Soldier-turned-militant gave the slip to security forces many times

Majid Jahangir

Tribune News Service

Srinagar, December 15

A soldier-turned-militant, who had sent the Army into a tizzy, was killed after months of a cat-and-mouse game with security forces.

Zahoor Thokar, 25, of Sirnoo, Pulwama, who had deserted his unit on the intervening night of July 5-6 last year from north Kashmir’s Baramulla was killed in an early morning gunfight in south Kashmir’s Pulwama district along with two local associates. A soldier was also killed in the incident.

Thokar fled his unit along with an AK rifle and three magazines and later joined the militant group, Hizbul Mujahideen. Thokar was the first Kashmiri soldier who deserted the Army and joined the militant ranks.

“After he joined militancy, he was operating mainly in Pulwama and was wanted in many militancy cases, including cop killings and civilian atrocities,” a police officer said. “As he was a former soldier, he would train recruits. He was very proactive and was a senior commander of the group in the area.”

The officer said in the past, Thokar had managed to give the slip to the forces during many operations.

Pulwama in south Kashmir where the gunfight broke out early morning is a volatile district with the highest number of active militants.

Last month, another Army deserter Mohammad Idrees Sultan, who had also joined the militant ranks earlier this year, was killed in a gunfight at Shopian. Idrees, 23, had joined the Army some three years ago and before joining the militant ranks, he was posted in Bihar and was part of Army’s 12 Jammu and Kashmir Light Infantry regiment.

Mir was the second Kashmiri soldier, after Thokar who had joined the militant ranks. There have been instances in J&K were policemen have joined militant ranks.