After 23 years on run, cops nab J&K killer

After 23 years on the run, the law finally caught up with a former Ikhwani commander (a member of counter-insurgent militia). Absconding since October 1996, after he allegedly massacred seven members of three families at Saderkoot-Bala village in North Kashmir's Bandipora district, Wali Mohammad Mir was arrested by the Jammu and Kashmir Police from Barwala-Kangan village on Tuesday.

Ikhwan, a counter-insurgent group of surrendered militants, was created by the forces in the early nineties to take on the ultras in the war against terror. Later, the Ikhwan was disbanded and some of them were absorbed in different security forces.

Police said that acting on a specific tip-off, cops from the Sumbal police station, led by the station house officer, arrested Mir when they raided his hideout at the Barwala Kangan village.

"The accused is involved in the murder of seven persons, including five men and two women. He also injured five others in their houses. Several warrants were issued by the Bandipora district and session court, but the accused was hiding at some unknown location till now," said a police spokesman.

One of Mir's accomplices was slain Abdul Rashid Parray alias Rashid Billa, a former Ikhwan as well. On August 16, 2017, Billa was killed when militants stormed his home and fired indiscriminately at him at Hajin in Bandipora district.

"Evading arrest for 23 years, Wali Mir of Rashid Billa gang, a dreaded renegade wanted in 7 murders, was finally arrested by Bandipora police headed by @malikjk IPS. Kashmir will get a sense of justice when all state and non-state actors who committed HR violations are punished," tweeted Shah Faesal, the 2010 IAS topper turned politician who now heads J&K People's Movement.

KILLED SEVEN

On October 5, 1996 Mir, a top Ikhwani commander killed 7 members — including two women — when they stormed their houses and fired indiscriminately in the Saderkoot-Bala village