New Delhi: Days after the killing of Hizbul Mujahideen poster boy Burhan Wani, the militant group has named Mehmood Ghaznavi as its new commander for Kashmir.
The decision was taken on Tuesday during a meet of Hizbul Command Council that was presided by its chief Syed Salahuddin. While addressing the meet, Salahuddin said that a function will be organised on July 13 at Muzaddarabad in Pakistan Occupied Kashmir which will be attended by United Jihad Council and All Parties Hurriyat Conference.
“Mehmood Ghaznavi will take control of the organization after the death of Burhan Muzaffar Wani,” Salahuddin said in a statement.
"We won't allow the sacrifice of Burhan Wani to waste, and his mission will be taken to its logical conclusion," the statement added.
There was no immediate information available on Ghaznavi, said to be a close friend of Burhan. However, media reports say that his real name was Sabzar Ahmed Bhat, a native of Rathsuna in South Kashmir. In December 2015, the state police had announced a cash reward on a group of Hizbul militants including Sabzar.
21-year-old Burhan Wani was militant group’s Kashmir chief and was carrying a cash reward of Rs 10 lakhs. He was killed on last Friday in an encounter with security forces in Kokernag area of South Kashmir’s Anantnag district.
Meanwhile, curfew continued for the fifth day in most parts of the Valley today as 34 people died during this period in the vicious cycle of violence that has plagued Kashmir after the killing of Burhan.
Despite relative calm in the Valley on Tuesday, clashes occurred between the security forces and unruly mobs at more than three dozen places. A mob attacked a police station in north Kashmir's Kralpora town of Kupwara district on Tuesday. The mob also torched a police vehicle there in which some policemen were trapped.
In Srinagar, Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti described the situation in Kashmir as "a matter of concern for all of us" and urged Kashmiri youths to show "patience and calm" at this "critical and sensitive" hour.
"Bloodshed will result in nothing. Life comes once. It is our duty to respect and appreciate this Godsend gift," Mebooba said in a passionate appeal in Urdu.
July 13 is a public holiday in the state in connection with the annual 'Youm-e-Suhada' (Martyrs' Day) to remember those who were killed in an uprising against the Dogra autocratic rule in 1931. Separatist leaders, most of them under house arrest, have called for a march to the martyrs' graveyard in the old city. The chief minister too is scheduled to lay a wreath there.
