The Jammu and Kashmir Police have identified former special police officers (SPOs) Syed Naveed Mushtaq and Rahil Magray as suspects behind the recent killings in Shopian and Pulwama apple orchards, reports Times of India.
The two former SPOs had quit the force and had joined Islamic terrorist outfit Hizbul Mujahideen in 2017.
According to the reports, the police informed that Mushtaq has been directing overground Hizbul workers (OGW) to put up posters and distribute pamphlets for the past couple of months in Shopian asking apple growers to boycott NAFED’s fruit procurement process.
Mushtaq has been using another name – ‘Babar Azam’, to sign these posters, a senior official said. A Punjab-based apple trader, a truck driver and a labourer have been killed by these terrorists. The terrorists set ablaze at least four farms.
Read: Missing Kashmiri student from Sharda University has joined IS, releases video holding AK-47
The police officer said that these two men operated a ‘broadcast service’ in 2018 and 2019 on several social media groups to “instigate” SPOs to join terrorist outfits. Shockingly, these two began to eliminate them if they did not respond. The two former SPOs-turned-terrorists have been operating across a 60-kilometre stretch between Pulwama and Anantnag and had recently met 11 saffron traders, threatening them to not supply their produce to any government agency.
Mushtaq, who is a resident of Nazneenpora in Shopian, is suspected to possess four AK 47s which he had stolen from the police in 2017. Another terrorist Magray has been sending “intimidating messages” to growers in Shopian and Pulwama through local boys.
“Mushtaq had whisked away four AK 47s in 2017 during his posting in Budgam. He became Shopian’s Hizbul Mujahideen district commander and has been supplying the weapons to other terrorists. We are in the process of identifying the other group members,” the official said.
Read: Kashmir: IPS officer’s younger brother joins terrorist organization Hizbul Mujahideen
The report cites the Jammu and Kashmir Police sources saying that the terrorist group Hizbul Mujahideen had recently held a meeting with representatives of Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) and Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT). In the meeting it was decided that HM would target civilians while the other two outfits would keep safety installations and security officials on their radar. Reportedly, the JK police intercepted at least six messages between October 14-18 regarding this meeting held in Shopian.
Since the abrogation of Article 370, a desperate Pakistan and its terrorists in Kashmir have been trying to disrupt peace in the valley. As the Kashmir valley is slowly returning back to normalcy, the Islamic terrorists, backed by Pakistan have been targeting civilians, especially truck drivers and labourers, mainly those from outside Jammu and Kashmir to carry out attacks on them to instil fear in the minds of the people.
On last Monday, a truck driver from Udhampur was killed in Anantnag. On October 24, two non-Kashmiri truck drivers were killed by Jihadi terrorists. On October 14, a truck driver from Rajasthan was killed by two terrorists. On October 16, an apple trader from Punjab and a brick kiln worker from Chhattisgarh were shot dead in Pulwama district.
On Tuesday, in a horrific terror attack, 6 labourers were shot dead by terrorists in Katrusu village of Kulgam in South Kashmir today evening. All six persons are from West Bengal and were daily wage earners.
