Srinagar, May 27: A Hizbul Mujahideen militant seen by many as Burhan Wani's successor was killed in an encounter today, triggering clashes and leaving Kashmir staring at a fresh bout of unrest.
Sources said Sabzar Bhat, 31, and one of his associates, Faizan Muzaffar, were cornered in a house in Tral, south Kashmir, where they had taken shelter after a chance exchange of fire.
The two militants were eliminated after the forces pulverised the structure with heavy ammunition.
Soon, the Valley erupted in pro- azadi protests, and clashes broke out between protesters and security forces at many places. At least one youth died in Tral and dozens were injured.
The authorities shut down Internet services and rushed thousands of security personnel to the trouble spots.
Within hours of Sabzar's death, shopkeepers pulled down shutters and traffic went off the roads. Separatists have called a two-day shutdown from tomorrow and asked people to march to Tral on Tuesday.
Sabzar's death has given the security forces their biggest breakthrough since militant poster boy Burhan was shot dead in a gunfight in Kokernag, south Kashmir, in July last year. The long spell of unrest that followed left nearly a hundred civilians dead and thousands injured in clashes with security personnel.
Sources said Sabzar lacked Burhan's charisma. Within the security establishment, too, opinion was divided on who was Burhan's real successor: Sabzar or Zakir Musa, who recently quit the Hizb after being chided by the high command for his pan-Islamist views. The Hizb had not officially named a successor.
Unlike Zakir, an engineering dropout said to have oratorical skills, Sabzar was unlettered. He also lacked communication skills, a key shortcoming at a time the Valley's new-age militants have increasingly been relying on the social media to spread their message or draw recruits.
It's his knack for communication that helped Zakir steal the limelight. He would frequently appear in pictures and videos uploaded by the militants, although it was Sabzar who was Burhan's deputy.
Sources in Sabzar's family said a failed love affair had prompted him to take refuge in religion for some time, adding that he had joined the militants purely for ideological reasons.
"The girl's family rejected his proposal, after which he took to spirituality. In 2015, he snatched the rifle of a policeman and joined the militants, which coincided with the killing of Burhan's brother (Khalid) by the forces," a family source said.
Khalid was not a militant but was killed while he was on his way to meet Burhan at a hideout.
Police sources suggested it was a chance gunfight that had given the forces the breakthrough early today at Hurdimir, Soimoh, in Tral. A spokesperson said the militants had fired on a 42 Rashtriya Rifles patrol last evening and taken refuge in nearby houses.
The sources said hundreds of people had marched towards the encounter site to distract the forces but rumours of Sabzar's escape, apparently spread by the forces, helped partly placate them.
Official sources said they don't now expect the kind of backlash that had followed Burhan's death.
"But it is always difficult to predict Kashmir. There were protests today but not on the scale of those that had followed Burhan's death. We hope there won't be an unrest like last year's," a source said.
Separatist sources said that rather than a long movement, they would prefer sporadic protests that would give people an opportunity to relax.
Intruders shot
The Indian Army today said 10 heavily armed militants had been killed over the past 24 hours in Jammu and Kashmir.
"Relentless operations by security forces have defeated desperate attempts by Pakistan and Pakistan-sponsored agents to spread terror in the state in the run-up to the holy month of Ramazan," the defence spokesperson for the Northern Command said.
Among the 10, six had been intercepted today along the Line of Control in the Rampur sector. Sabzar and his associate, Faizan, were the other two killed today.
ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY OUR DELHI BUREAU
