HIZB RELEASES PHOTOS OF GUNWIELDING YOUTHS

SRINAGAR: On the second death anniversary of Hizbul Mujahideen militant Burhan Wani, the outfit on Sunday flooded social media with pictures of over one and a half-dozen youths, who have allegedly joined the organisation in the past months.

Pictures include the name of Shams ul Haq Mengnoo, who was pursuing bachelor’s degree in Unani medicine in Srinagar, and is the brother of an IPS officer posted in the North-east. Shams, in his early 20s, had gone missing on May 22 and is apparently seen holding a gun in the picture with code name ‘Burhan Sani (Burhan, the second)’ written across it. The picture shows his date of joining as May 22. Shams’s family actually belongs to Shopian district in south Kashmir.

SP Shailendra Kumar Mishra, who has since been transferred from the Shopian district, had on June 28 told HT that they have reports that he (Shams) was moving with militants and there was high probability that he had joined them. Current Shopian SP Sandeep Chaudhary said he was not authorised to talk to media. The pictures include at least a dozen names from south Kashmir’s Shopian, Kulgam, Anantnag and Pulwama districts, four from north Kashmir’s Kupwara, Handwara, and Baramulla districts and one from central Kashmir’s Budgam.

A senior police officer said it was all part of propaganda from the militants’ side.