Family members of Idrees Mir say they were clueless about him joining a militant group until his picture brandishing an AK-47 went viral on social media.
New Delhi: The Kashmiri soldier, Idrees Sultan Mir, who is suspected to have joined the Hizbul Mijahiddeen, “never showed inclination” towards militancy, his relatives claim.
According to his family members, they were “clueless” about him joining a militant group until his picture brandishing an AK-47 went viral on social media Monday.
Mir is a resident of Saf Nagri, Shopian in south Kashmir, known as a hotbed of militancy.
“We are in a complete shock. He was doing a government service. He never showed any inclination towards militancy nor did he discuss such things with us,” his brother Muzamil Sultan told ThePrint.
Mir, a jawan from 12 Jammu and Kashmir Light Infantry (JAKLI), apparently left home Sunday morning without saying anything to his family.
He had joined the Army in 2015. “It was his decision. He filled the recruitment form when he was pursuing BSc II year and joined the Army,” Muzamil said.
“He received training at the JAKLI camp in the Valley and then got posted in Bihar. He never expressed any dismay about his work,” he added.
He left home at 4 pm Sunday saying that he was going to Srinagar. “After his phone went off, we realised he was missing and at 2 pm Monday, his picture surfaced on the internet,” Muzamil said.
Mir has two sisters and two brothers. Muzamil is the eldest one. The family said Mir was transferred to south Kashmir’s Pampore area and took a short break to visit home.
His father, a visually impaired teacher, was left “shattered” by the news.
Mir studied in a local school and went to the Government Degree College, Anantnag, to pursue a B.Sc., course.
“None of his friends in our neighbourhood have joined militants so far,” Muzamil said.
“It is confirmed that Idrees has joined the militants. He had come home on leave but left without informing anybody. His parents then filed a missing report,” senior superintendent of police of Shopian, Ambarkar Sriram Dinkar, told ThePrint.
An image showing him holding an AK-47 rifle had gone viral on social media. This has been a trend since young Hizbul commander Burhan Wani’s pictures surfaced on social media platforms two years ago.
Mir’s phone has remained “unreachable” since then. The police have registered a case.
Dinkar said this is not the first time a Kashmiri soldier picked up a gun. “Last year, a boy from Pulwama, who had joined the Territorial Army, became a militant. This is a very complex issue,” Dinkar said.
The J&K police have asked the youths who have picked up guns to surrender and join the mainstream. Families of such militants have also appealed through to their boys through the media to come home.
Even in Mir’s case, Dinkar said: “We can only make an appeal to the family to request him to return. It is their choice.”
The development comes in the wake of security forces eliminating 13 militants in three separate encounters on 1 April.
Four civilians and three soldiers were killed in these incidents as well.
The Army had said that some of the militants eliminated were involved in the killing of Lt. Ummer Fayaz, whose bullet ridden body was found in Herman Shopian in May last year.