SRINAGAR: The Army arrested Sheikh Abdul Aziz, “supreme commander” of a front ranking militant outfit, the Al Jehad.
According to official sources, the Army, acting on a tip off provided by two militants arrested recently, raided Sheikh Abdul Aziz’s hideout in Nilora village in Pulwama district of south Kashmir.
Sheikh Aziz was arrested along with 10 other militants, including the “district commander” of the outfit and the Sheikh’s four bodyguards.
It was officially, stated that an exchange of five took place between the Army and the militants before the latter were arrested, However, the additional director general of police, Azhar Nomani denied a report that Sheikh Aziz was wounded in the encounter.
Sheikh Aziz, who is in his early 40s, joined the movement in Kashmir almost two decades ago. He was an eighth class student when he participated in a demonstration and was arrested by the police. Six years later, in 1972, he joined Young Men’s League, which later merged with other organizations to form the Jammu and Kashmir People’s League in 1974; He was jailed several times for his involvement in separatist activities before he took to the gun. In early 1990.
He organized his own militant outfit, the Jehad Force, which merged with the Muslim Janbaz Force in late 1991 to form the Al Jehad. His arrest is the third big achievement for the security forces this year, after the killing of Nasirul Islam, chief of the Jamiat ul Mujahideen and Maqbool Hahi, “divisional commander” of the Hizbul Mujahideen.
Article extracted from this publication >> May 28, 1993
