NEW DELHI, May 16: Two Hizbul Mujahideen terrorists wanted for the killing of the top Kashmiri separatist Mirwaiz Moulvi Mohammad Farooq have been arrested 33 years after they allegedly committed the crime, police said on Tuesday.
Jammu and Kashmir’s intelligence chief told a press conference that the terrorists on the run were arrested by the State Intelligence Agency and handed over to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI). “Long arm of the law finally catches up with two absconding accused. They are being handed over to CBI,” said Rashmi Ranjan Swain, Special Director General of police, CID J&K.
Swain did not disclose the location from where the two Mujahideen terrorists – Javaid Ahmad Bhat and Zahoor Ahmad Bhat – were arrested. Mirwaiz Farooq, the head priest of Kashmir, was killed by Hizbul Mujahideen terrorists on May 21, 1990.
Five operatives of Hizbul Mujahideen were accused in the assassination of Mirwaiz, which had triggered protests in Kashmir. “Out of five accused, two are already dead. One is facing life imprisonment and two others who were on the run were finally arrested today,” Swain said.
Dozens of protesters were killed and over 200 injured after security forces opened fire at Hawal in downtown Srinagar after Mirwaiz’s murder. Swain said while the case was investigated by the CBI, both the accused, who were declared as proclaimed offenders, evaded arrest all these years. The CBI said the two had fled to Pakistan and then Nepal and returned to Kashmir a few years ago.
He said with the arrest of the two, “all the accused in Mirwaiz case have been brought to justice.”
(Manas Dasgupta)
