‘Dr Saifullah’: Slain Hizbul Chief, Old Associate of Burhan Wani
Saifullah had only succeeded Riyaz Naikoo as the Hizbul chief after Naikoo was killed earlier in May.
advertisement
Hizbul Mujahideen chief commander Saifullah Mir, or Dr Saifullah, was killed during a gunfight in Rangreth area of Srinagar district on Sunday, 1 November, according to Jammu and Kashmir officials. Another militant was arrested alive.
According to news agency IANS, on being asked by reporters how a most wanted militant commander like Saifullah could manage to come so close to Srinagar city from his south Kashmir operational base, IGP, Kashmir, Vijay Kumar said: "Let us not waste time in asking how he came here. Let us celebrate his killing."
Saifullah, according to IANS, had only succeeded Riyaz Naikoo as the Hizbul chief after Naikoo was killed by security forces earlier in May.
According to IANS, he was the last of the 10 most wanted local militant commanders who had served as "icons" of homegrown militancy in Kashmir.
A Low Profile
A senior officer reportedly told The Print that Saifullah kept a low profile before becoming a commander and after.
The report added that he had joined militant ranks in 2014 and operated under Burhan Wani. Saifullah also reportedly appeared in one of the group photos of Wani and his associates that had gone viral on social media.
More About ‘Dr Saifullah’
Saifullah’s mother, according to IANS, told reporters that her son wanted to be a doctor.
According to The Print, Mir had a diploma degree in medical electronics from Industrial Training Institute in Pulwama and one from the National Institute of Electronics and Information Technology in Srinagar. It was for this reason that Saifullah had been given the nickname “Doctor”.
Prior to joining the ranks of militants, Saifullah had also worked for three months in the Sher-e-Kashmir Institute of Medical Sciences (SKIMS) in Soura area of Srinagar.
(At The Quint, we question everything. Play an active role in shaping our journalism by becoming a member today.)