New Delhi: Thirty-three years after the killing of Mirwaiz Mohammad Farooq Shah — the head priest of Srinagar’s Jama Masjid — the Jammu and Kashmir police Tuesday arrested two terrorists associated with Hizbul Mujahideen in connection with the case.
The two men — Javed Ahmed Bhat and Zahoor Bhat — had gone underground for all these years and had been hiding in Nepal and Pakistan before they returned to Kashmir, R.R. Swain, Special Director General, Criminal Investigation Department, Jammu and Kashmir, said Tuesday. Zahoor was the one who opened fire at Farooq, Swain added.
According to the police, the men were maintaining a low profile, changing addresses and shifting residences.
J&K Police say five terrorists — Abdullah Bangroo, Abdul Rehman Shigan, Mohd Ayub Dar, Javed Bhat and Zahoor Bhat — were involved in the killing. While Abdullah and Rehman were killed in an encounter in the 1990s, Ayub was convicted for life and is in Srinagar’s Central Jail. Javed and Zahoor, however, had managed to escape, according to police.
“After their arrest, they have been handed over to the CBI, and will now face trial for the killing in a designated TADA (the erstwhile Terrorist and Disruptive Activities Act, which was in effect at the time of the crime) court in Delhi,” a J&K Police officer said.
On 21 May 1990, Farooq Shah was killed by terrorists of Hizbul Mujahideen who suspected him of being a “peacenik” and an “Indian agent”, the police said.
Farooq was the chairman of the All Jammu and Kashmir Awami Action Committee.
Following the killing, a case was registered in Srinagar and the investigation was transferred to the CBI on 11 June 1990.
‘Pakistan link, sought funds for Hizbul’
According to the officer quoted above, investigation had revealed that, before killing Farooq, all the five terrorists had gone to Pakistan for terrorist training in 1990.
“Back in Srinagar, Abdullah Bangroo received instructions in April 1990 from his ISI handler in Pakistan to eliminate Mirwaiz,” the officer said.
Javed Ahmed Bhat was at that time working as an area commander of the Hizbul Mujahideen in the downtown area of Srinagar, police said.
According to a 2010 Supreme Court order, accessed by ThePrint, it was in the second week of May 1990, under the instructions of Javed Ahmed Bhat, that Mohammad Ayub Dar and Abdul Rehman Shigan had visited the residence of Moulvi Farooq at Nigeen, Srinagar, and had requested him for “financial help for their terrorist organisation i.e. Hizbul Mujahideen”.
According to the order, Farooq agreed to help them and asked them to meet him after 2 to 3 days during the morning hours.
“Thereafter, two accused surveyed the area as per their plan and informed the details to Javed Ahmed Bhat. It was on 21.05.1990 that the three accused namely Mohd Ayub Dar, Abdul Rehman Shingan, and Zahoor Ahmed armed with a loaded pistol visited the Mirwaiz Manzil at Nigeen,” the order said.
“As per the plan, they all reached the gate of Mirwaiz Manzil and met Maqbool Shah, the gate-keeper, and informed him that they wanted to meet Moulvi Farooq. After sometime, Moulvi Farooq called the three accused inside the office, on which Zahoor Ahmed entered the room of Moulvi Farooq and opened fire,” it added.
(Edited by Anumeha Saxena)
Also Read: Poonch attack carried out by ‘combined LeT-JeM team’. Both foreign & local terrorists involved