Harinder Baweja    
The identities of the three motorcycle-borne militants who shot dead senior journalist Shujaat Bukhari in Srinagar would probably have taken more time to unravel had one of the assailants not shared information about the killing with other members of the Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT).

Jammu and Kashmir police released names of four terrorists at a press conference on Thursday, saying they were suspected of killing the editor-in-chief of Rising Kashmir. The police also claimed the plan to kill Bukhari was hatched in Pakistan and executed by the LeT. Apart from Sajjad Gul, a Pakistani-based blogger, the police named Azad Ahmed Malik, Muzaffer Ahmed and Naveed Jutt.

Malik, an LeT militant who has been active in South Kashmir since December 2016, revealed the details of Bukhari’s killing to another Lashkar terrorist, who was subsequently captured in an encounter with security forces last week. Malik’s bragging led to the police cracking the case.

 “We were lucky that this militant was taken into custody,’’ a government official, who wished to stay anonymous, said. He added, “It was in the course of interrogation that this militant told us that Azad Ahmed Malik had revealed his involvement and that of Ahmed and Jutt’s.”

Bukhari’s killers have been on the run since he was gunned down in Srinagar’s Press Colony on the evening of June 14. While the police accessed CCTV footage of the assailants, who came on a motorcycle, their identity was not known as they had masked their faces with scarves and a helmet.

Jammu and Kashmir director general of police SP Vaid confirmed that a Lashkar militant had helped the investigators identify Bukhari’s killers. “He (the arrested militant) revealed the names of the three. It is a sensitive case and the investigation is on. I cannot reveal more details,” Vaid told HT over the phone from Srinagar.

The encounter, after which the Lashkar militant was taken into custody, took place in South Kashmir on June 24. The police are not revealing his identity, but say that he became a militant only around three months back.

Bukhari’s killing sent shockwaves through Kashmir and the police set up a special investigations team to probe the murder.

J&K’s inspector general of police SP Pani released the names and photographs of the four suspects at Thursday’s press conference. While giving details of the ‘hate campaign’ against Bukhari, the police, in a statement, said, that ‘malicious and intimidating’ content was being posted from Pakistan by “individuals belonging to the LeT.”

The police, however, still have to connect Malik, Ahmed and Jutt to those they say were posting the intimidating content from Pakistan. “Several leads led us to the identity of the killers,” a police officer said. file was also moved by the DMRC to the home department to impose the Essential Services Maintenance Act (ESMA) to keep train services running in case the staff decided to go ahead with the strike. The file was sent to the lieutenant governor for his approval, Sisodia said.

Chief minister Arvind Kejriwal, who is in Bengaluru for medical treatment, urged the non-executive staff to continue their duties. “Whereas all genuine demands of metro employees should be met, a strike would cause inconvenience to lakhs of people. The strike should not take place. Government could impose ESMA as a last resort. I would urge employees to not resort to a strike,” he wrote in a Twitter post.

A government spokesperson said the situation was so grave that Kejriwal had been personally monitoring the standoff from Bengaluru. “DMRC managing director Mangu Singh is in the US for a tunneling conference and two days of talks by HODs (heads of departments) of metro did not give positive results. So, deputy CM and transport minister Kailash Gahlot were directed by Kejriwal to intervene, after which Sisodia held the meeting..,” a government spokesperson said.

Gahlot, while announcing that the high court had restrained DMRC employees from going on strike on Saturday, said, “All genuine demands of the employees should be accepted. Delhi government is equally committed to ensure smooth functioning of DMRC.”

Though the council members claimed that they had not been paid revised salaries and arrears, the DMRC had, after a series of protests in July 2017, bumped up the salary grades of all non-executive staff to a higher level. The upgrade had been backdated to July 2015.

Nearly 12,000 people are employed with Delhi Metro, with non-executive staff accounting for about 9,000. and complex topography. Over a long period of time, it is very difficult to provide soldiers with logistics and armament support.”

The recent drills have focussed on the combat-readiness of the PLA, which hasn’t fought a war in decades. PLA troops from the Tibet Military Command conducted a 13-hour drill at an elevation of 4,600 metres last August, which was a follow-up of another exercise last July.

harinder.baweja@hindustantimes.com

Courtesy: Hindustan Times:  30 Jun 2018