He figured in the security forces’ list of most-wanted militants.
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Among the most important of these were the attacks on a Border Security Force (BSF) convoy in Udhampur in August and on an army convoy in Hyderpora on the outskirts of Srinagar in 2013. Naveed and his two alleged local accomplices are now in a Jammu jail.
“A joint of the army’s 9 RR and the Special Operation Group of Jammu and Kashmir Police launched an operation in Khandipora village of Kulgam, following a tip-off about the presence of a few terrorists, including LeT commander Abu Qasim, in Khandipura at Kulgam”. The IGP said two associates of Qasim were also trapped in the area and a combing operation was on to flush them out. He was also involved in the killing of Sub-Inspector Altaf Ahmed.
A family from Khandeypora Kulgam has claimed that the slain militant was not Lashkar’s Abu Qasim but their son Mohammad Yaqoob Hajam, who was missing since past 15 years.
He said Qasim was either directly involved or brain behind the actions carried out by LeT in the last three years in Kashmir division. After that, the J&K police had announced a ‘1 million bounty.
Abu Qasim, a resident of Bhawalpora in Pakistan, took over as operations chief of the Laskhar-e-Tayyaba in J&K after the killing of Rehman Bhai in 2011.
Earlier this month, Qasim had killed a police officer, Altaf Ahmad in Bandipora district. “Since the entire area was cordoned off by the security forces, the LeT commander could not escape under the cover of darkness and was ultimately killed in the exchange of fire”, said the official.
Life was also crippled in Pulwama, where two Hizbul Mujahideen (HM) militants were gunned down by security forces in an encounter on October 27.
Former Mumbai police commissioner and BJP leader Satyapal Singh dubbed it to be a big achievement of the Indian security forces and intelligence agencies.
There was no confirmation from the LeT or other militant groups of Qasim’s death.
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India often accuses Pakistan of training and arming rebels, while Islamabad says it only provides diplomatic and moral support for the Kashmiri people’s struggle for self-determination. In Kulgam town, 5 km from here, an instant shutdown was observed over the killing.
