Sabzar Ahmed Bhat was a kashmiri militant, who is the area commander of the militant organisation

Hizbul Mujahideen Hizbul Mujahideen, also spelled Hizb-ul-Mujahideen ( ar, حزب المجاھدین, ), is an Islamism, Islamist militant organization operating in the Kashmir region. Its goal is to separate Kashmir Valley, Kashmir from India and merge it with ...

. He was killed in an encounter by the police on 26 May 2017 at Saimoh Tral

Early life

Bhat's home village is reported to have been in Rathsuna,

Tral Tral is a town, sub-district and a notified area committee in the Pulwama district of Indian-administered Kashmir. The town is situated at a distance of from summer capital, Srinagar and from district headquarters, Pulwama. Tral is the secon ...

, Jammu and Kashmir. He only finished half of his schooling, dropping out after failing his Class X examinations, and previously worked in the orchards and fields of his father.

Hizbul Mujahideen

He reportedly joined militant organisation

in April 2015, after stealing a rifle from a

CRPF The Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) is a federal police organisation in India under the authority of the Ministry of Home Affairs (India), Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) of the Government of India. It is one among the Central Armed Police F ...

soldier in Tral. Bhat is reported to have been involved in attacks on

panchayat The Panchayat raj is a political system, originating from the Indian subcontinent, found mainly in India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, and Nepal. It is the oldest system of local government in the Indian subcontinent, and historical ment ...

members and security forces, as well as the execution of civilians he believed to be informants. In October 2015, he was arrested for transporting two

Lashkar-e-Taiba Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT; ur, ; literally ''Army of the Good'', translated as ''Army of the Righteous'', or ''Army of the Pure'' and alternatively spelled as ''Lashkar-e-Tayyiba'', ''Lashkar-e-Toiba'', ''Lashkar-i-Taiba'', ''Lashkar-i-Tayyeba'') ...

jihadists involved in the 2015 Udhampur Terrorist Attack. In that case, he was indicted on 29 January 2016. Bhat was an aide and close friend to the previous Hizbul Mujahideen fighter,

Burhan Wani Burhan Wani (19 September 1994 – 8 July 2016) was a commander of Hizbul Mujahideen, an Islamist militant organization and insurgent group of the Kashmir conflict. He had become a popular figure amongst the local Kashmiri populace, having d ...

, who was commander and was killed in July 2016. Indian security forces considered him effective at using social media to recruit youth towards terrorism. Indian security forces previously located him in Rathsuna, in March 2017, but he was able to evade them after a 15-hour gunfight that left one policeman dead.

Death

Bhat was killed in a firefight with Indian security forces in Soimoh, Tral, approximately forty kilometers outside of

Srinagar Srinagar (English: , ) is the largest city and the summer capital of Jammu and Kashmir, India. It lies in the Kashmir Valley on the banks of the Jhelum River, a tributary of the Indus, and Dal and Anchar lakes. The city is known for its natu ...

. He was subsequently buried in

Pulwama Pulwama (known as Panwangam in antiquity, and later as Pulgam) is a City and notified area council in the Pulwama district of the Indian-administered territory of Jammu and Kashmir. It is located approximately south of the summer capital of ...

. His death sparked clashes and a police-imposed curfew, during which a youth was killed in clashes with the

Central Reserve Police Force The Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) is a federal police organisation in India under the authority of the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) of the Government of India. It is one among the Central Armed Police Forces. The CRPF's primary role li ...

Internet The Internet (or internet) is the global system of interconnected computer networks that uses the Internet protocol suite (TCP/IP) to communicate between networks and devices. It is a '' network of networks'' that consists of private, pub ...

and phone service across Kashmir was suspended in an attempt to calm the region. A previously unknown militant group, Mujahideen Taliban-e-Kashmir, claimed it had provided information on Bhat to security forces. The claim remains unverified, though some analysts suggested it reflected a growing schism between various terrorist groups in Kashmir, with members of

concerned that

Zakir Musa Zakir Rashid Bhat (also known as Zakir Musa) was an Sunni Pan-Islamist, Kashmiri-separatist militant who became the commander of Hizbul Mujahideen after the killing of Burhan Wani and Sabzar Bhat, who were the former commanders of the same ...

may have betrayed Bhat.

Diplomatic protest

Pakistan Pakistan ( ur, ), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan ( ur, , label=none), is a country in South Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of almost 24 ...

's Adviser to the Prime Minister on Foreign Affairs

Sartaj Aziz Sartaj Aziz ( ur, ; born 7 February 1929) is a Pakistani economist and a strategist, having previously served as the deputy chairman of the Planning Commission of Pakistan, member of the federal cabinet as the ''de facto'' Minister for Forei ...

claimed that the killing of Bhat was an

extrajudicial execution An extrajudicial killing (also known as extrajudicial execution or extralegal killing) is the deliberate killing of a person without the lawful authority granted by a judicial proceeding. It typically refers to government authorities, whether ...

, and called on the

United Nations The United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organization whose stated purposes are to maintain international peace and international security, security, develop friendly relations among nations, achieve international cooperation, and be ...

and the Organisation of Islamic Conference to investigate.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bhat, Sabzar 20th-century births 2017 deaths Kashmiri people Kashmir separatist movement Kashmiri militants People shot dead by law enforcement officers in India Year of birth missing People from Jammu and Kashmir Kashmiri Islamists Members of jihadist groups