Shopian engineer who cracked NDA joins Hizbul ranks

NAZIR, IN HIS EARLY 20s, STUDIED ENGINEERING AT A COLLEGE IN PUNJAB AND WAS MISSING SINCE A FEW DAYS

SRINAGAR: An engineering graduate from south Kashmir’s Shopian district who has reportedly qualified the written test for the National Defence Academy (NDA) is said to have joined the militant ranks, officials said on Friday.

A senior police officer, on the condition of anonymity, said, “As per available reports, Abid Nazir of Paddarpora village has joined the Hizbul Mujahedeen. His family has said he holds a Btech degree from a college outside the state and qualified the written test for NDA entrance. We are looking into the case and details are being ascertained.”

Police sources say Nazir, in his early 20s, studied engineering at a college in Punjab and was missing from his home since few days.

Of late, it has almost become the norm for young men in the Valley to announce their joining militant outfits through social media by releasing pictures with weapons and in fatigues.

The photo of Nazir brandishing an assault rifle that has appeared on social media claims that his code name is Abu Bakr Bhai and that he has joined the HM on April 18.

It also says that he had passed the NDA test and the common engineering entrance test in the state.

Nazir’s joining militancy comes on the heels of a Kashmiri soldier of the Indian Army joining the HM. Idrees Sultan Mir, 23, also from Shopian, of the Jammu and Kashmir Light Infantry unit reportedly joined the HM on April 15.

Shopian district has been restive this year, marked by encounters and killings of security personnel, militants and civilians.