From Uttar Pradesh to Pakistan, a terror-inspired trip

NEW DELHI: Mohammed Asif's journey from Sambhal in UP to Miranshah in Pakistan was quite an adventure. He had met al-Qaida boss Ayman al Zawahiri, AQIS chief Maulana Asim Umar, Indian Mujahideen founder Riyaz Bhatkal, Bada Sajid--all big names in f the world of terror. It was this that attracted other radicalised youths f to Jihad. c Born to a trucker family, Asif dropped out of school in the fifth standard and became a welder. He then tried manage accounts of shopkeepers and also opened a flof ur mill. But destiny had other plans for him.

Asif was attracted to terror groups like Harkat-Ul-Mujahidin (HuM). In 2012, he contacted Umar's deputy , Qasim, also a resident of Sambhal but who had migrated to accompany his master.

Qasim invited Asif to Pakistan on behalf of Umar. By this time, Asif had motivated two other youths and asked Qasim to arrange for funds so that they could move out of India. The trio received funds through a financier and procured tourist visas to Iran on the pretext of visiting the shrine of Ayatollah Khomeini in Tehran. On June 23, 2013, the trio flew from Delhi to Tehran. They were then flown to Zahedan, the capital of Sistan and Baluchestan province of Iran, and later to Sarwan from where they crossed the Iran-Pakis tan border on foot. They were now in Quetta.

From Quetta, they travelled through Ghazni (Afghanistan), Junubi and north Waziristan.There they met Assad alias Usman, a resident of Sambhal. Us man took them to Miranshah where they met Qasim alias Sayed Akhtar, also from Sambhal. "Qasim and Usman briefed us about al-Qaida, its structure, objectives and what was in store for us jihadis on our path to ultimate glory ," Asif said in his interrogation report.

Asif was taken to Umar's hideout after a week where he found that Umar was his relative Sanaul Haq. Umar told him about the foundation of AQIS and sent him for training in Waziristan to take over as principal ideologue of AQIS in India.

Asif also had a close shave when a strike killed Hakimullah Mehsood, the then chief of Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan, who was lodged in a safe house nearby.