The investigation into the deadly November 10 car blast near Delhi’s Red Fort took a dark turn this week after a video surfaced showing the deceased bomber, Dr. Umar Un Nabi, calmly attempting to rationalize suicide attacks as “martyrdom operations.”
In response, AIMIM (All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen) chief Asaduddin Owaisi issued a powerful and unequivocal condemnation of the remarks, forcefully rejecting any attempt to link the violence to religious doctrine.
Owaisi’s Strong Rebuttal
Speaking on Wednesday, Owaisi labeled the statements by Dr. Umar Un Nabi—a medical professional from Kashmir who investigators confirmed drove the explosive-laden car—as “dangerous and deceptive.”
Asaduddin Owaisi: “Suicide is strictly forbidden in Islam and the killing of innocents is a grave sin. No religious doctrine allows violence against civilians… There is nothing ‘misunderstood’ about Nabi’s justification of violence. This is terrorism and nothing else.“
Owaisi stressed that such statements, which aim to normalize violence, cannot be excused or tolerated under the guise of faith or ideology, and amount to a direct attack on the law of the land.
The Chilling Radicalization Video
The controversy stems from an undated, self-recorded video recovered during the investigation. In the footage, Dr. Umar Un Nabi—who was linked to a Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) logistics module—speaks with unsettling ease, claiming that “what has been labelled as suicide bombing” is a “martyrdom operation… known in Islam.”
He attempts to philosophically differentiate the act from traditional suicide, arguing it involves a person presuming they will “surely die at a particular place and time.” Investigators believe the video was intended to brainwash and radicalize others, as Umar was considered the most ideologically extreme member of the so-called “white-collar” terror module based in Faridabad.
The high-intensity blast near the Red Fort claimed at least 13 lives and injured dozens, shattering the peace of the busy Old Delhi area.