Riaz Naikoo, a dreaded name in apple orchards of Kashmir, killed
In the two encounters, four militants were eliminated. One of them was identified as Riyaz Naikoo, masterminded behind the revival of Hizbul Mujahideen outfit in Jammu and Kashmir.
Jammu and Kashmir Police and security forces launched joint operations at Sarshali and Beigpora in Awantipora on Tuesday evening. In the two encounters, four militants were eliminated. One of them was identified as Riyaz Naikoo, masterminded behind the revival of the Hizbul Mujahideen outfit in Jammu and Kashmir. He was killed with his associate in a gun battle with security forces that lasted five hours.
Naikoo escaped the security dragnet several times in eight years since he joined the terrorist outfit in 2012, before he lost the battle in his native village Beighpora, 40 km from Srinagar, on Wednesday afternoon.
Who was Riaz Naikoo?
The son of a farmer, Riaz Naikoo, completed his graduation from Government Degree College in Pulwama and started teaching in a private school before he was detained by security forces during the unrest of 2010 and released in 2012. He joined Hizbul Mujahideen in May 2012 in Militant rank.
The 35-year-old Naikoo figured in the list of 12 most wanted militants issued by the army in 2017 as also in the hit-list of 17 top militants issued by intelligence agencies in 2018, carried Rs 12 lakh on the head being A++ category militant. Riyaz Naikoo was the last standing member of poster boy Burhaan Wani' s group.
Riaz Naikoo's role in Hizbul Mujahideen:
The 35-year-old had joined militancy in 2010 and was a masterminded behind the revival of HM outfit in Jammu and Kashmir. He was one of the close aides of the infamous Hizb commander Burhan Muzaffar Wani who was killed in Bundoora village in Kokernag area of South Kashmir on July 8, 2016. As per security establishment, Naikoo was working under code name Mohammad Bin Qasim. He became the operational chief commander of the Hizb after the successor of Burhan Wani, Mohammad Yasin Itoo alias Mehmood Ghaznavi, was killed along with two of his associates in an 18-hour-long gunfight with a joint team of police, army and CRPF at Awnira, Zainapora village in south Kashmir’s Shopian district in August 2017.
Post Wani's elimination, he kept himself away from the internal politics of the terror group and allowed Sabzar Ahmed and later Zakir Musa to take over the reign of the outfit.
While Ahmed was neutralised within a few weeks after Wani's death in July 2016, Musa split from the Hizbul Mujahideen group and formed his own Ansar Ghazwat-ul-Hind, an affiliate of Al-Qaeda, in 2017, leaving a vacuum in the terror group that was filled by Naikoo.
Naikoo had been continuously making audio and video clips and putting up on social media to motivate youth to join militancy and went on recruiting new boys. He was responsible for a large number of innocent youths joining militancy and indulging in serious violence against the local population and SF. He also released videos/audios on the number of occasions carrying Pro-Pakistan and separatist propaganda.
Cases against Riaz Naikoo:
Naikoo had 11 cases against him which included series of attacks on policemen, security forces, and civilians. He resorted to brutal killings of civilians branding them as police/SF informers.
He looted orchard owners and farmers to collect funds for his outfit. He also has been collecting booty from illicit cultivation of opium and bhang in south Kashmir. His outfit also figured in a narco trade case in Jammu where a huge sum of sale proceeds was transferred to one of his contacts. Some of the killings/violence where he was directly involved were –
1) Killing of Haji Ghulam Mohd Dar Father Of a Sarpanch At Dogripora 0n 8-3-2014
2) Firing On Police Bus Near Bhatpora, Tokena
3) Killing of Gh Mohi-Ud-din Dar
4) Killing of Javaid Akbar Khanday, a resident of Khandaypora
5) Killing of a Police Head Constable Ashiq Hussain Mir at Padgampoara crossing.
6) Kidnapping constable Naseer Ahmad.
7) Looting nine weapons from the residence of ex-MLA Wachi.
8) Killing of six migrant labour in Kulgam.
9) Killing of truck drivers and fruit traders post-August 5.
10) Release of an audiotape threatening attacks on the Jail staff after preferential treatment being provided to militants and the separatists lodged in various jails was discontinued.