PhD Scholar Who Joined Hizbul Killed in Encounter in Kashmir, Mehbooba Rues Losing Educated Boys Daily

Srinagar: Two Hizbul Mujahideen militants, including PhD scholar-turned-terrorist Manan Bashir Wani, were killed on Thursday during an encounter with security forces at Handwara in frontier district of north Kashmir, officials said.

The encounter broke out in the early hours at Satgund in Handwara following a specific intelligence about presence of Wani, 27, along with two others, they said.

Giving details emerging from the encounter site, which ended, police and other security forces were fired upon by holed up militants resulting in an exchange of fire which continued till 11 am.

Police were also making repeated announcements on the public address system appealing to the militants to surrender, the officials said.

There was a lull in firing at around 9 am, prompting the police to initiate search operation at the encounter site, but it had to be suspended after firing resumed after 15 minutes, the officials said.

Wani, who was enrolled as a PhD scholar with the Aligarh Muslim University (AMU), joined militant ranks in January this year.

Former chief minister Mehbooba Mufti said Wani’s death was “entirely our loss” as the state is losing educated boys to militancy every day. She said it was high time that the political parties realised the gravity of this situation and facilitated a solution through dialogue.