2 weeks on, no news of deported man NEW DELHI: All she wants to know is her husband's whereabouts. "At least tell us where Fasih is,'' cries the 22-year-old - a bride of eight months and two months pregnant - whose fairytale life ended two weeks ago in Al Jubail, Saudi Arabia. At his best, man is the noblest of all animals; separated from law and justice he is the worst - Aristotle
It was the afternoon of May 13. "We had just packed our bags, and were having lunch after namaz. We were to shift to a new city as my husband was getting transferred, and he was excitedly telling me about our prospects there,'' recalls Nikhat Parveen, sitting at a relative's house in southeast Delhi.
An hour later, their dreams had turned to dust. Saudi and Indian plainclothesmen and women arrived and rummaged through their bags before taking away Fasih Mehmood, 29. Since then, Nikhat's only contact with him has been a brief phone call from a Saudi number at her in-laws' house.
"The call came around 3pm on May 19. He hurriedly said that he was innocent and hopeful of being released, before the line disconnected. He sounded severely stressed,'' says Nikhat, who married Fasih last September at his village in Darbhanga, Bihar, but started living with him only in March this year.
It was a good match. Nikhat was in her first year of MBA while Fasih, who did his mechanical engineering from Bhatkal, Karnataka, in 2000-04, had been working in Saudi Arabia since 2007. Although he had repeatedly entered and left the country from Delhi since then, security agencies claim he managed funding for the terrorist group, Indian Mujahideen, and had left India in 2006. He is said to be close to IM's founders, brothers Riyaz and Iqbal Bhatkal.
But the charges are not on record. There has been no official communication with Fasih's family. "They insist he is yet to be deported and is being questioned in Saudi Arabia. They should at least tell us where Fasih is," says Nikhat.
Fasih was cleverly led into a trap, she says. "That afternoon, we got two calls from unknown numbers, asking where Fasih was at the time. He said the callers were from Yanbu, the city where we were moving to, and went to pick them up. He came back an hour later with four Saudi officials and two Indians. They searched our luggage for over an hour, seized the laptop and two mobiles and took away Fasih, saying he was wanted in India and would be deported the same night.''
For two days, Nikhat tried to contact the local police, the Saudi foreign office and the Indian embassy, but unable to obtain any information she flew to Delhi on May 15, and went home to Patna with her brother.
"Two days later, when a local paper reported that Fasih was a top IM man, I decided to rush back to Delhi,'' says Nikhat, adding, "I know he is innocent, that is the reason why the agencies have not gone public about their catch''. With anger and frustration brimming in her eyes, she says Fasih's detention violates Indian and international laws.
Since May 16, the family has knocked on many doors. "We met Union home secretary RK Singh but he denied any knowledge of the case. We have also met the Bihar DGP and top officers of Delhi Police's special cell. We have appealed to the ministry of external affairs, the National Commission for Minorities, the National Human Rights Commission, Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar, the Saudi ambassador to India and the department of NRI affairs. But there's no news of Fasih,'' says Nikhat.
She's worried about her father-in-law, Dr Firoz Ahmed, a medical officer at Banipatty in Bihar, and mother-in-law Amra Jamal, who have given up eating. "It is hard for me to look at them. Why are they targeting our family? If he is guilty, explain the charges against him. But why torture an innocent man who loved his weekends and the daily dose of cricket?"KSA deports Bangalore blast suspects aide
Fasih Mehmood, 28, from Darbhanga in Bihar, had been working since June 2008 as a mechanical engineer at a prominent contracting company; he was based in Jubail.
According to sources, a suspect arrested in connection with a 2010 bombing at the Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bangalore had described Mehmood as one of his friends and benefactors. This led the Indian agencies to seek his extradition from Saudi Arabia. Fifteen people were injured in the attack.
The suspect, Mohammed Kafeel Akhtar, comes from Mehmoods village Barasmela in Darbhanga. Mehmoods employers and colleagues have described him as brilliant, affable and well-mannered. He was recruited by the contracting company through an online recruitment process. He holds a bachelors degree in mechanical engineering.
According to reports in the Indian media, Mehmood belongs to a respectable family; his father is a practicing doctor and his mother is the principal of a local school.
When Akhtar, the primary suspect, told intelligence officials about his acquaintance with Mehmood, they wrote to the External Affairs Ministry seeking his extradition from Saudi Arabia. The ministry wrote an official letter to their counterparts in Riyadh that was dispatched through diplomatic channels and arrived at the Indian Embassy in Riyadh.
Officials at the Indian mission forwarded the letter to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, which notified the Ministry of Interior and requested that Mehmood be extradited. It was the Interior Ministry that contacted Mehmoods employers.
We were told by the Jubail police and some senior officials at the Indian Embassy that Mehmood is wanted in India for some anti-social activities and that we should immediately hand him over to the police, one of the managers at the contracting company told Arab News. He requested that neither his name nor the name of his company be mentioned. We did exactly as we were told. Mehmood was taken to the Jubail police station along with his passport.
Mehmood was deported on May 13. Those close to him said he was shocked and did not know how to react. He told company managers that he is innocent and that he had nothing to do with terrorism anywhere. His managers expressed their inability to help him in view of the extraordinary request from India. Have faith in Allah, one of the managers told him while handing him over to the Saudi police.
The Interior Ministry then informed Indian Embassy officials about Mehmoods departure and flight details. He was immediately arrested on arrival in India. There is no further word on the investigations.
The Indian media have reported that Mehmoods arrest is a continuation of a series of arrests of Muslim youngsters from Darbhanga on alleged charges of terrorism. So far 13 Muslims from Darbhanga have been arrested. Mehmood is the 14th.
Mehmoods brother has denied that he has ever been in touch with terrorists. He is the honorable and earning member of our family ... He is moderate in his outlook, his brother was quoted as saying in one newspaper.
Scores of Muslim youngsters were arrested in connection with a series of bomb blasts five years ago in various cities. It later turned out that the blasts were carried by right-wing Hindu fanatics associated with terror organizations. In many cases, the government has apologized for the wrongful arrests and in some cases, such as in Hyderabad, the authorities have awarded such victims compensation.
Indian Muslims have taken great pride in the fact that none of its members has ever been found to be associated with Al-Qaeda, a fact confirmed by almost all political parties.
A series of diplomatic cables from American ambassadors based in Delhi and Mumbai, which were released by Wikileaks, repeatedly mention Indian Muslims revulsion at Al-Qaeda and other terror organizations.
Separatism and religious extremism have little appeal to Indian Muslims, and the overwhelming majority espouse moderate doctrines, former US envoy to India, David Mulford, said in one of the cables. Indias growing economy, vibrant democracy, and inclusive culture, encourage Muslims to seek success and social mobility in the mainstream and reduces alienation.
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Abi
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