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| Syed Yousuf: Militant-turned-NC's kingmaker | | | SRINAGAR: Without regard to situation, turmoil or peace, Syed Mohmmad Yousuf of Loktipora, Bijbehara, mastered the art of living---little knowing that he would die one day on the state's most protected premises.
A Government school-teacher, Yousuf lost no time in switching his loyalty to Hizbul Mujahideen when secessionist militancy was at its peak in early 1990s. With waning of Hizb's influence, he built a network of the officials of School Education Department that included over a dozen headmasters, Principals, Zonal Education Officers and at least three Chief Educational Officers in Anantnag district. His network meticulously managed to absorb 100 to 150 youth as teachers at different schools.
Crime Branch sleuths later learned that the modus operandi was unique. ZEOs and CEOs would issue "transfer orders" shifting "teachers" (who had never been appointed) from one school to another. Fake LPCs followed and all of them took home salaries. In 1995, then Director of School Education, Mohammad Amin Khan, made all possible efforts to dismiss the fraudulently absorbed teachers. He was silenced by Ikhwan cadres. Khan had disadvantage of being a resident of Mattan, in the same district.
And when both, militants as well as counter-insurgents, were marginalized in 1996, Yousuf lost no time to gain proximity to NC's patron Dr Farooq Abdullah. He influenced distribution of tickets to some extent in 2002 Assembly elections. Six years later, Yousuf was a veritable kingmaker in the party than returned to power after Amarnath turmoil.
According to well-placed insiders, Yousuf had ultimate say in distribution of NC's tickets in Assembly elections on 2008 in south Kashmir. It was he who decided who would be picked up as MLC and who would go to Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha. He is believed to have comfortably handle transactions of over Rs 10 Crore in the last three years alone. Official confirmation of Yousuf having received Rs 84 lakh from NC's Block President of Ganderbal, Mohammad Yousuf Bhat, (reliably for making him MLC and MoS) and Rs 34 Lakh from Abdul Salam Rishi of Akingam (for making him MLC) is said to be just a tip of the iceberg.
Yousuf was known for his free access to who is who in top corridors of power. They include everybody from union Minister Farooq Abdullah to Chief Minister Omar Abdullah, all other Ministers and Advisors, besides most of the senior officers of Police and civil administration. He was prominently in control of arrangements when an IGP regained his grace in a court case and a grand Wazwan was organized for most of the influential politicians, bureaucrats and Police officers few months back in Srinagar. Party cadres insist that even the most powerful official would manage their prize postings through Yousuf.
Few months back, Yousuf assured NC's top brass that it would take him just 24 hours to engineer a split in PDP. However, the proposal was not approved by the party high command and the government.
Yousuf would manage everything from allotment of contracts and supply orders to arrangements of seats for the sons and daughters of his clients---mostly politicians, businessmen and bureaucrats---in professional colleges. In 2009, he collected a sum of Rs 28 Lakh from PDP's MLA of Tral, Mushtaq Ahmad Shah, with the assurance that he would arrange two MBBS seats in non-resident Indian quota at ASSCOMS (Batra Medical College of Jammu) through the good offices of his "boss in NC".
When he failed to honour the commitment to his client, MLA got him under tremendous pressure from a many quarters. He even threatened to sell off Yousuf's newly acquired residential house in Pampore. After a great deal of trouble, MLA managed to get back his money less by Rs 4 lakh. Yousuf paid him back Rs 24 Lakhs. |
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