Hardcore ultra Kachroo’s father too was militant

Samaan Lateef

Tribune News Service

Srinagar, August 29

The Hizbul Mujahideen, a predominantly Kashmiri militant outfit, lost one of its senior militant commanders Altaf Kachroo in south Kashmir’s Anantnag district on Wednesday.

With the killing of the 32-year-old Kachroo, the Hizb has lost nearly a dozen senior commanders following the killing of Burhan Wani in July 2016.

Kachroo, whose name along with outfit’s operational commander Muhammad Bin Qasim, surfaced on the list of 21 most wanted militants in March, was associated with the Hizb for the past 11 years. He was an A++ category militant and operated as deputy operational commander of the Hizb.

Security forces killed over 200 militants after they launched Operation All Out — a joint offensive by the Army, CRPF, police and the Intelligence Bureau — in the second half of 2017.

Kachroo was barely 6 years old when his father Ghulam Muhammad Dar, who was also a Hizb militant, was killed along the Line of Control while returning from Pakistan in early 1990s.

A science graduate, Kachroo first joined the militant outfit in 2007 but was arrested after three months during an encounter at Redwani in Kulgam on August 20. The police had said the security forces had recovered a huge quantity of RDX from the Redwani area after a disclosure by him.

After his release, he again joined militancy in 2010. He was rearrested from the Zadibal area of Srinagar in 2011 along with arms.

Kachroo, then a hardcore overground worker of the Hizb, was again released. He rejoined militant ranks in 2013 and was active since then. Police records say he was involved in the recent civilian and security personnel killings in Kulgam and Anantnag districts.

After the state government announced the surrender policy in 2017 to lure local militants to return to their families, Kachroo’s mother Saleema told The Tribune earlier this year that she would never ask her son to surrender. “It is a sin. He should come back as a martyr,” she said.

Kachroo is survived by his mother, two sisters and two brothers. Hizb, which is headed by Reyaz Naikoo, has few senior militants left in its ranks now.

Science graduate joined militancy 11 years ago

• Altaf Kachroo, a science graduate,  joined Hizbul Mujahideen in 2007. His name surfaced on the list of 21 most wanted militants in March 
• Police say that the A++ category militant was involved in recent civilian and security personnel killings in Kulgam and Anantnag districts
• Kachroo was barely 6 years old when his father Ghulam Muhammad Dar, also a Hizb militant, was killed along the LoC while returning from Pakistan in the early 1990s