Karachi family mourns drug-addict son’s journey to Kashmir jihad

Mangalore Today News Network

Kashmir, Dec 05, 2017 : Late this May, as the month of Ramzan set in, Muhammad Amir Awan set out from his home in Karachi’s Gulshan-e-Ghazi, wearing the simple white robes of the pious, a sleeping bag on his back, hoping the journey would lead him to redemption. His mother had kissed him goodbye, unable to contain her tears; the youngest of four, he was her most troubled, but also most loved.

 

The lane from his home to the Jami’a Masjid Ghanim bin Abdulrehman led him past the kebab stall where he often hung out with friends; the street-corner drug-dealers he would score crystal meth and hashish from; gaggles of local gangsters.

“I prayed he would find God, I hoped he would leave drugs, and come back a man,” recalled Awan’s father, Muhammad Riyaz Awan, who retired early this decade after serving 28 years in the Karachi police. This month, the family learned that the son they have not met since May is in prison in India. Awan was arrested by the J&K Police last month, in the course of an operation which claimed the lives of three of his Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) associates, and is now in the custody of the National Investigation Agency (NIA).

Awan’s story provides new insights into how the LeT continues to recruit terrorists despite its ongoing effort to project itself as a legitimate political party. And preying, in the process, on Pakistan’s most vulnerable — in this case, from the crime-torn, underprivileged neighbourhood of Gulshan-e-Ghazi, or “Garden of Holy Warriors”.

Ever since his son disappeared, Muhammad Riyaz hasn’t left his home: long disabled by a stroke, his health has deteriorated sharply in recent months, the family says. Awan’s mother, Sunera Bibi, is also seriously unwell, and the family fears the loss of her son might aggravate her cardiac condition. This weekend, the sons held a feast for the poor in Gulshan-e-Ghazi, to invoke God’s blessings for their parents’ health.

Ibrar Awan, the oldest of Awan’s brothers, says the family last heard from him in May. “He called just before Eid to say he was in Punjab with a religious group. But he wouldn’t say where, or when he’d be back. I thought he was back on drugs again,” Ibrar Awan told Karachi-based sources who contacted him on behalf of The Indian Express. “This photograph of him you have shown us is the first news we’ve had of his whereabouts. We’re grateful he is alive, but don’t know what to do now,” he said.



courtesy:Indian Express