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The move by Hizbul Mujahideen chief Syed Salahuddin to name three terrorists from across the Line of Control to lead the terror group in Kashmir has prompted security agencies to restart the search for the team’s new leadership in the valley.
Riyaz Naikoo, Salahuddin’s main person in Kashmir until last week, was killed in a joint operation by the Kashmir police and the Rashtriya Rifles that tracked the 32-year-old to a secret bunker in a village in Pulwama, not far from the house where he lived before raising the gun.
Salahuddin chose Ghazi Haider, also known as Saifullah Mir, as the self-appointed Hizbul commander-in-chief in Kashmir.
Zafarul Islam, believed to be the nom de guerre for Ashraf Maulvi, 55, would be the deputy for Ghazi Haider and Abu Tariq Bhai, his alleged chief military adviser.
Of the three, a senior official in Jammu and Kashmir said, Abu Tariq Bhai has been the most brutal in choosing his murders and executing him.
“We believe that Abu Tariq Bhai is a Hizbul terrorist that we have known as Zubair Wani of Anantnag,” said a senior police officer.
All three, like most Hizbul leaders, have been active in the southern Kashmir districts of Anantnag, Pulwama and Shopian.
Police officers in Kashmir said they had started a new search for these terrorists, but emphasized that they expected new recruits to slow down for some time due to Naikoo’s removal. “It was a major setback for Hizbul,” said a senior officer.
In a widely broadcast video that emerged after Naikoo’s death, Salahuddin described Naikoo’s death as a “shock to all of us,” but noted that these sacrifices had been taking place in Kashmir for a long time. Since January this year, he said that 80 fighters, or terrorists, had given up their lives for the cause of Kashmir.
The burly, bearded Salahuddin, once an Islamic preacher who wanted to join politics, had crossed into Pakistan-occupied Kashmir more than three decades ago after the fraudulent 1987 elections. This is where he founded the Hizbul Mujahideen, the terrorist group. funded by the deep state of Pakistan. Unlike other terrorist groups like Lashkar-e-Taiba, Hizbul has been powered mainly by local recruits. Nurturing discontent has been a key part of the strategy.
Salahuddin’s family isolated from terror
But he has isolated his family from terrorist activities.
“How he’s been able to do this is really remarkable … Unless his family knows him better,” said a senior police officer.
Three of her five children have jobs in the state government or their bodies. The fourth son is a doctor who practices in Srinagar and the youngest has an engineering degree and runs a skills development institute in Kashmir.
Of the other three, one is a medical assistant at the Sher-i-Kashmir Institute of Medical Sciences, the second is a computer operator at the Budgam education office, and the third, Syed Yousuf, worked in the agriculture department.
Syed Yousuf ran into trouble after the National Investigative Agency revived a 2011 case against him in 2017 for receiving tainted money from his father through the Hawala channels.
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