Wounds Time Can't Heal

Months after 21 people went missing from Kerala, their loved ones continue to hope against hope.

- Karthik Ravindranath

Padne and Trikaripur, two quaint villages in Kasaragod district, were home to 17 of 21 people who reportedly left to join Islamic State.

Eleven of them were from Padne, and of these, eight belonged to the family of Abdul Rahman. As the 66-year-old greets me in his bungalow named Hamza Sagar, the turmoil inside him is clearly visible on his aged visage.

He has been struggling to make sense out of the disappearances of his sons Ijaz and Shihaz, and nephew P.K. Ashfaque along with their wives and two young children.

Both his daughter-in-laws, Rufaila and Ajmala, were pregnant when they went missing. Rahman says Ashfaque sent a message two months ago that Ijaz’s wife Rufaila, 24, had given birth to her second child. That was the last message, he says, from the missing lot. “Ajmala, 20, must also have given birth by now, but we have not heard anything from them. So I guess I have three grandchildren now, though I don’t know for sure…,” he says.

“We like to believe that they have gone somewhere to learn more about Islam and are living a peaceful life.”

Rahman praises the support and sympathy shown by local leaders. “The elected representatives here have asked people not to isolate the unfortunate families. The National Investigation Agency has also been very professional and have taken special care not to hurt us,” he says.

 

The NIA took over two cases registered by the Kerala Police about the missing youth in August.

On September 24, it took over one more case, which the Kochi police had registered in July against Bestin Vincent aka Yahia, one of the missing 21, and Arshi Qureshi, an employee of Islamic Research Foundation. The complaint had been filed by the brother of Bestin’s wife, Merin (Mariyam), saying Bestin and Qureshi had forced him and his sister to convert to Islam and join Islamic State. Qureshi was arrested from Navi Mumbai on July 21.