A research scholar hailing from Kupwara of north Kashmir has deserted Aligarh Muslim University (AMU) to join Hizbul Mujahideen in Kashmir, a decision hailed by the outfit with predominant local base. The AMU has suspended the scholar from its rolls.
Mannan Wani announced his decision to join the terrorist ranks on Sunday when his pictures holding an under barrel grenade launcher (UBGl) surfaced on social media. Son of lecturer Bashir Ahmad Wani, Mannan had visited his family in Takipora village of lolab Valley in north Kashmir’s Kupwara district last month to attend a wedding. He left his home and his family presumed that he had returned to the AMU to pursue his PhD.
After graduating from Amar Singh College in Srinagar, Wani completed M Phil in geology and was pursuing PhD in applied geology.
His junior engineer brother Mubashir Ahmad Wani said the family had no inkling of his joining terrorist ranks. He said they found his mobile phone switched off but thought that he must be busy with studies or might have lost his phone.
However, after finding the phone continuously switched off, the family filed a missing report with police on Saturday.
Hizbul Mujahideen welcomed Wani for joining the organisation and described the ‘development’ as a good omen for the “ongoing Kashmir freedom struggle”.
In a statement, Hizbul spokesman Salim Hashmi said United Jehad Council (UJC) chairman Syed Salahuddin addressed a high-level command council meeting in Muzaffarabad (PoK) and hailed entry of Manaan Wani that “exposes the Indian propaganda that the youth of Kashmir are joining terrorist ranks due to unemployment and economic distress”.
“From years on, the educated and qualified youth of Kashmir have been joining Hizbul Mujhdeen to take this ongoing freedom movement to logical conclusion. This spirit of the youth is laudable,” Salahuddin said.
Sources said 26-year-old Wani was pursuing a PhD on ‘Structural and Geo-Morphological Study of lolab Valley, Kashmir’. He received an award for the best paper presented at an international conference on ‘Water, Environment, Ecology and Society’ in 2016.
Mannan’s family is in a state of shock on receiving the news about his decision and urged him to return to the family. “He (Mannan) has taken this decision himself and without consulting me. He knows and understands how much he has pained his papa and saddened his mammy; how much he has upset his lone sister,” his father told reporters.
“He is a matured person and I was never expecting this from him. If he has any issues, he could have addressed it some other way. I have no words to express what we are going (on his joining). It is shocking,” he said.
“He is very talented. The talent he posses, he could have done a lot. It is very unfortunate. On December 3, there was last contact with him. He sent pictures to his sisters and since then there is no contact with him,” he said.
Meanwhile, AMU has suspended Mannan Wani. “Wani stands suspended until the further probe is carried out into his disappearance and into social media photos that show him holding an AK-47 rifle,” AMU proctor Prof Mohsin Khan was reported as saying.
He also the university has “set up a panel for a comprehensive enquiry into the entire matter” and is also taking further necessary steps for beefing up security in hostels of the university.
The Proctor said nothing whatsoever suggesting that Wani was in any way involved in radical activities had come to their notice before this episode. The enquiry committee would, however, fully probe this matter, he said.
Khan said that even before the incident came to light, the University Vice Chancellor, Tariq Mansoor, had issued a directive to the security staff to step up vigil on all entry and exit points of the university.
Checking of identity cards of all youths entering the campus and different hostels had also been intensified.
Meanwhile, a team of senior AMU officials sealed the room of Mannan Basheer Wani, 26, on Monday morning immediately after they received a letter from the Superintendent of Police, Aligarh regarding the alleged “nefarious” activities of the student, university officials said.
A senior AMU official said that prior to the police department’s letter, the university had not received any intimation from the student’s family that he had not arrived at his home after leaving Aligarh.