The launching commander of the Hizb-ul-Mujahideen, Bashir Ahmad Peer alias Imtiyaz Alam, was killed in Pakistan’s Rawalpindi on Monday evening. An assailant shot at him from point-blank range outside a shop in Rawalpindi, killing the top Hizb commander who was wanted in India.
On October 4 of last year, the Narendra Modi government designated Peer as a terrorist under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act.
He was involved in providing logistics to the banned outfit’s terrorists, especially for infiltration into the Kupwara district in Jammu and Kashmir.
Peer alias Imtiyaz Alam alias Haji, originally belonging to Babarpora area in Jammu and Kashmir’s Kupwara district was living in Rawalpindi, Pakistan.
Centre government’s notification said that Peer was involved in “a number of online propaganda groups to unite ex-militants and other cadres for the furtherance of activities of Hizb-Ul-Mujahideen, Lashkar-e-Toiba and others”.
Peer was accused of getting Zakir Musa, chief commander of Ansar Gazwat-ul-Hind, an offshoot of al-Qaeda in Kashmir, killed on May 23, 2019.
Musawas showing open defiance to Pakistan’s writ in Kashmir.
In May 2017, he left pro-Pakistan Hizbul Mujahedeen and called for establishing the caliphate and enforcing Sharia laws.
In March 2007, Peer was detained by the Pakistan Army’s Military Intelligence Directorate after he sent a 12-men unit to reinforce his ‘northern division commander’ Mohammad Shafi Dar. However, he was soon released on ISI orders.
