Kerala scribe joins Al-Qaeda in Syria

A few weeks ago, quoting intelligence sources in Delhi and Kerala, almost all the leading news dailies in Kerala had a shocking news story on their front pages.“Keralite journalist joins Islamic State (IS) group” was the headline.

“The journalist was working with a newspaper in Palakkad in Kerala. He then migrated to the same newspaper’s Qatar office in Doha. From there he had taken leave to visit Mecca to perform Haj. But he had gone to Syria and joined Islamic State. He has not contacted his family in Kerala for the last one year and had only sent money once,” the news reports said.

On the basis of the Kerala media reports, the English press in India also printed the same story and also claimed the journalist has joined IS.

Now more details have emerged. The journalist was working with the news daily Thejas.  Moreover, he has joined Al Qaeda in Syria, not the Islamic State.

Janam TV, a recently launched TV channel in Kerala, has reported a different version of this story. According to its reports, the journalist is Abu Tahir who comes from a village in Palakad.  In its report on August 4 the channel says it had reported as early as June 1 that the journalist had joined Al Nusra Front, the Syrian outfit of Al Qaeda, not IS.

Citing Tahir’s Facebook post that he had joined Al Nusra,  the report also added that Tahir had shared Al Nusra videos on his Facebook page. On August 6, Janam TV carried a picture of Tahir and re-confirmed that he had joined Al Nusra.

Two days ago, there was also a story in the Indian media that a Mumbai-based journalist who had expressed his desire to join IS on social media had been arrested by Delhi police. The story said that Ahmed Khan allegedly lamented Yakub Memon’s death, stated that he would “submit my memorandum to Caliphate Bagdadi” and declared his “desire to join the Islamic State as a spokesperson for foreign affairs or a government journalist.”

The story added that he was planning to take the Rajdhani Express to reach Delhi where he would ask the Pakistani High Commission to expedite his visa request.

Quoting his blog, the report said, “I am fighting for the rights of Muslims using my own money. I will be the voice of Muslims and place the true picture of Muslims before society… the IS does not betray those who help it on the basis of religion.”

But again, as with Abu Tahir, we don’t know how accurate this is and it may take a while for the correct version to emerge.