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‘PhD scholar has joined Hizb ranks’

KT NEWS SERVICE. Dated: 1/9/2018 6:26:14 PM

SRINAGAR, Jan 8: Hizb-ul-Mujahideen today said PhD scholar from north Kashmir’s Kupwara district has joined militant ranks.
In an e-mailed statement issued to local news agency, KNS, the Hizb spokesman, Saleem Hashmi quoted the outfit chief Syed Salah-ud-din said “the Phd scholar Abdul Manaan Wani, resident of Takki Pora Lolab in Kupwara has joined the militant ranks and his entry is the negation to India’s propaganda, which they claim that the youth are joining militant ranks because of unemployment and economic problem.”
“From past several years, the educated youth joined Hizb to take the ongoing freedom movement to the logical conclusion,” he said while speaking in a Hizb Command Council meet.
A Ph D scholar in Geology from Aligarh Muslim University (AMU), Manaan was missing from university since the last several days. He was scheduled to reach the Valley but never reached his home. His picture, brandishing a gun, went viral on social networking sites. His family members, in an appeal through media, have appealed Manaan to shun the path of violence and return home.
According to his friends and relatives, Mannan comes from a well-off family with his father, Bashir Ahmed, reportedly working as a lecturer while his other brother is working as a junior engineer in the state government.
According to the photo, Mannan joined the Hizb on January 5 with codename ‘Hamza Bhai'. The description mentions that Mannan has PhD in Applied Geology from the AMU but his family said he has not received the degree so far.
Meanwhile, AMU authorities have suspended Manaan from the University. Police also conducted a search of the room of Manaan in AMU hostel.
According to a report in ‘The Citizen’, “Last November, when he was on way to Srinagar from his home, the passenger vehicle he was traveling in got stopped at four places and the passengers had to get down every time and prove their identity.”
“The most disgusting thing was when an ordinary SOG personnel donning black uniform posed questions like, why had I grown such long hair, why didn't I trim my beard if intend to look smart, why do I wear long boots, why do I wear a shawl in such a young age?” Mannan wrote in one of his last Facebook update, the report mentioned
“On this disgusting day, the best moment happened when I got a compliment from the Indian Army officer (who also checked my identity card, but spared me from getting down from the car) about my looks resembling the famous Commander, who has given them sleepless nights, and me passing a gentle smile without uttering a single word,” the report quoted his Facebook post.
According to this report. “His Facebook account is presently disabled but his Twitter handle @mannanwani14 is active. His Twitter bio reads: ‘Prisoner of the Paradise', mentioning the address of his blog where he has written, among other pieces related to politics, a long letter to moderate Hurriyat chairman Mirwaiz Umar Farooq after his controversial 'Who the hell is Geelani’ remarks while describing Mirwaiz as an 'accidental leader’.”
The report also quotes a news update on the official website of the AMU states that Manaan was awarded 'Best Paper Presentation Award' in an international conference on 'Water, Environment, Energy and Society (ICWEES) held at AISECT University, Bhopal, for his paper ‘Flood Risk Assessment of Lolab Valley from Watershed Analysis' using remote sensing and GIS techniques.
According to the update, around 400 delegates from 20 countries, including China, US and the UK, participated in the conference. “His blog post entry in November reveals that he had also come to Delhi from his university to lend support to the campaign for seeking whereabouts of JNU student Najeeb Ahmed, who has been missing from more than a year,” the report mentioned
“And also I believe, protest March or Sit-ins are only successful when all forms of protest are made simultaneously by people in their own capacities. We can neither expect everyone to come on roads and walk three or four kilometers on foot or lay on ground for days nor can we expect everyone to write long pieces, but, we can at least expect it from everyone to remain protesting for any genuine cause, until justice is not delivered, in any form which he/she deems suitable and possible,” he wrote in the post as per the news report.