Fayaz Bukhari
Srinagar, May 8: The most wanted militant commander and South Kashmir chief of Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT), Mohammad Qasim, who is brain behind major militant strikes in Kashmir valley during past few years, last night gave slip to security forces in South Kashmir’s district of Shopian.
Police and Army’s 44 Rashtriya Rifles last night cordoned off village Zrakan in Kellar area of Shopian district near the forests after they received information about presence of LeT commander, Mohammad Qasim, and his associate in the village.
The security forces launched house to house searches to trace out the top LeT commander but he had already fled the village before the security cordon.
Sources said that security forces had received information about presence of Qasim and his associate in the village and they immediately cordoned off it. However, no militant was found during searches inside the village and the operation was later called off early in the morning.
Qasim is the most wanted militant commander in Kashmir and security agencies are after him for last so many years. Sources said that he makes his movements carefully and doesn’t come in contact with the Over Ground Workers (OGWs) except few trusted ones. He mostly uses Skype to communicate with his handlers across in Pakistan.
Last time, he came closest to Police and Army was in December 2013 when he slipped out of security cordon at village Ichkoot in Central Kashmir’s district of Budgam.
Police and Army had cordoned off the village on a tip off provided to them by a militant who was arrested from Srinagar’s old city area the same day. Militants fired at the security forces while they were cordoning off the village and the house in which the militants were hiding. Qasim and his associate fled from the cordon under the cover of firing.
The major hunt for Qasim is on since June 2013 when LeT under his command attacked an Army convoy at Hyderpora in Srinagar’s Bypass, ahead of then Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s visit to Srinagar, killing eight Army personnel.
Prior to fleeing from security cordon at Budgam, Qasim slipped out of cordon in village Brinail in Pirpanchal mountains of South Kashmir on August 29, 2013. He is commanding LeT in South Kashmir since October 2012 after the killing of LeT commander Abdul Rehman alias Rehman Bhai.
Qasim who was in Dacchigam area in the outskirts of Srinagar after his infiltration in 2012 and shifted to South Kashmir soon after the killing of Rehman Bhai to become divisional commander of LeT for South Kashmir. He lied low and was hiding in the Dacchigam forests for almost 18 months before he became divisional commander of LeT in South Kashmir in 2012.
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