Kin of Burhan Wani aide injured

Suspected militants shot at and critically wounded two persons in Jammu and Kashmir’s southern Pulwama district on Friday night.

One of them is Shabir Ahmad Pandit, cousin of Hizbul Mujahideen militant Tariq Ahmed Pandit who surrendered before the security forces in May 2016, and the other has been identified as Manzoor Ahmad.

Tariq Pandit, a former policeman who had joined militants’ ranks after deserting the force, was a close associate of Burhan Muzaffar Wani, the new-age poster boy of militancy in Kashmir. Days before Wani’s killing, Pandit had, as per one report, laid down his arms and surrendered before the security forces but, according to another, he was arrested by them.

A defence spokesman here had said Tariq Pandit was captured by security forces “in a well-coordinated swift operation” in southern Pulwama district in the last week of May.