Militant present at Hizb leader funeral surrenders
A militant, who had appeared at the funeral of its slain commander Sabzar Ahmed Bhat in the Tral area of Jammu and Kashmir’s southern Pulwama district on May 28, has surrendered before the security forces.
A statement issued by the police here on Wednesday said that Danish Ahmed decided to quit the outfit and give in to the security forces after he was persuaded by his parents, and he himself “realised the futility of the path he had chosen to tread upon”.
The Hizbul-Mujahideen, however, denied that Ahmed was associated with the outfit. “The claim made by the police is untrue. Danish Ahmed was not associated with the Hizbul-Mujahideen. Such claims should be seen as tactics of the Indian agencies,” a statement by the group said.
Ahmed could be seen wearing a battle pouch with a grenade in the footage of Bhat’s funeral which went viral on social media. Soon, the police registered a case and took up an investigation during which the militant’s identity was established. A resident of Kulangam village of Handwara area in the frontier district of Kupwatra, Ahmed was studying in B.Sc (third year) at Doon P.G. College of Agriculture Science and Technology, Dehradun.
He was earlier found involved in stone-pelting incidents in Handwara during the post-Burhan Wani killing unrest in 2016, the statement said, adding that he was picked up by the police but let off after counselling “keeping in view his career”.
“Once it was learnt that Danish Ahmed has joined militancy, the Handwara police and the Army’s 21 Rashtriya Rifles got in touch with his parents and impressed upon them to counsel their son for surrender,” the statement said. It added, “His parents were convinced that if he surrenders, he would be dealt with fairly under law”.