Jammu and Kashmir police Tuesday said that the missing PhD scholar from Bemina area of Srinagar has joined Hibul Mujahideen outfit and if his family members would bring him back, he won’t be arrested.Talking to news agency—Kashmir News Observer (KNO), exclusively, Inspector General of Police (IGP) Kashmir Vijay Kumar said: “Yes, as per our reports, Hilal Ahmed, a Ph.D scholar from Bemina area of Srinagar has joined Hizbul Mujahideen outfit. If his family brings him back, we will not arrest him.”On June 13, Hilal, who is pursuing PhD from Kashmir University, went for trekking along with five other youth to Naranag area of Central Kashmir’s Ganderbal district. All his five friends returned home on the same evening except Hilal.There were no whereabouts of Hilal since them. Being an orphan, his family members had been moving from pillar to post besides staging protests that their son should be brought back. Only yesterday, his family members had urged the LG led administration and other security agencies to bring their son back for the sake of humanity.However, police sources told KNO that Hilal’s family would be urged to make appeals to their son to return home. “If he accepts his family’s requests, his home coming would be facilitated smoothly and he won’t be arrested or put behind bars,” police sources said.Meanwhile, speaking with KNO, Hilal’s uncle Nisar Ahmed said that he was sure that his nephew won’t take any extreme step like joining militant ranks. “He has not such nature. As far the police claim, we urge the government and police to help us trace our son.We are ready to cooperate police in whatever manner they want us. If they will tell us where our son is, we will go to that place and urge our son to come back,” said Ahmed. He said that Hilal had got admission for pursuing doctorate in Kashmir University six months ago—(KNO)