Minor among 14 Kashmiri militants on NIA’s most wanted list
A 17-year-old minor boy from Jammu and Kashmir is among the 14 most wanted militants by India’s premier anti-terror force National Investigation Agency (NIA) with a bounty of 10 lakh rupees on his head.
In NIA’s wanted list of 80 people across India, 14 are Kashmiri residents as per their addresses mentioned and maintained by NIA.The list also includes Hizbul Mujahideen chief, Syed Salahuddin.
Some of these militants have rewards on their heads from Rs 2 lakh to Rs 10 lakh while some of them have Interpol’s Red Corner Notices issued against them.
The 17-year-old boy Junaid Akram Malik is the youngest of all the 14 and has also red corner notice against him.
Earlier in 2012, NIA released a list of ten most wanted militants in India and listed Malik as one among them.
An Interpol Red Corner warrant under “NIA FIR No. 09/2011 ” was issued against him.
Enquiring about the latest update on the list of wanted militants by NIA, IG (Policy) P.V Ramasastry told over phone that tracing the wanted militants is an ongoing process and NIA keeps the website updated.
“We can’t speak over this to anyone but let me tell you we keep on updating our website regularly and tracing the wanted militants is an ongoing process. All those who are on wanted list of NIA are not traced yet. NIA removes names of those who are traced, apprehended, or those who are killed,” he said.
The NIA set up in the aftermath of 2008 Mumbai militant attack claimed Malik’s involvement in Delhi High Court blast and maintains he is absconding since 2011.
NIA had also put him on its official website as most wanted with his photograph which continues to be there.
Similarly, there are 13 other militants who belong to Kashmir and are listed as most wanted by NIA. Most of them are from North Kashmir’s Sopore and South Kashmir’s Kulgam district. Except Malik and Syed Salahuddin, all other militants are in age group of 30 to 40 years.
Asked about the latest updates on whereabouts of these militants, NIA officials refused to comment.
The IG said all the information related to Jammu and Kashmir cases are maintained by Interpol division.
NIA had asked every State to send a report every three months on the latest activities and intelligence about the fugitives on its wanted list.
All the states including J&K are supposed to send the latest information on the latest locations of these fugitives, whether they are dead or alive and if they attended any religious functions recently or not. However, there seems be no update from state as the pictures continue to be on NIA’s website since past many years.
