Most wanted Hizbul terrorist's wife hoists Tiranga on I-Day, asks him to surrender

Wife, daughter, and uncle of longest surviving Hizbul Mujahideen militant commander Mohammad Amin hoisted the National Flag in the Kishtwar district of Jammu & Kashmir on Monday. Issuing a message on the occasion of India's 76th Independence Day, she appealed to him to surrender and return to the national mainstream. She also thanked Indian Army for inviting her to the flag hoisting ceremony.

In January, a relative of Mohammad Amin thanked the Indian Army for imparting him a 90-day carpentry training and appealed to the terrorist to surrender and return to the mainstream. "I am thankful to the Army which came to the rescue of our family and provided me with a 90-day course in carpentry to earn a living," Junaid, son of Amin's elder brother Kareem, told PTI after the successful completion of the certificate course.

Amin alias "Jehangir Saroori", a resident of Kishtwar, joined the militant ranks in the early 1990s and has been evading arrest for over three decades. According to Junaid, the Army came to their house and enrolled him for the course despite knowing the fact that his uncle is a militant.

"My appeal to him (uncle) is that he should surrender and return home. Nobody ever came to help us and we are grateful to the Army which is always there to help us," he said. 

Crackdown on terror in J&K

This year, the forces arrested another Hizbul Mujahideen terrorist identified as Talib Hussain Gujjar from the Kishtwar district. The top Hizbul commander was arrested after receiving specific intel reports about his hideouts in a joint operation that was carried out by the 17 Rashtriya Rifles and the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF). 

While communally sensitive Kishtwar was declared terrorism-free over a decade, it was rocked by a series of terror incidents in 2018-19. Amin, the longest surviving Hizbul Mujahideen commander, was believed to be the brain behind the revival of terrorism in the district. In October 2019, the J&K police announced a bounty of Rs 30 lakh on his head.

(With PTI inputs)