Author: Shaik Ahmed Ali
Publication: The Times of India
Date: September 27, 2001
Several youths from the city who
had landed in the Gulf looking for employment had been forced to serve
terrorist groups operating in Afghanistan, Kashmir, Chechnya, Bosnia and
other countries.
According to sources, some 300 youths
who went on job visas, especially to Saudi Arabia, were made to join terrorist
outfits by their employers on a contract basis. They were offered high
salaries along with an insurance cover if killed while fighting.
The youths, most of them from the
Old City, were lured by their kafeels (sponsors) in Saudi, who offered
them about 2,000 Saudi riyals (about Rs 22,000) a month for joining the
groups. These youths even worked for Bin Laden's Al-Qaida.
"It was only after returning to
India that I realised that Al-Qaida was a terrorist organisation. In Riyadh
and other places, it is known as a religious group whose main job is to
teach the basics of Islam and to ensure that all Muslims practise the religion
properly," Rasheed A. (name changed) said.
He said he was one among a few Indians
who was taken to Afghanistan and other places to serve terrorists. In Saudi
Arabia, activists of Al-Qaida, popularly called mutavvas, forced Indian
Muslims either to join or to serve terrorist groups, he said.
"However, not all from the city
who joined these groups were asked to participate in- the jehad. We were
made to do odd jobs for the mujahideen, like washing their clothes, cooking,
stitching uniforms," Rasheed said, adding, "only a few Indians, whom I
did not know, were selected for training in warfare. They were trained
in the Al-Qaida camps in Afghanistan."
Ibrahim Khan (name changed), another
resident of the Old City, said he was taken to Chechnya to work as a cook
for a group of mujahideen. He said he was taken to Yemen along with four
others and from there they were flown to Islamabad on a fake Yemeni passport.
"From Islamabad, we were taken to Kandahar by road. As we were accompanied
by an Arab called Taiyyab, there were absolutely no obstacles on the entire
route. After reaching Kandahar, we were taken to an unknown place where
a training camp was situated," he said. About three months later, he was
taken to a bordering district of Chechnya along with a few others.
Rasheed had gone to Riyadh in 1998
as a laboratory technician while Ibrahim, a computer operator, had been
working for a small firm in Jeddah since 1997. They said they were lured
with promises of big money by their kafeels to serve the mujahideen. They
said what they did was nothing new as it was a routine practice for people
hailing from Pakistan, Bangladesh, Lebanon, Egypt, Sudan, Syria and India
to serve the militants.
The Indian youths are not allowed
to stay for more than two years in any of these places. While returning
from Afghanistan, they are brought to Islamabad and then to Jeddah to perform
Umra.
The kafeels, instead of returning
their original passports only ensure that they are deported to India.
Both the youths claimed that their
families received money from Saudi Arabia through hawala although they
were away in Afghanistan.
The family of those who served the
mujahideen were often told that they had been sent to work on a special
project, therefore they could not be contacted.
