This is a curious case of a PhD scholar from Aligarh Muslim University, Mannan Bashir Wani, who went to Kashmir and took up the gun to become a Hizbul Mujahideen militant. The militant outfit on Tuesday confirmed that Wani has joined its ranks. The AMU acted swiftly and expelled the student before ordering an internal inquiry. Wani’s colleagues in the university still can’t believe why he became a militant. His family in the valley is worried about his future. His parents are praying for his early return to the mainstream. Photographs of Wani carrying an AK-47 rifle have gone viral on social media. It is true that many young men in the Valley took to the guns at the instigation of terrorists, but most of them returned to their families, after their parents appealed to them through videos. It is the responsibility of parents in the Valley to appeal to such misguided youths, because terrorism is a blind alley. Pakistan has become a safe haven for terrorists, and this has been admitted by no less than the CIA chief Mike Pompeo.