A day after a video of Red Fort bomber Umar un Nabi endorsing “suicide bombing” surfaced online, All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) President Asaduddin Owaisi strongly condemned his remarks, stressing that suicide is haram (forbidden) in Islam and that killing innocents is a “grave sin”.
The undated video, now widely circulated on social media, shows Umar describing suicide bombing as a “martyrdom operation”.
Reacting to the video on Wednesday, Owaisi posted on X: “There is an undated video of Delhi blasts accused Umar Nabi justifying suicide bombing as ‘martyrdom,’ and that it’s ‘misunderstood.’ Suicide is haram in Islam and the killing of innocents is a grave sin. Such acts are also against the law of the land. They are not ‘misunderstood’ in any way. This is terrorism and nothing else.”
Owaisi also criticised Union Home Minister Amit Shah over his earlier claim that no local Kashmiri had joined terror groups in the previous six months. “During Operation Sindoor and Mahadev, @AmitShah had assured Parliament that no local Kashmiri had joined terror groups in the last six months. Where did this group come from then? Who is accountable for the failure to detect this group?” he wrote.
Addressing the Rajya Sabha in July this year on the success of Operation Sindoor, Shah had said that no local had joined any terrorist outfit in Jammu and Kashmir during the past six months.
Umar un Nabi drove the Hyundai i20 that exploded near the Red Fort on November 10, with DNA samples from his mother confirming he was behind the wheel at the time of the blast. As reported by The Indian Express, investigators relied on key forensic clues, including a charred portion of a leg found near the accelerator and a black sports shoe next to the wreckage, to establish his identity.
A day earlier, investigators probing the Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) module that Umar was part of told The Indian Express that the video had been retrieved from his own mobile phone. According to them, Umar’s associates said during questioning that he was the most radicalised member of the close-knit JeM cell and would frequently discuss suicide bombing.
The National Investigation Agency (NIA) has arrested two of Umar’s close associates , Amir Rashid Ali of Pulwama and Kasir Bilal Vani alias Danish of Anantnag in connection with the blast.