In August last year, the Mumbai police had detained a man named Zubair Khan after a series of incidents which made it pretty clear he was intent on joining ISIS. Apart from a number of Facebook posts he put up saying he was headed to join the terrorist organisation, the police had also received a call from the Iraq Embassy that the man had allegedly requested that his CV be forwarded to the Islamic State for the post of its spokesperson.
Now the ATS (Anti-Terrorism Squad) has not just managed to apparently deradicalize this 48-year-old, they’ve also found him a job as a salesman in a Navi Mumbai showroom.
It might sound bizarre, but the ATS decided to help this potential terrorist out after realising that his intentions mostly stemmed from a massive amount of frustration over a long period of time due to not having a job.
This former journalist and blogger lives with his wife and 2 children in Kharghar, and had been struggling to find a job after the fiasco over his detainment earlier.
“I had no intentions of becoming a terrorist. I am a patriotic Muslim. I presumed perhaps Iraq will be divided into several regions and ISIS will rule one part of it. I thought they will have a legitimate government. I just felt that it would be a good job opportunity for me if I became their political spokesperson,” he told Mumbai Mirror.
Zubair Khan holds a master’s degree in mass communication and public administration, and lost his initial job as a hospital administrator in a private nursing home in Mumbai in 2007 due to his ‘overtly religious’ behaviour and constant conversation about ‘Islam and Islamic scriptures’.
Following this turn of events, he was lured by the ISIS promise of payment in gold coins and was asked to join them after leaving the country. However, he was apprehended before this could happen.
“We wanted to ensure that he was totally deradicalized and given counseling. It was important that he gets absorbed into the mainstream and lead a normal life,” said a senior ATS officer, in regard to finally sorting Zubair out with stable work. Let’s see how everything turns out.