Has Delhi blast accused crossed over to Pak?

Sanjeev Pargal
JAMMU, Aug 16: After the killing of Aamir Ali Kamal, one of the main accused in Delhi High Court blast on September 7 last year in which 14 civilians were killed and over 80 others were injured, the mystery about whereabouts of another blast accused and Hizbul Mujahideen militant, Junaid Akram Malik has deepened with one of his colleagues claiming that he had been handed over to a conduit Salim for taking him to Pakistan for advanced training.
Reliable sources told the Excelsior that Shakir Hussain alias Chotta Haafiz alias Umar Ilyas, who also carried a cash reward of Rs 30 lakh on his head like Aamir Ali Kamal, had handed over Junaid Akram Malik to Salim along with some other youth of Kashmir Valley and Kishtwar for taking them to Pakistan for advance training in handling of arms and explosives.
Police said they were verifying the claim of Chotta Haafiz as to whether Junaid was still hiding in Kishtwar or had managed to cross over to Pakistan.
All three Hizbul militants including Aamir Ali Kamal (now dead), Chotta Haafiz and Junaid Akram Malik carried a reward of Rs 60 lakh on their heads, 10 lakh each from National Investigating Agency (NIA) and an equal amount from the State Government.
Few days back, police and Army had carried out a major search operation at Dachchan in Kishtwar and gunned down Aamir Ali Kamal and his associate Mohammad Shaffi Hajam. Another militant was arrested.
Sources said inputs have revealed that fearing imminent death or arrest at the hands of police and Army, Chotta Haafiz had deputed Junaid Akram Malik, a fresh recruit of just two years, to Salim, a conduit of Hizbul Mujahideen militant for sending him to Pakistan along with some other youth of Kashmir Valley and Kishtwar, who had been lured by Salim.
Sources, however, couldn’t say as to whether Salim had succeeded in sending Junaid and other recruits to Pakistan or kept them somewhere else.
There had been controversy after inputs some days back that Chotta Haafiz had killed Junaid Akram Malik. However, police had denied the reports saying Junaid was alive and was operating in the hills of Kishtwar.
Junaid Akram, Aamir Ali Kamal and Chotta Haafiz were all residents of Kishtwar and were wanted to NIA in connection with the blast outside Delhi High Court on September 7 last year. Aamir Ali was killed few days back. In addition to them, two Pakistani militants, Abu Saifullah and Abu Billal, who had executed the encounter, were also untraced and their whereabouts were not known.
Three militants from Kishtwar had been arrested by the NIA within a month of the blast.
Sources said with the killing of Aamir Ali Kamal, the NIA’s hopes now rested on Chotta Haafiz and Junaid Akram Malik to get clues about the Delhi blast and solve the mystery as they were prime accused in the case.
Sources said police have opened some back channels to get Chotta Haafiz surrendered so that he could be handed over to the NIA to work out the blast completely. They admitted that it was a very tough task for police and Army to get Chotta Haafiz arrested during an encounter as he happened to be a well trained militant and was in possession of sophisticated weapons and explosive devices.
Sources feared that Haafiz could kill himself with the weapons in his possession if he found himself trapped by police and security forces. It was in this context that police have been taking services of some former militants, Over Ground Workers (OGWs) and sources to get Haafiz surrendered instead of being killed in an encounter.

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