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| Soura killing: Militancy in Kashmir enters a dangerous phase | | | Early Times Report
JAMMU, Feb 28: Cult of terrorism is assuming alarming proportions in Kashmir with each passing day. PoJK and Pakistan-based terror outfits Hizbul Mujahideen, Lashkar-e-Toiba of Hafiz Saeed and Jaish-e-Mohammad are conducting anti-India operations and targeting armed forces and J&K police cops at regular occasions. They are almost working in unison.
As if all this was not enough to make the task of the security forces and agencies difficult, the dreaded Islamic State (IS) too has starting making inroads in the Kashmir Valley, thus adding a serious element in the terrorist-infested state and forcing the authorities to review their whole strategy aimed at tackling the menace.
The Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh and the authorities in the state dealing with the cult of terrorism had repeatedly claimed that there was no presence of IS in the state. But what reports indicate constitute a different story and suggest that the IS has been able to attract some elements in Kashmir towards its ideology.
The IS' organ has claimed responsibility for the Sunday's attack that led to the killing of a cop, Fatooq Ahmad Yatoo. Yatoo was guarding the house of Hurriyat Conference leader Fazal Haq Qureshi. The incident had taken place in the Soura area of Srinagar with terrorists escaping with the killed policeman's rifle.
Claiming the killing of a policeman, news agency of the Tuesday said: "Assassinated an element of police in firing near city of Srinagar in Kashmir yesterday". No militant outfit active in Kashmir has contested the claim. This was not its first-ever claim. This was for the second time in three months that the IS claimed responsibility for the attack on policemen in Srinagar, summer capital of the state.
What has "astonished the establishment" is the possibility young Esa Fazili's involvement in the Soura incident. Sources in Police Department reportedly said that "eyewitness accounts hinted towards the role of a recent militant recruit, Esa Fazili". "There were apprehensions that Esa may have links with the Islamic State," a senior police officer privy to probe details, as per the reports, said. "Yesterday's incident, and the IS claim, has given credence to such reports," he was quoted as saying.
Esa Fazili, himself a resident of Soura, was none other than the one who was studying engineering at Baba Ghulam Shah Badshah (BGSB) University in Rajouri, Jammu. He joined the terrorist ranks last August. Sources said: "Fazili had initially joined the Zakir Musa-led group of militants but when Zakir announced setting up Ansar Ghazwatul Hind, an Al Qaeda affiliate, in Kashmir, Fazili had differences, as he was more inclined towards the Islamic State".
It bears recalling that in November 2017, Al Amaq had also claimed that the "IS had carried out an attack in Zakura", on Srinagar's outskirts. That attack had resulted in the killing of a policeman and a terrorist, Mugees Ahmad Mir. Mir wa killed on November 17, 2017 in an encounter with the police. He was reportedly the first militant of the terror outfit IS. Indeed, Fazili and youth like Fazili joining the militant ranks is an alarming development. It must make the authorities understand why it has been happening. This trend has to be arrested failing which the possibility of Kashmir becoming another Syria or Afghanistan or Pakistan can't be overruled. Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti has in the past on many occasions said that she would not allow Kashmir to become another Syria, Pakistan and Afghanistan.
It is a different story that the Union Government again ruled out the IS presence in Kashmir, saying "there is no physical infrastructure or manpower of the IS in the Valley". |
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