5 of 15 Muslims missing from Kerala had converted to Islam recently

July 10, 2016

Kasaragod, Jul 10: Five of the 15 missing Muslims from Kerala who are feared to have joined the Islamic State (IS) were Hindus and Christians who had converted to Islam about a year ago.

1couple

Fathima Nimisha who went missing with her husband Eesa who were feared to have joined in IS terror group

Meanwhile, intelligence sources said one of those missing was in Afghanistan, while another was hiding in India.

Among the five married couples who are missing, two were earlier Hindus or Christians.

— Nimisha, alias Fathima, from a Hindu family in Thiruvananthapuram, converted to Islam while studying at a dental college in Kasaragod district in November last year.

— Merlin, alias Mariyam, from Kochi was a Christian who converted to Islam while working with IBM in Mumbai last year.

— Nimisha and Merlin were married to two brothers, Issa and Yahiya, from Palakkad who had both converted from Christianity to Islam. Their father, Vincent, filed a missing person's complaint on Saturday.

— Sonia, alias Ayisha, an engineering graduate — who is missing with her husband Abdul Rasheed, an engineer, and their two-year-old daughter Sara — was a Christian who converted to Islam about a year ago.

Nimisha's mother, Bindu, said her daughter first went missing from her college last November. After she filed a police complaint, Nimisha and Issa appeared before a local court. “I was shocked to see her covering her face. I was told that she had been converted to Islam by some Mujahideen group,'' she said.

Nimisha's family moved a habeas corpus petition in the high court in November. But the court allowed her to live with Issa. “I asked my daughter how she met Issa as he was not her classmate or friend. I was told that her seniors in college arranged the match, that they wanted a converted youth to marry a converted girl. They had become friends just four days before they started living together,'' she said.

At first, Nimisha did not contact her family. But she later got in touch, and even visited her mother in the second week of May. “After spending a few hours with the family, she left for Palakkad. Later, I was told that they were going to Sri Lanka to explore some business opportunities. I pleaded with Issa not to go there with my pregnant daughter, but he refused to listen. After reaching Sri Lanka, she sent me WhatsApp messages,'' said Bindu.

Jacob, the father of another missing woman, Merlin, said his daughter and Yahiya had studied together in a school in Kochi. “After graduation, my daughter got a job with IBM in Mumbai. During college, she was not in touch with Yahiya, who was then a Christian. Last year, after converting to Islam, he managed to track down her in Mumbai and converted her also,'' he said.

He said Merlin told him that they were going to Sri Lanka to address religious gatherings. “We discouraged them from going to Lanka. She was a brilliant girl. We thought she would not fall into any trap. We had warned her about this relationship. She was brainwashed. For the last three weeks, we have received no information about her,'' he said.

Sonia, whose family is from Vyttila in Kochi, was born in Bahrain, where her parents were employed. She came to Kerala for her engineering studies, during which she met Abdul Rashid, a resident of Kasaragod.

According to sources, Sonia was not in touch with her family after she converted to Islam. Intelligence sources said Sonia had become a preacher, while Rashid is suspected to be the local organiser of the missing group from Kasaragod.

Meanwhile, at Padanna in Kasaragod, two brothers, Dr Ijas and Shihab, an engineer, and their wives are among those missing. Their father, Abdul Rahim, told the media that if they had joined the Islamic State he would “consider them as dead”.

Two other families in Kasaragod also filed missing complaints after their sons, who were working in Qatar and Abu Dhabi, failed to reach home. Police said the youths had called up their families on June 9, informing them that would reach home in a week. “The families expected that they would come for Eid last week. The reports about missing men made them worried. Hence, they filed complaints today,'' said police sources.

Comments

Rajesh Sequira
 - 
Wednesday, 13 Jul 2016

The plot thickens.....

Maruthi
 - 
Monday, 11 Jul 2016

ALL is now understood.........................................................................BJP= high rise in scams and problems . violence and trouble in cabinet reshuffling.......Dr.Zakir Naik issue (which was unnecessary link)

in KERALA people are more attracted to ISLAM.......So ISIS issue ...that too New Muslims

Ha Ha ....

THINKERS
 - 
Monday, 11 Jul 2016

Dear Yogesh,
Study ISLAM, you will understand the media twist... Dont live as per media instruction ... sometimes verify and use your intellect.

Also Ponder on NA TASYA PRATIMA ASTI>..

abdullah
 - 
Monday, 11 Jul 2016

It clearly understood that RSS people with the help of Israel making all these controversies to avoid people from converting to Islam.

True commentator
 - 
Monday, 11 Jul 2016

Dear Yogesh,
There are thousand of people from both the sex are converting to Islam, after they fully study it.
Then these highly educated people really work as propagators than the initially borned Muslims.

You should compare how many of them have joined IS or became terrorists. In contrary those people worked as the peace propagators than anybody.

So your addressing of these 15 Keralite have not studied Islam well.
Unfortunately the young brain have been mislead to join IS which is not at all portraying ISLAMIC values. In contrary IS is the enemy of Islam and enemy of all peace loving community.

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News Network
April 8,2020

Bengaluru, Apr 8: Karnataka government has decided to postpone its first mass marriage ('Saptapadi') scheduled for April 26 due to lockdown in force, Minister for Muzrai, Port and Fisheries Kota Srinivas Poojary said here on Tuesday.

Talking to media here, he said that the first phase is likely to be clubbed with the second phase to be held on May 24. However, it all depends upon the situation prevailing at that time.

The state government had proposed to conduct the mass marriage scheme at select Muzrai temples in two phases on April 26 and May 24. Around 2000 applications with due documents were received for mass marriage from those who wished to tie the nuptial knot.

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News Network
March 16,2020

Mangaluru, Mar 16: As a precaution against the spread of Covid-19, the Karnataka State Road Transport Corporation (KSRTC) on Monday decided to cut down its premium, non-AC sleeper, Rajahamsa and express bus services from Mangaluru to Bengaluru and Kasaragod following poor patronage.

The cut down in services is as per the direction of KSRTC's Central office that wants bus services to be operated on priority.

KSRTC Mangaluru Divisional Controller S N Arun said that the corporation has decided to cut down 40 trips to Bengaluru. Concerning Kasaragod, it has reduced the number of trips from 40 to 35. "These include a reduction in services to Mysuru and Dharmasthala also," he added.

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Agencies
February 6,2020

Even more than three years after demonetisation and all-out efforts to make most transactions through electronic, cash is still king, as it thrives in a digital India, said fintech start-up Paytm founder Vijay Sekhar Sharma.

"While cashless economy is not possible in India, less cash economy will be in the future. Less cash is the only solution, not the elimination of cash," Sharma told IANS in an interview after unveiling an all-in-one payment gateway on Tuesday.

Asserting that it would take 5-10 years for India to make the transition to digital payments from the traditional mode of cash, Sharma, 41, said the e-payment industry benefitted more from the November 8, 2016 note ban and withdrawal of old Rs 1,000 and Rs 500 denominations.

"I think it (demonetisation) helped the industry despite lack of specific help. But the world has changed since then. It is about the scale of distribution of merchants that is what is propelling digital payments," said Sharma.

Most of the cash not only came back into circulation, but also remains as the mode of payment for the majority due to its convenience for the people used to such transactions.

Expounding Paytm's zero service charge, Sharma said the strategy is sustainable as it leads to acquiring more customers and merchants, enabling newer business opportunities.

Paytm also does not levy a service charge to small merchants for its payments services, unlike organised players like Uber.

"Though there is a monetisation model, the merchants who are small shopkeepers, become our financial services customers as they open a bank account, which is profitable."

Paytm secured a Payments Bank license from the Reserve Bank of India to offer a savings bank account, Rupay debit card and money transfer services.

"We are banking on payment services acquiring customers and merchants who avail banking, lending, insurance, wealth and software services like billing software and business ledger software services eventually," Sharma noted.

The mobile first bank services include zero balance and zero digital transaction charge accounts.

"Basically, payments, cloud, commerce and financial services are a cohort we follow. So, payments is our customer as well as merchant acquisition. If it breaks even, we are happy because other line items make more money, he affirmed.

Noting that in a market like India, one cannot price services at a premium unlike in a developed country like the US, the billionaire businessman said a consumer in a developing country would not be able to afford such a hefty charge.

Forbes ranked Sharma as India's youngest billionaire in 2017, with a net worth of $2.1 billion.

While several countries operate on the model of higher service charges, Sharma said newer business models have to be discovered in India, as customer lifecycle value is accounted for more stages than in other nations.

Asked about an upscale retailer like Zara not giving a wallet payment option during its recent end of season sale in Bengaluru, Sharma said Paytm was addressing such hiccups with its all-in-one payment solutions.

"It's an opportunity, because if the retailer has our all-in-one point of sale machine, where in they enter the amount, it shows both the Quick Response code (QR) and card payment options," he observed.

Sharma compared older swiping payment machine to feature phones and modern ones to feature-rich smartphones.

"If you notice, they look like feature phones and the modern day card machine is more a smartphone like. You can add the smatphone components, which can add the features," reiterated Sharma.

Though Paytm's all-in-one QR point of sale machine integrates the billing system, its chief executive said it was not ideal to have an independent QR feature.

Paytm has 16 million strong merchant user base, which Sharma aims to raise to 26 million base in the next one year.

Sharma has launched in this tech city an all-in-one payment gateway and Paytm Business Payments solution, which enable digital payments through multiple methods for small and medium enterprises (SMEs) and an Android point of sale machine.

With the new gateway solution, collecting digital payments through multiple methods can be achieved seamlessly while Paytm Business Payments solution enables automated vendor payments, including employee salaries and customer refunds among others.

The One97 Communications-owned Paytm aims to help SMEs streamline and digitise their business activities using its new solutions, which enhance the overall efficiency of both accepting and making payments.

Paytm has a data bank of over 200 million saved cards and bank accounts, a feature which enables partner apps to shorten transaction times and propel faster conversions while using the all-in-one payment gateway.

Complementing the two solutions, Sharma also launched an all-in-one Android point of sale machine, which can accept payments through all forms such as cards, wallets, UPI apps and even cash.

The device has a QR code that supports all contact and contactless payments, coming with integrated billing software customized solutions for different sectors such as catering, ticketing, parking and others.

The handheld Android device is equipped with an in-built printer, scanner and can also generate bills.

Valued at $16 billion, Paytm is not alone in the fiercely competitive Indian fintech space where a dozen players like PhonePe, MobiKwik, Kotak 811 and deep pocketed international giants Google Pay and Amazon Pay are in the fray.

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