Top Hizb-Ul commander from J&K held in Bengaluru

BENGALURU: A top militant commander of the banned terrorist organisation - Hizb-ul-Mujahideen (HM) - Tariq alias Talib Hussain Gujjar was held last week in the City by the Jammu & Kashmir (J&K) police with logistic support of Bengaluru city police. According to sources, Tariq alias Talib Hussain a resident of Nagaseni Tehsil, Kishtwar district has been reportedly identified by the investigating officer as a ‘Hizbul-A’ category terrorist. He was arrested by the J&K police from Kishtwar on June 5.

Talib had fled J&K and taken refuge in Bengaluru City a couple of years ago. He was living in the premises of a mosque in Okalipuram in Srirampura in Bengaluru North from where he was “picked up for questioning by the J&K police last week,” said sources. Talib was working for a courier company as a cargo loader and had maintained a low profile in the City. “Talib had left behind his first wife in J&K and had married another Kashmiri girl with who he was living in Bengaluru. After he was detained she also left for her home town on her own,” added the sources.

There are no details of when Talib came to Bengaluru. “No one, including his neighbours knew about his militant background,” added sources. “J&K police had approached the city police for locating a terror suspect named Tariq. He was located and detained for questioning,” they added. “Tariq was later identified as Talib Hussain - a ‘Hizbul-A’ category terrorist - after the J&K police searched his premises in Kishtwar, following which, he was arrested there,” said sources.

‘Karnataka has begun probe’

The police are now investigating his activities and will question his associates in Bengaluru. Talib had joined HM in 2016 and was at one point, said to be one of the closest associates of the oldest surviving terrorists in J&K Jehangir Saroori aka Mohammad Amin Bhat, who carries an award of Rs 50 lakh on his head. HM is one of the largest cadre-based terrorist organisations in J&K, which draws cadres from indigenous and foreign sources and is supported by Pakistan’s external intelligence agency the Inter Services Intelligence (ISI).

Meanwhile, in Karnataka, Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai on Tuesday confirmed Talib’s ‘arrest’ from the city and said that the state will provide all assistance required by J&K police. “In the past too, such arrests had taken place in Sirsi and Bhatkal. The Jammu and Kashmir police have taken this very seriously,” the CM had added. Home Minister Araga Jnanendra said that the state police has begun a probe following Talib’s ‘arrest.’