The Pakistani and Indian High Commissioners to Nigeria
have disagreed over reports that the two Nigerian students
that were arrested in India are on their way to join the
terrorist group, Islamic State of Syria and Iraq.
While the Indian High Commissioner, Ajjampur
Ghanashyam, insisted that the two youths from Kano,
Imran Kabeer and Sani Jamiliu, were on their way to
Pakistan to join ISIS, his Pakistani counterpart, Lt. Gen.
Agha Farooq (retd.), described the report as false.
Farooq stated that India was being mischievous, noting
that the students could not possibly breach the Indian/
Pakistani borders which he said was fortified with armed
soldiers, underground mines and electrified barbed wire.
He said the allegation against the two youths was an
attempt to demonise them “just because they are Nigerian
Muslims.”
Ghanashyam in an interview he said his mission “now thinks
twice before issuing student visas to Nigerians.”
According to him, the high commission is worried that
radicalised Nigerian students in India may abandon their
studies and travel out to join ISIS, adding that no fewer
than 5,900 Nigerian students are schooling in India and
about 30,000 Nigerians had graduated from various
tertiary institutions in the country.
When asked if the high commission had changed its visa
requirements since the arrest of the two Nigerians,
Ghanashyam said it had not, adding however that the
mission is more careful about visa issuance to applicants.
He stated that between 10 and 15% applicants were given
visas, noting that the mission would take drastic measures
to ensure that Nigerian students returned home after
completing their education.
Ghanashyam said:
“Visa requirements have been on the web, everybody
knows, but you see, you can’t locate the mind of a
man to find out what his intentions are. If he has
an admission letter from our school, and you have
seen it with your own eyes, then you will give them
visas, but now you have to think twice.
“You don’t know, but now we believe we are taken
for a ride, but now you have to go back and tell
them to look after these boys and girls and make
sure they don’t go out here and there, to make sure
they finish their course and board a plane to go
back to Nigeria.
“The mission will be more careful. Usually, we give
visas to about 10 to 15 per cent of applicants and
this may further be reviewed.”
In regards to the arrest of the two youths, the envoy said
that they were issued visas because they tendered the
necessary documents including letters of admission from
an Indian institution.
He said:
“These two boys from Kano said they wanted to
study in Bangalore, we believed them and gave
them student visas. They went to Bangalore last
September. They spent one year, then they decided
to go to ISIS, and they were trapped near the
Pakistani border.
“I hope they are the exception and aberration, not
the trend. I hope it would be the last of their kind.
We have an association of close to 30,000 Nigerians
who have graduated from India and we have 5,900
of students who are studying in India, it is quite
worrying that if they go to India and from there,
they go to ISIS, we would have a big issue on our
hands.”
But the Pakistani ambassador dismissed the allegations
against Kabeer and Jamiliu who are being detained by the
police in Punjab, India.
Farooq, who displayed pictures of the Indian/Pakistani
borders during an interview on Friday in Abuja, said that
it was practically impossible for the two students to join
ISIS by going through Pakistan because they would have to
pass through three countries to reach Syria, whereas they
could easily enter Syria by air through Turkey or by sea.
He said:
“From the pictures of the borders, you can see that
there is no way the students could enter Pakistan
from India because the border is well guarded with
soldiers and other high-tech gadgets and it is
controlled by India.
“The report that the Nigerian students were going to
join ISIS is a hoax; how come it was reported by
only Indian media? They just want to demonise the
students because they are Nigerian Muslims.”
Source: Punch
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