Top Lashkar-e-Tayyaba militant appears at rally in South Kashmir

Abu Dojana, the topmost Lashkar-e-Tayyaba commander, appeared at a huge rally at Kareemabad in Jammu and Kashmir’s southern district of Pulwama, held on Sunday to pay homage to militants slain in encounters with security forces and also to the youth killed during ongoing turbulence in the Valley.

He was accompanied by few other militants, some of them wearing bandanas but none carrying weapons, said an eyewitness. The rally was addressed to by a host of political activists, religious and social leaders. Abu Dojana also desired to speak on the occasion but was politely refused permission by the organisers on the plea that it might be seized by “enemies of the freedom movement” to their benefit, reports from Pulwama said.

One conservative estimate put the number of the participants of the rally around 50,000. The families of several slain militants also attended. Some of the top Hizb-ul-Mujahedin militants, including Naseer Ahmed Pandit, Bilal Ahmed Bhat, Afaq Janbaz and Abdur Rashid Bhat were from Kareemabad. The crowd was responsive and kept hysterically yelling pro-azadi slogans. Many were carrying Pakistan’s national flag and that of LeT besides green Islamic and (Syed Ali Shah Geelani-led) Tehrik-e-Hurriyat flags, a video of the rally shows. The locals served the participants of the rally food and beverages, witnessed said.

Abu Dojana, believed to be a Pakistani national, is a most wanted LeT commander, who escaped through the security forces’ dragnet during three counterinsurgency operations launched in south Kashmir recently. He is wanted by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) in the August 5, 2015 ambush on a BSF convoy near the garrison town of Udhampur.

One of his close associates, Abu Okasha alias Abu Hanzla, a resident of Pakistan, was captured by the members of J&K police’s Special Operations Group (SOG).