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| 36-40 militants active in South Kashmir | | | early times report
Srinagar, Aug 5: Jammu and Kashmir Police and Security forces have started massive operations to nab around 36 to 40 identified militants of Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT) and Hizbul Mujahideen (HM) outfits in South Kashmir after a series of attacks early this month in which an Army jawan and two police constables were killed.
On top of their list of the renewed hunt after recent militant strikes are Sajad Ahmad Mir of HM operating in Wachi area in Shopian district along with Altaf Baba of Jaish-e-Mohammad of the same area and the divisional commander of LeT for South Kashmir, Mohammad Qasim, who is a Pakistani militant and has taken over charge of South Kashmir after the killing of Abdul Rehman alias Rehman Bhai last year in October.
According to police sources there are about 36 to 40 identified militants active in South Kashmir and the majority of them owe their allegiance to LeT commander Sajad Bai who was earlier operating in Shopian district and later on returned back to Gujrawalan in Pakistan and LeT militants operating in South Kashmir are directly controlled by Sajad Bai. The divisional commander Qasim too is in contact with Sajad from across the fence.
According to police sources LeT was operating from North Kashmir's Sopore area from 2008 to 2010 which was ideologically well defined for the outfit. In 2010 the militant outfit shifted its base to South Kashmir again ideologically well defined.
Mohammad Qasim shifted his base from Srinagar outskirts to South Kashmir after the killing of Rehman Bhai who was commanding the outfit in South Kashmir. Mohammad Qasim is a Pakistani national and has reportedly infiltrated into Kashmir valley in 2010.
Another LeT man is Mudasir Ahmad Sheikh hailing from Yamrach village in Kulgam district and with him a local trained militant Bilal Ahmad Bhat of Lalhar in district Pulwama who according to security agencies was responsible for attack on security forces on July 7 in which one army jawan was killed. Bilal is also thought to be involved in cop killing in Pulwama town early this month.
However, police forces are more particular about Shawkat Tak of Panzgam along with Imtiyaz Ahmad Teli of Pulwama district who were responsible for Bijbehara blast in March this year.
Security agencies said that Mohammad Qasim, the LeT divisional commander is new to the area and modules created by Rehman Bhai are actually active in South Kashmir. According to South Kashmir police the modules created are already on radar and will be cracked soon. According to them there are some highly qualified people like computer engineers and post graduates working day and night for LeT and they have come under scanner. According to them, persons involved in Bijbehara were highly qualified of well to do families. Mudasir was M.Sc electronics and Tariq brother of slain commander Ilyas Bai too was well educated.
Then there is one more LeT group of 3 to 4 people believed to be foreigners active in upper reaches of Achabal and Kokernag areas.
Mohammad Qasim is believed to be operating in the Pulwama and Pampore areas where security presence is thin.
Security agencies have inputs that the LeT commander Bilal Bhat is mostly operating in the outskirts of Srinagar city in Nowgam area to Pulwama town outskirts as this area has least presence of security forces.
After the Pampore attack, security forces have conducted massive operations in Pampore and its adjoining areas and now the search operations have been started in many other areas in Pulwama, Shopian, Kulgam and Anantnag districts.
Security patrolling on National Highway has been heightened following recovery of a powerful mine near Jawhar Tunnel in Kulgam district.
As the security agencies are focusing more on Kulgam, Wachi, Budgam and Pulwama villages where most of the LeT people were operating.
As for the presence of HM militants, Tral is still believed to be the hot-bed for the outfit and commander Shabir is controlling the outfit in that area. However, LeT has also extended its base to Tral by recruiting new young faces like Burhan.
Pertinently this year witnessed rise in militancy related incidents in Kashmir especially in South Kashmir and there have been six attacks on village heads and encounters near the Line of Control in the last few weeks. |
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