On Wednesday, Riyaz Naikoo, one of the most wanted and top terrorist from the terror group Hizbul Mujahideen, was gunned down in a successful operation by the security forces in the afternoon. The man who was on the run for 8 years was killed along with three other terrorists in south Kashmir. Not many knew about this man until yesterday. Who was Naikoo and what is his story? We get you the details here.
Born to a tailor in Awantipora, Naikoo pursued a degree in mathematics and taught at a local school in Kashmir. He was popular among his village and especially students. He scored 464 marks out of 600 in his class 12 examinations. In 2012, when he disappeared, his family alleged that he was being harassed by the police. However, contrary to their claim, Naikoo resurfaced as Mohammed Bin Qasim holding a gun in his hand.
A year after the poster-boy of separatists and ‘human rights activists’, Burhan Wani was gunned down in 2016, security forces eliminated his successor Yasin Itoo too in an operation in 2017 in the Shopian region. Horrified, the outfit recruited Naikoo as the chief of its operations who was to overhaul the ranks and organize attacks in Kashmir after Zakir Musa (Zakir Rashid Bhat) switched to Al Qaeda in India Subcontinent (AQIS) who wanted to establish an Islamic Caliphate in India.
Meanwhile, Naikoo managed to keep the flock together and revived the terrorist organization which earned him the trust of Syed Salah-ud-din, the Pakistan based chief. His pro-Pakistan stance and his ability to identify and brainwash young kids and men earned him the recognition. His experience as a math teacher at school and the influence he had over young minds came in handy. He began uploading photographs of militant recruits on social media. He introduced the practice of gun salute to the terrorists killed at funerals.
He executed a series of attacks on security forces, and resorted to brutal killing of civilians branding them as police informers. Naikoo looted orchard owners and farmers to fund the Hizb. He also resorted to illegal cultivation of opium in South Kashmir. In 2018, after his tailor father Assadullah Naikoo was kept in detention by the police, he ordered for the kidnapping of the family members of Jammu and Kashmir police. Over a dozen of them were kidnapped and were released only after the release of his father.
While the killing of the Naikoo comes as a serious setback to the terrorist outfit, it is to be remembered that the outfit has a steady supply of radicalized Islamic men to lead the outfit and carry out cowardly attacks.