Majeed was alleged by the police to have fled the country along with his wife, one-year-old toddler daughter and other youngsters in 2016 to join the ISIS Terror ranks.
