Lone local militant is all that’s left of Islamic State-inspired terror module in J&K

After the Friday encounter in which a local militant was shot down in Shopian, J&K police officials say terror group ISKJ is almost over.

Representational image of security personnel in Kashmir | PTI Photo/S Irfan

Srinagar: After a local militant named Ishfaq Ahmad Sofi was gunned down in a brief encounter with security forces Friday, counter-insurgency units in the Valley believe that they have reduced the number of armed Kashmiri militants inspired by the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) to one.

According to Jammu and Kashmir police officials, the terror module that went by the name Islamic State Jammu and Kashmir or ISJK, had seven active members at its peak, all of whom have been killed in various encounters between 2017 and 2019.

Police officials told ThePrint that the presence of Sofi and his associate Adil Wani in Ram Nagri area of Herpora in Shopian was intercepted early Friday morning after which cordon and search operation was launched. While Wani managed to escape the encounter site, 34-year-old Sofi was killed in a brief exchange of fire, leaving the former as the lone ISJK armed militant in the Valley.

“There are reports that the group might have 2-3 sympathisers but we aren’t too sure if they are even armed,” said a senior police officer who didn’t wish to be named.

With no fresh evidence of recruitment by ISJK, officials here say that the group is almost over.

“The group, inspired by extremist ideologies like that of ISIS, has largely been contained due to a sustained intelligence gathering mechanism and counter-insurgency operations between 2017 and 2019. However the threat of ISIS inspired terrorism or terrorists in India and in Kashmir cannot be discounted,” said S.P. Pani, Inspector General, Kashmir.

Wani, according to officials, is 21 and belongs to Jamnagri village in Shopian. He had joined militancy in 2017 when he was recruited by the Hizbul Mujahideen terror outfit. Later, he defected from the group.

ISJK module

With regards to ISIS presence in Jammu and Kashmir, the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) had said in February 2019, while responding to a Lok Sabha question, that seven local youths had joined the ISJK. Of them, four were killed, two were arrested and one was active in the valley.

Officials told ThePrint that the one militant referred to as active in the Valley was Adil Wani given that Ishfaq Sofi’s involvement with ISJK was being ascertained at the time. He had been a part of the Harkat-ul-Mujahideen (HuM) militant outfit since 2004.

Sofi, a resident of Model Town-B, Sopore, was associated with the HuM outfit before he defected to a local module of militants who called themselves ISJK. The group was essentially a rebranded module of the Tehreek-ul-Mujahideen, a militant outfit active in the valley since early 90s.

“A couple of militants from TuM, Mugees Mir and Dawood Sofi, defected from the organisation to form ISJK. However, the outfit neither gained traction nor was it able to establish a structure,” the official quoted above said, adding that the defection was a result of differences over the approach to Kashmir insurgency.

The official also added that police has not found any evidence of the Kashmir-based module “having links to international terror outfits”.

No command centre — strength and weakness

Officials said that a lack of structure and command centre acts as both strength and weakness for the outfit in Kashmir. They also said that other militant outfits like HM and Lashkar-e-Taiba, who have been deemed as apostates by ISIS in the past, also put pressure on the ISJK cadres.

“Other militant groups such as Hizbul Mujhahideen, Jaish and Lashkar have a strong network of overground workers who help them navigate the landscape and also provide logistical support. But ISJK had none.

“In fact there were reports that Al Badr commander Zeenat Ul Islam, who was then with Hizbul, had taken weapons from the ISJK militants including Adil Wani. But lack of command structure also makes them more lethal. With no one to control, such groups can descend into chaos, ramifications of which will be felt on the society at large,” said another senior J&K police official on condition of anonymity.