Fazul’s military quest lands him in Afghanistan

While studying in Pakistan, I yearned to learn more about the Afghan issue from some Talibans who were my classmates.

I did not hide my wish to go to Afghanistan. I always asked them about the way to get there, but they did not give me a satisfactory answer. Comoran brethren who were organising a programme for Jihad in Afghanistan told me that the Taliban — Afghan university students in Pakistan — went to the country during the holidays for combat and training and then returned to resume their education.

I told an Afghan brother, Abd-al-Hafiz, that I was available and could go on the next holiday, but he told me that permission was granted by the university president.

The university administration was comprised of Hanafi followers of the Diyubandi sect, and they did not object strongly to those who wanted to join the Jihad. However, they were strongly inclined towards preaching the message of Islam. They organised students during the holidays to go to Rawalpindi, Pakistan, to attend international meetings, held annually, to spread the call.

I continued to study, but my mind was preoccupied with Afghanistan. Three months after enrolling at the university, we sat for the exams and closed for the holidays.

Every student began talking about their plans for the holidays and they kept on asking me where I was going to spend mine.

I was frank with them. I told them that I wanted to go to Afghanistan.

I always wondered how my mother would feel when she heard that I opted for the religious university when she wanted me to take modern studies. Even worse, how would she react if she heard that I was going to go to Afghanistan when I had not stayed even one year in Pakistan!

Once I heard other students say that news of my decision had reached the president, I asked them if I committed a crime by wishing to go to Afghanistan to aid Muslim brethren.

But with Allah’s grace, the president understood the issue and told me that I could go after getting my mother’s permission.

And in fact, there was no need to ask for permission because my true intention was to get military training. It is a duty for which no permission is required.

It was very cold in Karachi when we met at the bus stop to board a bus to Peshawar, a 36-hour trip. We got the final instructions from Abu-Jafar, and they were as follows:

“The Amir (leader) must be listened to and obeyed during the trip. Nobody should take a photo alone. At police checkpoints, only the Amir speaks. Everybody must take up an alias (or an ‘Abu’ name). Nobody should be called by his true name”.

At this point, I truly felt that I was in a new phase of my life because I like adventure and risk.

I remembered those movies in which one’s name is changed numerous times. The difference here is that the alias is for Allah’s cause. I was thinking about the alias to take. I wanted an alias that had significance to my life.