Sajad Hameed
Hilal Ahmed Dar, who was pursuing doctorate in Management Studies at Kashmir University, had left for Naranag in Ganderbal district along with a group of five more trekkers at around 4 am on last Saturday, he went missing since then.
The Kashmiriyat reported on 16 June, that a Ph.D Scholar had gone missing from Ganderbal district. His friends speaking to The Kashmiriyat said, a group, consisting of 6 to 7 youth from Srinagar had arrived Naranag Wangath area of Kangan for picnic.
“On the same day we proposed to visit Gangabal for trekking but Hilal decided to stay back, After coming back from trekking, we found our companion missing in Naranag, Though we searched him, he was untraceable,” his friend had told The Kashmiriyat.
A search operation to trace out of a young PhD Scholar from Bemina Srinagar who was mysteriously missing from Gangabal Naranag of Kangan during trekking was launched by Jammu Kashmir Police.
On Sunday morning, an Anti Militancy operation was launched jointly by Jammu Kashmir Police and CRPF in Srinagar district’s Zoonimar area, which shortly turned into an encounter- three Militants were killed.
Though, the Police has not officially confirmed the identity of the Militants, Sources told The Kashmiriyat that Hilal Ahmed is among the Militants slain at the site of encounter, the trio are affiliates of Zakir Musa’s Ansar Ghazwat ul Hind (AGH).
AGH was founded by Zakir Musa in the year 2017, after he parted ways from Hizb ul Mujahideen after the death of Militant commander, Burhan Wani. The other slain Militants, as per initial inputs The Kashmiriyat has received, Shookar Farooq Langoo of Barthana area in Srinagar’s Qamarwari, who joined Ansar Ghazwat ul Hind last year, Shahid Ahmed Bhat of Samthan Bijbehara who had joined of AGH, joined last year have also been killed.
Hilal has an MBA degree and has qualified National Eligibility Test, he has an elder brother while both of his parents have passed away, he had recently been admitted in the doctorate program at Kashmir University before which he was studying and working part-time in Delhi.
Kashmir Militancy since 2016 has seen educated youth, engineers, students Doctors joining the Militant ranks even in the absence of training and proper weapons, The Kashmriyat has been reporting that despite the massive Operation All-out launched by Government Forces in 2017, hundreds of youth have joined various Militant outfits in Kashmir.
Aadil Ahmed, the suicide bomber who rammed a car into a convoy of Indian Government Forces, killing dozens of them, in his video statement had said, “Your oppression is fueling our fight against tyranny.” Most of the youth who joined Militant ranks had faced harassment at the hands of Government Forces.
Earlier, a Ph.D Scholar, Manan Wani from Lolab in Kupwara had joined Militancy, he was killed during an encounter in 2019- his cousin was among hundreds of people booked under draconian Public safety act during the abrogation of special status of Jammu Kashmir in August 2019.
In 2018, a Professor, Rafi Bhat had went missing from Kashmir university, a few days later he was killed in an encounter in Shopian on May 06, 2018 along with four other Militants.
Even though, the Government Forces have intensified operations and said that Militancy in South Kashmir will soon end, more youth from South Kashmir parts have gone missing. The Kashmiriyat has reports and then verified that two youth, one from Qazigund area and other from Bijbehara area have gone Missing, one of them had been booked under Public Safety act recently.
Many Politicians, in the absence of any political activity happening in Jammu Kashmir feel that the absence of political platform to youth, more and more youth will continue to join Militancy, despite the fact that the shelf life of a Militant in Kashmir has dropped down drastically.