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SRINAGAR: Sabzar Bhat picked up a gun in April 2015 to become a militant. He lasted barely two years. But by the time he was killed on Saturday, police say the 27-yearold had a reward of ₹10 lakh on his head.
Bhat was a close aide of Hizbul Mujahedeen commander Burhan Wani, who was gunned down by security forces last year. He joined the ranks of militants around the time Wani’s brother, Khalid Muzaffar Wani, was killed by security forces.
The army had said Khalid was killed in an encounter after a patrol came under fire from militants and that he was an overground Hizbul worker. Khalid’s family claimed he was innocent but was “tortured to death” for being Burhan’s elder brother.
Bhat was quite close to Wani with some reports even suggesting he was the one Wani trusted the most. In a photo that was widely shared on social media, the two were seen standing together, Wani with his short hair and trimmed beard and Bhat with a thick beard and wearing a woollen cap.
Bhat and Wani belonged to the first batch of tech-savvy new-age local militants in Kashmir. Bhat also featured in the infamous photograph of 11 militants with Wani at the centre of it.
But unlike Wani, Bhat kept a low profile on social media. After Wani was killed, news went around that Bhat would possibly be named by Hizb as the successor. But the militant body finally named one Mehmood Gaznavi as its new commander in Kashmir.
And while militant Zakir Musa — who recently made headlines after threatening to behead separatists and then announcing a departure from Hizb — routinely uploaded video messages, none came from Bhat.
But absence from social media did not dent his support base, particularly among youth in south Kashmir. Local sources say Bhat, a native of Rathsuna village in Tral, has participated in many stone-pelting protests in the area before joining militant ranks. Many referred to Bhat as “Sab Don”, sources add. As a militant, Sabzar operated in south Kashmir, in and around Tral.
Police sources say before he became a militant, he was accused of theft. In March, Bhat was trapped in a gunfight with security forces in Tral. He managed to escape only after villagers threw stones at security personnel to disrupt the counter-insurgency operation.