'My son is Shahid, not Bilal'

HYDERABAD: For police, he is the most dreaded terrorist, but for his family he is still a shy youngster. He is 'Bilal' to the men in khaki, while for the family which claims he has aliases, he has always been Mohammed Shahid.
"The police have dubbed him as a terrorist and say he is in Bangladesh. If that is what they know, why don't they bring him to India?" an agitated Abdul Wahed, father of Shahid asks.
As much as Wahed wants to come to the defence of his son, he is unwilling to talk about his four other sons living in Dubai.He is not even willing to divulge what jobs they do. "They are settled in their respective jobs. There is no need to bring up their names now," he said. But with Bilal's name being linked to every terror act in the city, Wahed is upset. When Bilal's name cropped up after the Mecca Masjid blast, Wahed maintained his cool trying to tell everyone that his son could not have resorted to such an act.
Now, the retired school teacher is irritated. Annoyed to the extent of telling everyone —especially the media which want him to talk more and more about his son— to stop even referring to his son as a terrorist.
Wahed is at pains to explain that Shahid was a shy youngster who was not even seen much in the locality where he lived until a few years ago before he went absconding.
"My son's name is Mohammed Shahid, and we in the family, or even his friends, never called him Bilal. It is police who gave him this name. Rather than unnecessarily linking my son to every terror act, the police should get him from wherever they say he is," Shahid's father Abdul Wahed told 'TOI' with tears in his eyes.
A family in the mixed locality of Moosarambagh, Wahed has 11 children —seven sons and four daughters. Two of his sons— Shahid and Zahed— have been on the police radar for the past few years. "I do not know why, but police are after my two sons," Wahed, a former government school teacher, said. "People in our locality too do not recognise Shahid, the fifth son in the family. He was the reticent type and never got into any trouble," the inconsolable father recalled.
"Neither Shahid nor any member of his family ever created trouble in our locality. They are very polite and humble individuals," a woman, who stays opposite the Wahed household, said. However, since the past four years, police are on the lookout for Shahid and his younger brother, who always bore the brunt. "Shahid disappeared in 2004 and it has been nearly four years now. Since then, Shahid's younger brother Zahed was picked up by police from their house on several occasions. Sometimes, police even beat him up," Wahed alleged. Zahed was named a suspect in an alleged plot schemed to kill BJP leader N Indrasena Reddy. "I have lost count of the number of times Zahed was picked up. Police descend on our house at odd hours and search the premises. They even took away a computer from the house. Zahed was unnecessarily being dragged into the issue," Wahed alleged.
Shahid is the fifth son of Wahed, and his four elder brothers have settled abroad, while all his sisters are married. Shahid completed class X in Urdu medium from Aliya High School and later enrolled for CEC in Mumtaz College, both located at the same premises at 'B' Blocks in Malakpet.
Shahid was in Intermediate second year when he suddenly disappeared one fine day. "I do not find any reason for my son to leave. There were some minor problems in the family, the general 'tu-tu main-main' with his brothers, but it happens in all houses," the distraught father said.
He claimed that he never contacted the family and all their efforts to contact him proved futile. "It is through media reports we came to know that Shahid is in Bangladesh. If he is in Bangladesh, how can he be involved in the attacks here?" Wahed asks. "Police are blaming him for all terror attacks in the city. First catch him and prove his guilt, and then let the truth come out," he reasoned.
Zahed was recently arrested by police for allegedly sheltering terrorists during their stay in the city. The retired teacher is now left only with his youngest son, Majid, who had to discontinue his studies after class X. Majid was allegedly picked up by police late Saturday night for questioning in the twin blasts case.