The Urban Local Bodies polls will be held in four phases from October 8 to 16.
Former terror group top commander Mohammad Farooq Khan alias Saifullah has defied the terror diktat against joining BJP and contesting municipal polls from Srinagar.
Khan, a former Pakistan trained terrorist of Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF) and Harkat-ul-Mujhadeen, has filed nomination from the sensitive Tanki Pora ward of the Srinagar Municipal Corporation (SMC).
"I think taking up arms was the biggest mistake of my life. Those (separatists) issuing fatwas (edicts) live a cozy life. Their children are well settled; some of them are studying abroad or in states outside the country," Khan told DNA.
Born in 1970, Khan was brought up in the congested Barbarshah-Habba Kadal area of Srinagar city. In 1989, Khan crossed the Line of Control (LoC) into Pakistan Occupied Kashmir (PoK) to receive arms training.
A year later, he returned as a JKLF commander, only to join Harkat-ul-Mujhadeen as its military advisor.
"I was arrested on September 7, 1991, from Munawarabad area of Srinagar. For the next seven and a half years, I had to call the prisons my home. In that phase, I spent time reading books that helped me understand life better," said Khan.
During his incarceration, he met Jaish-e-Mohammad chief Moulana Masood Azhar in Tihar jail. Later, Azhar was released along with two other commanders — Ahmad Omar Saeed Sheikh and Mushtaq Ahmad Zargar — in lieu of the passengers of hijacked Indian Airlines plane IC 814 in 1999.
Hailed as a hero before his arrest, Khan found his world had changed completely in those eight years. The released terrorists were looked down upon and people were maintaining a safe distance from them.
"It was a difficult period. I had no income but many mouths to feed. I began selling ice-creams and was living of commissions received," he recounted.
What however pained him was the harassment of the released terrorists at the hands of the forces. "So, I floated J&K Human Welfare Association, an NGO, to champion the cause of ex-terrorists. We were only trying to avail our passports so that we can go abroad to make a living, because here, no one was ready to employ us," he said.
Life finally changed a few days ago when he spoke to a friend in Delhi who suggested him to join BJP and contest the upcoming polls.
Although Hizbul Mujhadeen has threatened him on social media asking him to resign, Khan's resolve remains unshaken. "Life and death is in the hand of God. I have not left my home. My wife has remained my biggest support through this," he said.
The Urban Local Bodies polls will be held in four phases from October 8 to 16. There are two Municipal Corporations, six Municipal Councils and 72 Municipal Committees. Out of total 1145 Wards, 90 Wards have been reserved for Scheduled Castes and 38 Wards for Scheduled Tribes which includes 31 and 13 wards reserved for SC and ST Women respectively. In addition, 322 wards have been reserved for Women.
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 "Jammu and Kashmir Polls")
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