It was only after top Hizbul Mujahideen commander Burhan Wani met Jamaat-ud-Dawa chief Hafiz Saeed in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir nearly two months ago that security forces launched a massive operation to hunt him down. Sources in Central intelligence agencies said while Burhan Wani was always on the radar of security forces, the “final push to trace him” came only after he crossed over to PoK to meet Saeed. There were specific intelligence inputs revealing that Saeed had directed Wani to step up terror activities in the Valley.

“We had received specific inputs that Wani had met Saeed at a Hizbul training camp in PoK about two months ago and we were sure that once back they would trigger major terror activities in the Valley once back. In fact, the killing of eight CRPF personnel in Pampore last month took place after that meeting. In the wake of the inputs, we had beefed up security considerably and launched a massive hunt to trace Wani,” a senior security official posted in the Valley said.

Wani was killed on July 8 in an encounter in a joint operation by the Army and Special Operations Group of the state police. The latest revelations are at variance with initial reports which suggested that the forces were not aware of his presence in the house in Bumdoora village of Kokernag area.

However, top intelligence sources confirmed to this newspaper that they were closely tracking Wani’s movement through “technical surveillance” though the final confirmation of his presence inside a house came through specific human intelligence.

“We had concrete source-based information about Wani’s presence in the Kokernag area, following which the area was cordoned off and the operation launched. We were tracking his movements ever since he came back into the Valley from PoK,” the official added.

Incidentally, Hafiz Saeed, along with Hizbul Mujahideen chief Syed Salahuddin, held a prayer meeting following Wani’s death.

Sources claimed that Burhan Wani had been getting tremendous support both from Hafiz Saeed and would have been behind major terror strikes in the Valley in the days ahead. Burhan Wani caught the attention of security forces following his regular postings on the social media instigating people and threatening to attack security forces.