Kerala CM wants Centre to decide on repatriation of IS fighters' widows in Afghanistan

With families of Islamic State (IS) fighters' widows urging the Kerala government to repatriate them, Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan on Monday shifted the onus onto the Centre, asserting that Union Government should take a decision on the matter. The four widows of the Islamic State fighters have been languishing in Kabul since their surrender to the Afghanistan forces in December 2019. The four women and their children, natives of Kerala's Kasargod district, had surrendered following the death of their husbands in combat. 

Responding to a query on the matter, the Kerala CM on Monday said that it was a matter to be decided by the Centre and took the responsibility off his state government's shoulders. Amid reports of Centre's alleged disinterest in the matter, Vijayan highlighted that a stand needs to be taken it is an issue considering the Nation. 

Noting that the women from the state are jailed in Afghanistan, the Chief Minister also said "it is needed to know if they are ready to come to India. Their family's opinion should also be sought."

In an unverified video released last year, the four widows, identified as Nimisha Fathima, Rafeela, Soniya Sebastian and Merrin Jacob, had expressed hopes of returning to India. In the video, the women were purportedly seen saying that they were living among several fighters and other families who had surrendered to the Afghanistan government in 2019 after their husbands were killed. As per news agency PTI, Nimisha Fathima's mother has expressed hope that the Centre will pardon her daughter and bring her back to India.

21 Kerala youth had migrated to Kerala in 2017

As per earlier reports, Afghan national security directorate Ahmad Zia Saraj has claimed that 408 members of the ISIS from 13 different countries are currently languishing in Afghanistan's prisons. This comes after 21 Kerala youths - 17 from Kasargod and 4 from Palakkad - had moved to Afghanistan along with their families to join the IS. Investigation into the matter, which also witnessed a chargesheet filed by 2017, revealed that sleeper cells were active in the state.

The NIA had named Abdul Rashid as the mastermind behind the migration to IS, who had married Sonia Sebastian. Rashid Abdullah and Sajeer Mangalassery had been accused of radicalising Kerala's youth and subsequently the state police identified nearly 100 citizens from Kerala and the Gulf who had migrated to IS-controlled territories. Several of those who had migrated to Afghanistan had been killed in drone strikes.