Srinagar: One of the two militants escaped from encounter site in Kakapora town of South Kashmir’s Pulwama district has been identified by security agencies as Qasim Bhai of Pakistan and a both the Army and Police have jointly launched a manhunt to nab him.
Reliable police sources told CNS that security agencies have been looking for the two militants who escaped from the cordoned house at Kakapora. Police sources identified the two escaped militants as Qasim Bhai of Pakistan and Manzoor Ahmed Dar of Allochi Bagh Samboora Pampore.
A police official told CNS that that Qasim Bhai was the mastermind of Udhampur attack on BSF convoy in which a Pakistani militant was killed and another was captured alive. “Qasim has managed to break the cordon scores of times in recent past. He is a dreaded militant and has been operating in South Kashmir from past many years,” he said adding that Qasim Bhai has been playing a key role in motivating youth to join militant ranks in South Kashmir. “Talib Hussain Shah who lost his life in the encounter was also his product and it was Qasim Bhai who had motivated him to join militant ranks,” he said.
Another police official said that few militants including Qasim Bhai are involved in different militancy related activities and police is on job to track and crack them down. “Once we neutralize Qasim, we believe that militancy would almost come to an end in South Kashmir,” he said.
“Qasim Bhai is the mastermind of several attacks that militants carried out on government forces in recent years. Hyderpora deadly attack was his brainchild and on his instructions, militants attacked a Road Opening Party of CRPF near Pohru chowk in Nowgam killing two jawans including an Assistant Sub-Inspector,” he said and added a massive hunt has been launched to nab the ‘dreaded’ militant.
In recent past, police had pasted posters in different areas of South Kashmir’s Pulwama district portraying the active militants of Lashkar, Jaish, and Hizb, especially Qasim Bhai as ‘dacoit’ and ‘murderer’ and had requested people to inform police about his whereabouts. “Police had offered government jobs and cash rewards for the informers, yet nobody came up with accurate information,” said the police official. (CNS)