SRINAGAR: In the end, a wailing mother’s cries and a heartbroken father’s pleas prevailed over the specious but alluring propaganda of Lashkar-e-Taiba recruiters who had lured away a Kashmiri footballer to jihad.

A week after Majid Irshad Khan, a football enthusiast who played for his district and an undergrad student of Anantnag town in south Kashmir announced that he had joined the Lashkar, he dramatically returned along with the rifle he had brandished on Facebook.

The development came after a video of Majid’s mother 50-year-old Asyia Begum, crying and begging him to return home surfaced. On Tuesday, his father, 59-year-old Irshad Ahmad Khan, complained of pain in the chest and was admitted to the hospital for treatment. The video of Majid’s mother went viral on social media and led to a chain petition from his friends and relatives asking him to shun the path of terror and violence.

Official sources said Majid surrendered before Victor Force of the Indian Army on Thursday night. However, GOC Victor Force Major General B S Raju at a Press Conference on Friday said that Majid was neither arrested nor asked to surrender.

“His parents’ efforts bore fruit and he decided on his own to shun violence and pursue his academics and passion for football. We only facilitated his return,” he said. A security police officer who conversed with Majid after his surrender told TOI that Khan had a change of heart because of his parents’ agony.

Army and police, however, did not allow the media to talk to Majid, who was present at the press conference at victor force headquarters at Awantipora in Pulwama district on Friday afternoon.

However, Majid’s father Irshad Khan, speaking to the TOI, said he was “grateful to all the residents of Anantnag and media who helped” him in disseminating his appeal to his son to return home.

Khan, who works in Tehsildar’s office in Anantnag said there were scenes of jubilations at their home, with relatives and friends visiting to congratulate the family for the return of their lone son.

Police sources said Majid had joined Lashkar after making contacts with the overground workers of the terror outfit. He had also showed up with an AK-47 at the funeral of a militant who was killed in an encounter in Khund.

Majid was previously working with an NGO Mother Helpage, a charity organisation, and had motivated nearly 300-odd youth to work for the good of the people in south Kashmir.

J&K chief minister Mehbooba Mufti on Friday credited “mother’s love” for Majid’s surrender. “A mother’s love prevailed. Her impassioned appeal helped in getting Majid, an aspiring footballer back home. Every time a youngster resorts to violence, it is his family which suffers the most,” she tweeted.

Mehbooba has been successful in persuading security forces to deal with militants with more sensitivity and an approach that can facilitate their return.