J&K: Hizbul Mujahideen Announces 26-Year-Old Saifullah Mir Aka Ghazi Haider As Riyaz Naikoo’s Successor

In the wake of Indian security forces having gunned down Hizbul Mujahideen (HM)'s commander in chief in the Kashmir Valley, Riyaz Naikoo, the terrorist outfit has announced 26-years-old Saifullah Mir aka Ghazi Haider as his successor, reports Hindustan Times.

It should be noted that Mir was radicalised to pick up arms and join HM by Naikoo himself six years ago. He is also known as Musaib, and 'Doctor Saif' given he is known to have treated terrorists injured in police encounters.

He had been classified an 'A category' terrorist in the past and is known to have been active mostly in the South Kashmir's Pulwama, Kulgam and Shoipian districts.

The announcement of Mir's appointment to lead the HM operations in J&K was made by Saleem Hashmi who is the spokesperson of the outfit which is based in Pakistan occupied Kashmir (PoK)'s Muzaffarabad.

Hashmi also named Zaraful Islam as Mir's deputy chief operational commander in J&K. Meanwhile, another terrorist Abu Tariq Bhai was named Mir's chief military adviser.

It should be noted that apart from terrorism, Hizbul is also involved in drugs racket. Recently, security forces had busted a major terror-financing module of the banned terror group Hizbul Mujahideen after the prime accused was arrested from Sirsa, Haryana, by the National Investigating Agency (NIA) on Saturday (9 May).

The module was being run through narcotics smuggled into India along with rock salt imported from Pakistan.