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| India-Pakistan |
| A traitor, say parents; engineer's son is first state jehadi in valley |
| 2006-06-07 |
| IRFAN ATTAR was a first-born, dedicated to God by a childless Kolhapur couple desperate to have a child. Eighteen years later on Monday, Attar’s anguished parents had to publicly denounce their eldest son a traitor to their country. Attar, student of a madrassa in Bharuch, Gujarat, was shot dead in Kashmir a week ago, his body charred beyond recognition after a firefight with the army, the first Maharashtra Muslim to be so killed. Anti-terrorist squad officers from Mumbai are now in Kolhapur to investigate if there are others like him studying in Gujarat’s Islamic seminaries. The police in Kolhapur — nestling in the Sahyadri Hills amid serene sugar-cane fields and chappals — are still waiting for confirmation that the teenage militant killed in Pulwama, Kashmir, was indeed Irfan, but to the Attars, the information they received and the circumstances were proof enough. So in Kolhapur’s comfortable Tarabai locality, government engineer Mohiuddin Gajbharsaheb Attar and his wife Shabira unable to live with the stigma of terrorism, released a statement that read: “On the basis of available facts and circumstances, we have concluded that the slain terrorist is our son Irfan…We are Indians and are proud of our Indian identity. We condemn Irfan’s treacherous act and will continue to do so in the future.” How and when Irfan made the journey from Kolhapur to Kashmir, from small-town boy to jehadi, isn’t something his parents have figured out. They believed he was studying at the Bharuch madrasa. It was only after a spokesman of the terror outfit Hijb-ul-Mujahideen announced that one of their martyred boys was from Kolhapur, did the Jammu and Kashmir police contact the Kolhapur police. “We sent our personnel to the madrassa in Gujarat where Irfan was supposed to be studying, but we couldn’t find him,” Kolhapur district superintendent of police Dr Sukhwinder Singh told HT. He said it wasn’t possible to identify Irfan’s charred body from the photos released by the Kashmir police. Singh said DNA tests may be conducted. And the Attars home was raided anyway. The police found Urdu books and maps of India and Pakistan “with some markings”. Police sources said it was likely the teenager was indoctrinated by extremists in Gujarat. Since the Attars were childless for years after their marriage, they dedicated their first son (they have three children) to God on the advice of religious teachers. Irfan was educated in religious seminaries in Kolhapur’s Kagal and Uchgaon towns. Police investigation has shown that his father would send his son Rs 10,000 every year. The Attars told the police that Irfan visited them on Id every year; his last trip home was in November 2005. Singh refused to say if the Attars were under suspicion. |
| Posted by:john |
| #11 I would not like to p*ss off General JJ Singh. |
| Posted by: Alaska Paul 2006-06-07 22:23 |
| #10 They certainly were saying the right things - which proves it can be done. So why aren't millions more 'good' Muslims saying the same kind of thing about their brethren in Toronto, etc. Because India has had riots in which Muslims were lynched. I'm not saying that's a good thing, just that there might be a bit of self-preservation in their motives. And I'm not saying that's a BAD thing, either. |
| Posted by: Robert Crawford 2006-06-07 22:13 |
| #9 It doesn't seem as if President General Musharref is getting his money's worth from his purchases. He might want to think about that a bit... On the other hand, the more that the Indian Army disposes of, the fewer to bother him back home. |
| Posted by: trailing wife 2006-06-07 22:07 |
| #8 I feel for the poor parents. They appear to be the kind of 'good' Muslims Bush et al are always talking about. They certainly were saying the right things - which proves it can be done. So why aren't millions more 'good' Muslims saying the same kind of thing about their brethren in Toronto, etc. |
| Posted by: Glenmore 2006-06-07 21:45 |
| #7 Ya mean COMMUNIST-MAOIST SUPPORTED JIHADIS, as per the MSM pre 9-11 and post 9-11, pre IRAQI FREEDOM and post-IRAQI FREEDOM!? |
| Posted by: JosephMendiola 2006-06-07 21:41 |
| #6 ...operation Sarp Vinash ("Death to Snakes") Now that is a cool name for a military op. Not wimpy like Operation Iraqi Freedom. |
| Posted by: xbalanke 2006-06-07 20:38 |
| #5 Actually they were supposedly banned from publically displaying jihadi bodies by the head of the Indian Army General JJ Singh |
| Posted by: john 2006-06-07 20:14 |
| #4 Take the jehadis to the taxidermist and have their heads mounted above your fireplace. |
| Posted by: Captain America 2006-06-07 20:09 |
| #3 That is Reuters for you. Here is a quote from the former Governor of Jammu and Kashmir state, Gary Saxena He also ridiculed President Musharraf's claim that more then 70,000 people have died in the state in the last ten years. "I do not know from where he got that figure. As governor of the state, I had authentic statistics with me. More then 13,600 civilians lost their lives in the last fourteen years." "Of these, 10,000 were killed by terrorists. The rest lost their lives when they got caught in the crossfire between the militants and the security forces," he said. He lambasted the Pakistani president for not mentioning the figure of the security personnel killed in terrorist violence. "We have lost 3,600 personnel of the security agencies." "We have killed more then 16,700 terrorists in various operations, more then seventy per cent of them foreigners," he added. He gave a detailed list of the arms and ammunition seized during anti-terrorist operations. "We have captured 25,000 Kalashnikovs, 325 sniper rifles, over 1,000 machine guns, 1,800 rocket propelled grenades, 4,000 rocket launchers, 10,000 mines and 4000 wireless sets." In addition to this, we have seized over 50,000 hand grenades, thirty tonnes of explosives and 7.5 tonnes of RDX," the former governor said. He praised the Indian army for launching operation Sarp Vinash ("Death to Snakes") to flush out terrorists from Poonch, Rajouri and Surankote sectors of Jammu division. |
| Posted by: john 2006-06-07 20:02 |
| #2 Packing all that weaponry and they're only "suspected Islamist militants" ? The insanity is truly global. |
| Posted by: flyover 2006-06-07 19:56 |
#1 Meanwhile Look Ma, I caught some jihadis!!  And their toys!! Indian army soldiers pose next to the bodies of suspected Islamic militants (L covered) in Machil, 200 km (124 miles) northwest of Srinagar June 7, 2006. The Indian army said on Tuesday it had killed at least eight suspected Islamist militants as they attempted to enter Indian Kashmir from the Pakistani-controlled part of the restive Himalayan region. |
| Posted by: john 2006-06-07 19:51 |