THEY had gathered to muse over a death, but the six or seven old men showed few signs of sorrow.

Into the hush came an elderly man with a thin, long, henna-dyed beard, a contented smile on his lips. “Bara afsos aye, jee [it is a matter of great sadness],” said one of the men to him, the banal phrase used to express condolences. “Don’t say that, it is wrong to use this phrase here,” reprimanded the man with the red beard. “It was the will of Allah; Allah has blessed only a few parents with such a great reward.”

The man with the red beard is Mohammed Ilyas, a resident of Ratta village, some 38km to the north-east of Chakwal city. Men are coming to his home to offer their condolences over the sudden death of his 23-year-old son who, according to Ilyas, was waging ‘jihad’ against India under the umbrella of the Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM). This is an outlawed militant organisation engaged in activities against the Indian Army in Kashmir. It seems that Ilyas’s son, Mohammad Abdullah, was allegedly killed on Aug 2 by Indian Army soldiers in the Kail Sector of Azad Jammu and Kashmir while leading his group to cross onto the Indian side. Ilyas tells his visitors that they should congratulate him since his son was martyred.

Abdullah’s body was brought to this sleepy village on the morning of Aug 5 by his fellows in the mission. Ilyas said that he personally made the announcement regarding his son’s death on the loudspeakers of the village mosque. The funeral prayers were to be offered at 8:30am but they were delayed for an hour as the JeM’s fiery orator, Qari Ghulam Abbas, the man who authored the outfit’s anthem, delivered an hour-long speech on the importance of ‘jihad’. Citing Quranic verses and sayings of the Prophet (peace be upon him) he urged people to participate in the ‘jihad’ his organisation is waging against India.

Abdullah is not the sole ‘jihadi’ killed by the Indian Army. The body of a 37-year-old militant was brought to Waulah village located in Choa Saidan Shah tehsil, some 40km to the south of Chakwal city, on July 25. Those were the remains of Mohammad Atif who had reportedly been carrying out ‘jihad’ for 15 years under the platform of another banned militant organisation, Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT). His funeral prayers were led by firebrand leader Hafiz Abdul Rehman Makki.

Until a few years ago, Abdullah was leading a normal life. It all started with Al Qalam, a weekly newspaper published by JeM from Peshawar and secretly circulated. “I have been an avid reader of Al Qalam and Zarb-e-Momin for the last 12 years,” Ilyas told Dawn. “After reading these newspapers, I made up my mind to send my son for jihad.”

Abdullah met JeM’s men at a mosque in Rawalpindi a year ago and went to Muzaffarabad where he was trained for six months. He also attended a training course of 15 days in Bahawalpur, the hometown of Maulana Masood Azhar, the founder of the JeM. When, after a long hibernation, Azhar addressed a crowded and well-organised rally at Muzaffarabad last February, Abdullah was there too. Later that month, he was selected for a mission.

“When my son informed me that he had been selected for a mission, I went to Mufti Jamil-ur-Rehman for his consent,” said Ilyas. “He said, ‘Yes, you can send your son to fight in the way of Allah,’ and I allowed my son to go ahead.”

Mufti Jamil-ur-Rehman, a prayer leader at Imdadia Mosque in Chakwal city, is said to be second-in-command to Qazi Zahoor-ul-Hassan, the chief of the Tehreek-i-Khuddam-i-Ahle Sunnat Wal Jamaat (TKASWJ), which was founded by his father, the late Qazi Mazhar Hussain. Although the organisation is not banned, it allegedly has close links with the banned Ahle Sunnat Wal Jamaat and other militant organisations and wields considerable influence in the district. The TKASWJ is believed to be backed by PML-N leaders who need its help for support at election time.

“My wife is happier than me over the martyrdom of Abdullah,” said Ilyas. His youngest son, Saifullah, is seven, and studies in the second grade at the village primary school. “I would also send him for jihad,” said his father, pointing at him.

“We know that funeral prayers were held but we don’t know where and how these two persons were killed,” said District Police Officer Dr Moeen Masood.

“Militant organisations exist in Chakwal district and they select youngsters for their missions,” explained Yunus Awan, a senior local journalist. He added that seminaries are operating in the district in large numbers.

“The influence of banned outfits is rapidly increasing in the district. The trend towards active ‘jihad’ is on the decline but the charged mindset is spreading in the absence of any policy to curb it,” said Iftikhar Haider, advocate and member of the Chakwal District Bar Association.

“The reactivation of the JeM and the LeT is highly alarming,” said Zahid Hussain, a noted author and columnist. “The government should control the activities of such outfits as militancy is not the solution to the problems,” he explained, adding that such incidents are damaging the genuine Kashmiri movement.

Published in Dawn, August 12th, 2014