Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, Jan 4: Kishtwar police today registered a case against 10 Over Ground Workers (OGWs) of top Hizbul Mujahideen militant Mohammad Amin alias “Jehangir Saroori”, who has been active in Kishtwar district for the past three decades, and arrested two of them.
Arrested OGWs have been identified as Bashir Ahmad Mengnoo, a resident of Khraipakhnoo and Wali Mohd Sheikh R/o Swarbati, Kishtwar.
Eight other OGWs, who have been booked in the FIR, were identified as Mohd Hussain R/o Gujjar Khothan, Saddam Hussain Wani R/o Suied, Ghulam Nabi Chopan R/o Trungai, Mohd Ramzan Sheikh R/o Swarbati, Yasir Hussain Dar R/o Swarbati, Khazir Mohd Sheikh R/o Swarbati, Bashir Ahmad Sheikh R/o Swarbati and Zahoor Ahmad Butt R/o Loharna. They have not been arrested so far.
An FIR No. 1/2020 under Sections 13, 18, 19, 38 and 39 of Unlawful Activities Prevention Act has been registered against the OGWs at Dachan police station of Kishtwar district.
The OGWs were allegedly involved in providing logistical support, finance, transport and were working as porters for Jehangir Saroori, sources said.
Saroori, the longest surviving militant who joined Hizbul Mujahideen in early 1990’s, has evaded arrest and is hiding in the forests in Kishtwar.
He emerged as the brain behind the revival of terrorism in the district in 2018 after it was declared terrorism-free about a decade ago.
On October 23 last year, the police in Kishtwar announced a bounty of Rs 30 lakh on the head of Saroori and two of his associates — Riyaz Ahmad alias “Hazari” and Mudassir Hussain.
The reward on the heads of the three militants was announced through posters pasted at different places in the hilly district, which was rocked by a series of militancy-related incidents, including the killing of a senior BJP leader Anil Parihar and his brother Ajit Parihar and an RSS functionary Chanderkant Sharma and his PSO Rajinder Singh, since November 2018.
On September 28 last year, security forces achieved a major breakthrough against the militants active in Kishtwar district when they killed three ultras, including Osama Bin Javed, wanted in connection with the targeted killings, in an encounter in Batote town of Ramban district while they were fleeing an offensive which saw over a dozen Hizbul Mujahideen members and Over Ground Workers arrested and several of their hideouts busted.
Senior BJP leader Anil Parihar and his brother Ajit Parihar were martyred outside their house in Kishtwar town on November 1, 2018, while RSS functionary Chanderkant Sharma and his PSO were martyred by the militants in the district hospital of Kishtwar on April 9, 2019.
There have also been couple of incidents of weapon snatching from PSOs of protected persons in Kishtwar.
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