Was motivating youth to join militancy
Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, Sept 9: Kishtwar police today achieved a major success when it arrested a top militant of Hizbul Mujahideen, who was directly in touch with Pakistan-based terrorists and banned outfits in Kashmir valley when he was trying to motivate local youth to join militancy in Kishtwar town.
Arrested Hizbul Mujahideen militant has been identified as Aiyaz Ahmad Wani son of Abdul Ahad Wani, a resident of village Beli in Doda district, presently putting up at Machian, Doda. He was also working as district Doda president of separatist Hurriyat Conference.
SSP Kishtwar Rajinder Gupta told the Excelsior that police teams conducted raids at various places in the district after developing inputs that Aiyaz Wani was camping in Kishtwar town and its outskirts to lure youth into militancy by offering them handsome cash. During one of the raids, police managed to arrest Wani and immediately whisked him away to an unknown place for sustained interrogation.
Aiyaz Wani, whose two brothers, Riyaz Ahmad Wani and Niyaz Ahmad Wani, both of whom were militants and were killed in encounters with security forces in 1993 and 2003, was in direct contact with Pakistani terrorists including Mohammad Iqbal, based in Muzaffarabad, and others for reviving militancy in Doda and Kishtwar districts.
Mohammad Iqbal had promised Rs 15 lakh to Aiyaz Wani through hawala channels in Doda for disbursement among youth to lure them into the militancy. Wani was motivating some of the youth in Kishtwar district for joining militancy during past few days by holding secret meetings with them.
Iqbal was reportedly a top operative of the militants. He hailed from Jammu and Kashmir but had crossed over to Pakistan occupied Kashmir (PoK) in 2005 and was camping there since then. He was in constant touch with Aiyaz Wani, who was wanted in case FIR No. 182/2018 in which couple of militants and their Over Ground Workers (OGWs), have already been arrested while some more arrests haven’t been ruled out.
Investigations by Kishtwar police revealed that Aiyaz Wani was also directly in touch with Dukhtaran-e-Milat (DeM) activists in Kashmir including one Yasmin Raj.
Arrest of Aiyaz Wani was significant as he was trying to win over the local youth of Kishtwar district to join militancy and possibility that he might have been carrying out similar task in Doda district. Few days back, an educated youth of Doda had joined the militancy.
According to sources, Kishtwar police was conducting more raids in different parts of the town and some more arrests in the case were not ruled out.
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