Indian security agencies achieved yet another breakthrough towards the elimination of Hizbul Mujahideen from the Kashmir Valley when the National Investigation Agency(NIA) arrested one of the most wanted militants from Kishtwar who was allegedly involved in the killing of RSS worker Chander Kant Sharma and his PSO among others.
Identified as Rustam Ali, according to the reports, he was a close aide of slain terrorist Riyaz Naikoo, who was recently neutralised by the Armed Forces in south Kashmir. Notably, the arrest was made after Rustam’s other partner Tahir Bhat, also alleged to be involved in the killing of the RSS functionary, was shot dead by the security forces in an encounter that took place at the Gundana area in Jammu and Kashmir on May 18, 2020.
While Tahir was entrusted with the task of recruiting local youth in the terror ranks in Doda district, Rustam headed the task of enrolling the youth in adjoining Kishtwar.
Tahir and Rustom along with their other associates had allegedly killed Kishtwar’s well-known social worker and RSS leader Chander Kant Sharma in the hospital in April 2019. In this terror attack, Sharma’s PSO was also killed. The case was handed over to the NIA which in its charge-sheet named Rustam Ali as the accused in the killing of the RSS functionary and his PSO.
Hizbul Mujahideen module in Kashmir severely weakened
The Indian Armed Forces have almost destroyed the Hizbul Mujahideen module in Jammu and Kashmir. The forces are aggressively pursuing their objective of the complete elimination of terror organisations, including Hizbul Mujahideen from the Union territory of Jammu and Kashmir. In this pursuit, top Hizbul commander Riyaz Naikoo was killed by the forces in an encounter recently.
The slain Hizbul terrorist was quite active in the valley and was responsible for various abductions and recruitment of fresh blood to the Hizbul Mujahideen over the years.
A joint team of the Jammu and Kashmir Police, Army’s 55 Rashtriya Rifles and CRPF had launched a search operation in Beighpora after security agencies were a tipped-off about the presence of terrorists in the area. The operation was reportedly launched to track down Naikoo.
Yesterday, another two Hizbul Mujahideen terrorists were eliminated by the security forces. Of the two terrorists killed in the encounter, one of them was identified as Junaid Sehrai, the son of Tehreek-e-Hurriyat chairman Mohammed Ashraf Sehrai. Junaid Sehrai was a divisional commander of Hizb-ul Mujahideen and was also responsible for several terror activities in Central Kashmir. The second terrorist was Tariq Ahmed Sheikh of Pulwama who had joined the Hizb-ul-Mujahideen terror outfit a couple of months ago in March.
