Jammu and Kashmir police recieved the secret information about the plans of senior Hizbul Mujahideen leader Qayoom Najar from the members of his own dreaded terrorist outfit who backstabbed him. The tip-off from his cohorts helped Indian Army to track Najar as he was trying to sneak into Kashmir from Pakistan occupied Kashmir (PoK) and kill him in an encounter last week.
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The information that Najar would be taking a particular route through the mountainous terrain was passed on to the Kashmir police a few days before the forces killed him him at the LoC.
According to the Times of India report, though Najar's group members had informed the J&K police that Najar would return to the valley from the north Kashmir side, they had not specified a date.
The police passed on the information to the Indian Army, and in turn the personnel started keeping a round-the-clock vigil on the route. Najar was shot dead while he was trying to infiltrate across the LoC in Uri sector.
The deceased leader had fallen out with his PoK-based Hizbul Mujahideen handlers in 2015 following which he formed his own group called Lashker-e-Islam. This caused Pakistan to doubt Najar's loyalty, claimed the intelligence agencies based in New Delhi.
The Lashker-e-Islam is allegedly responsible for carrying out attacks on mobile towers and personnel linked to cellphone companies in the valley.
However, Najar and the Hizbul Mujahideen leaders buried the hatchet after a few months and he returned to PoK and had been staying there since.
The TOI report also said that Hizbul Mujahideen chief Syed Salahuddin later asked Najar to return to his homeland to take charge of Hizbul Mujahideen as four of its eminent commanders were killed by the India's armed forces in the last few weeks.
"But this seems to have been a ploy because the same group informed police about his return," an intelligence operative was quoted as saying by the TOI.
The 43-year-old militant was the longest surviving terrorist in the valley and was categorised as one of the top ranking militants in Kashmir.
