With the killing of the self-styled commander of the Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) terror outfit Zahid Manzoor Wani, residents of Kashmir Valley heaved a sigh of relief as the eliminated dreaded terrorist was responsible for massive recruitment of gullible Kashmir youth in terror groups.
Many fresh recruited terrorists eliminated by forces in South Kashmir were persuaded to join terror groups by Zahid Wani, who was head of the JeM outfit in Kashmir Valley.
"I would like to briefly highlight that with neutralization of Zahid Wani, who was the chief of JeM we have eliminated one of the masterminds of various IED attacks that have taken place over the years since 2017. More importantly, he was also been involved in the extensive recruitment of innocent young boys by misleading them and ultimately resulting in their untimely deaths. With Zahid's elimination, I am sure it will provide a lot of relief to the residents of the Pulwama district and indeed in the entire J&K", Major General Prashant Srivastava said.
Major General Prashant Srivastava is the General Officer Commanding (GOC) of the Army's south Kashmir-based counter-insurgency Victor Force.
Zahid Wani was heading JeM after the elimination of Samir Dar, 'Lamboo'
After the elimination of top "commanders" namely Samir Dar and Abu Saifullah alias "Lamboo", Zahid Wani was heading the dreaded terror outfit JeM in Kashmir Valley. Wani was in touch with Pakistan-based commanders of the JeM. He was operating in the code name of Uzair.
Samir Dar, the last surviving terrorist involved in the Pulwama attack was eliminated in an encounter at Anantnag district on December 30, 2021. On February 14, 2019, JeM terrorist Adil Ahmed Dar had rammed an explosive-laden vehicle into a CrPF convoy on the Jammu–Srinagar National Highway, resulting in the death of 40 CRPF soldiers.
Sameer Dar was also part of the attack but had managed to escape the Indian armed forces. Dar was the last surviving terrorist involved in the Lethpora-Pulwama terror.
Abu Saifullah alias "Lamboo", who was also involved in the Pulwama attack was eliminated on July 31, 2021, in a brief encounter in South Kashmir's Dachigarm forest area.
"Lamboo" was the nephew of the chief of JeM, Masood Azhar, who was designated as a global terrorist was the United Nations in May 2019.
"Lamboo" a resident of Pakistan's Punjab province had reportedly infiltrated Kashmir Valley from the Shakargarh area of Pakistan in the year 2017, to coordinate terror activities in Jammu and Kashmir.
Zahid Wani was active since 2017
As per police records, the killed terrorist Zahid Wani was linked with proscribed terror outfit JeM and was part of the group involved in several terror crime cases including attacks on Police/SFs and civilian atrocities.
The killed terrorist Zahid Wani was a categorized terrorist active since May-2017 and involved in several terror crime cases including attacks on security forces and civilian atrocities.
- He was involved in an attack on a patrolling party of 44RR at Below Rajpora.
- Wani was involved in an attack on a patrolling party of 55RR at Tiken Pulwama.
- He was part of the terror groups that attacked a patrolling party of 50RR at Parigam in South Kashmir.
- Wani lobbed a grenade at Police Station Pulwama and opened fire on CRPF camp at Rajpora.
- Besides, he was also involved in the killing of one civilian Azad Ahmad Dar of Kangan Pulwama.
- Moreover, terrorist Zahid Wani was also instrumental in motivating the gullible youth to join terror folds and other criminal activities.
- Wani was one of the masterminds behind various IED attacks across Kashmir Valley.
