‘My son was a student, not a terrorist’, student languishes in Tihar Jail on fake charges

Srinagar, July 21: Among more than 200 innocent Kashmiris lodged in Indian India’s infamous Tihar Jail, is a young scholar of Sopore town, who is serving detention for about three years now. Parvez Ahmad son of Sanaullah Radoo of Noorbagh, Sopore, MSc geology pass out from Indain Maharashtra state’s Pune University was arrested when he was on his way to Pune to appear in TOFEL examination for scholarship in September 2006.

Family sources said that Parvez had received an invitation for pursuing PhD in a South Korean university and before going there he had to appear for TOFEL examination in Pune.

They said Parvez was arrested by the sleuths of Delhi police’s special cell, when he arrived at New Delhi airport from Srinagar on September, 12, 2006. He was kept in detention for a month and later booked on the charges of disrupting Diwali celebrations in the Indian capital.

“On October 12, a neighbor informed us that Parvez has been held by the Delhi police on fake charges of planning bomb blasts in Delhi. He told me to switch on the Television and watch the news channels that were beaming his live pictures,” Sanaullah said.

“It came as a shock to the family. Almost all the news channels were reporting that a top Jaish-e-Muhammad terrorist has been arrested by police. My son was a student, not a terrorist,” he adds.
Day later, Sanaullah said, the family left for New Delhi to seek the release of their innocent son. He said after making rounds of police station for three consecutive days, the officers at the Lodhi Garden police station allowed them to meet Parvez.

“A team of Delhi police officials in civvies arrested me from airport before they whisked me to an undisclosed location. They tortured and asked me to admit that I was a Pakistan trained Jaish-e-Muhammad militant and was planning to trigger blasts in Delhi. My refusal irked them and they booked me on concocted charges,” Parvez told his father at the police station, adding “I showed the Delhi police the invitation letter from the South Korean university besides travel documents, but they did not listen to me,” he added.

Perturbed with the revelation of his innocent son, Sanaullah says he knocked the doors of senior police officials to seek release of his detained son. However, he said no one came forward to help. Sanaullah said that despite clearance from the CID department and the Counter intelligence Kashmir (CIK), his son was booked in a false case.

“Kashmiris are looked upon with suspicion and same was the treatment meted to me by the officials. I tried to convince them that my son was innocent but for Delhi police every Kashmiri is a terrorist,” he said.

“Police has not only shattered the dreams of family but of a brilliant student as well,” he added hoping to see his son free some day. (PBI)