Thirty two-year-old Junaid Ashraf Khan had closely followed and was inspired by the separatist politics of his father Mohammed Ashraf Khan ‘Sehrai’ till he finally joined the militant ranks in 2018.

Holding a Master of Business Administration degree from Kashmir University, Junaid worked with two multinational companies before returning to the Kashmir Valley where he actively participated in protests and demonstrations.

He joined the militant ranks in 2017-2018, at a time when many educated youths were doing so. Junaid was the first son of any separatist leader to have joined the terrorist ranks.

Junaid is believed to have struck a good rapport with PhD scholar Manan Wani for a few months before he was killed in October 2018.

At the age of 22, Junaid, the youngest among six brothers and sisters, was first named in an FIR when he was caught pelting stones during an agitation in 2010.

Considered to be radical, Junaid could not adjust in a job and decided to help his father, who had opened a front against pro-Pakistan separatist leader Syed Ali Shah Geelani, and wanted to control Tehrek-e-Hurriayt which is considered to be a hardline separatist conglomerate.

Weeks after Sehrai took over the reins of the amalgam, Junaid disappeared on March 23, 2018 and never returned. His father submitted an application at Saddar police station on the next day informing about his son’s disappearance.

A few weeks later Junaid’s picture appeared on social media. He was brandishing an AK-47 and the post also mentioned a code name—‘Ammar Bhai’.

Sehrai had turned down a suggestion of the then Director General of Police S P Vaid for making an appeal to his son to return. PTI

Courtesy: Daily Tribune:  20th May, 2020