The three Hizb militants who were killed in Tral town of South Kashmir’s Pulwama district had recently joined militant ranks. Their age ranged from 24 to 19. Asif Ahmed Mir, one of the slain militant had lost his father Muhammad Yousuf during ‘Cross Firing’ at Lariyar area of Tral town on 26 February 1994. “He was a graduate and due to unemployment he chose to be an electrician,” a relative of Asif told CNS. Asif according to police had joined militant ranks in July 2014. The locals in Dadsara informed that Asif was the last militant from the area and with his killing, Dadsara has become militant free. “Right from 1989 to 2016, there was always militant presence in the area. Majority of them either were killed or kept themselves aloof from the militancy,” the locals said.Another militant Ashiq Ahmed Bhat according to police records had joined militant ranks some six months ago. If locals are to be believed his mother suffered a massive heart attack shortly after Ashiq disappeared from the area. “He was a reserved youth who had appeared in MMPHW 1st semester when he left the home and didn’t return,” said a local.
A Defence official told CNS that it was Ashiq who provided shelter to the militants involved in Udhampur attack. “First he was a militant sympathizer and then he formally joined their ranks,” he said.The youngest militant Ishaq was known as Isaac Newton in wake of his excellent academic brilliance and intelligence. English physicist and mathematician Sir Isaac Newton was the most famous for his law of gravitation who was instrumental in the scientific revolution of the 17th century.Ishaq according to his friends was a bright student at his school. He had scored 98.4 per cent in Class 10th and 92 per cent in 12th. “Everybody was sure he will qualify Common Entrance Test (CET) and will be a doctor but little did his family know he will leave the house and join the militant ranks. It was March 16, 2015 when he disappeared from his native Laribal area,” they said.Tariq Ahmed Parrey, the cousin of Ishaq was also a militant who got killed in Buchoo Tral during an encounter on 19 June 2014. “Being the son of the senior Jamat-e-Islami leader, Ishaq had Islamic mindset who prayed five times daily in the local Masjid before his disappearance from the Laribal hamlet,” the locals said. (CNS)