New Delhi: In a sign that the militancy movement in Kashmir has spread and developed strong tentacles all across the troubled state, a recently-released list of the top seven wanted militants reveal that all of them hail from south Kashmir, an area that was largely outside the pale of hardcore militancy during the movement’s violent spike in and around 2010.
The list of the seven A++ militants names Riyaz Naikoo, the Hizbul Mujahideen (HuM) chief of the Kashmir valley. He hails from Beighpora in Pulwama. Showkat Tak, the Lashkar-e-Tayyaba commander in Pulwama, hails from Pulwama’s Panzgham while Ansar chief Zakir Rashid Musa hails from Noorpora in Awantipora.
The dreaded HuM commander Zeenat ul Islam hails from Shopian while Dr Saifullah, the HuM commander of the Srinagar area, also comes from Pulwama’s Malangpora.
Arguably the most hunted militant now, Saddam Padder, the HuM commander, also hails from Shopian’s Heff Shopian while Altaf Kachroo, HuM’s Kulgam commander, hails from the Redwini locality. A top security official dealing with the developments in Kashmir told this newspaper that these top militants have become larger-than-life figures and their names are often used to draw larger crowds of supporters especially to prevent counter-insurgency operations of the security forces.
For instance, when news of a cordon-and-search operation by security forces to corner a large group of militants in Dragar was spread on Sunday, the names of Padder and Zeenat ul Islam being part of the trapped group was also propagated in order to attract larger crowds.
