PHD scholar among 2 suspected Hizb men killed
SRINAGAR: Hizbul Mujahedeen commander Manan Wani, who held a PHD from the Aligarh Muslim University (AMU) and his associate Ashiq Hussain Zarger, were gunned down in an encounter in north Kashmir’s Shatgund village on Thursday. Wani’s body has been handed over to his fam- ily at Sogam where hundreds of villagers assembled to participate in his funeral.
The encounter took place when Army and J&K police’s Special Operation Group were searching Shatgund Bala village after receiving inputs of militants hiding there.
Wani, who joined militancy in January 2018, had written two detailed articles for news portals explaining why he was forced take the gun. “We are soldiers, we join the war not to die and live but to fight the enemy and defeat him,” he wrote in an article.
Former J&K chief minister, Mehbooba Mufti said political parties should realise the gravity of the situation as a PHD scholar chose death over life. “Today, a PHD scholar chose death over life and was killed in an encounter. His death is entirely our loss as we are losing young educated boys every day. It is high time that all the parties realise the gravity of this situation and try to facilitate a solution through dialogue with all the stake holders including Pakistan to end this bloodshed,’’ Mufti said. Hurriyat chairman, Mirwaiz Umar Farooq has called for a shutdown on Friday over the killing.