Another photograph of former Aligarh Muslim University PhD scholar Mannan Wani has surfaced on social media. Security agencies tracking scores of Kashmiri youths who have strayed from mainstream and joined militancy, stumbled upon Wani’s photograph and shared it with UP Police few days back.
Fears of law enforcement agencies came true as the photo shows Wani posing with two other terror suspects, including Hizb-ul Mujahideen’s most wanted operative Saifullah, and one Hafiz Aadil. Saifullah, who hails from Pulwama district, was also a PhD scholar. The photo shows Wani, Saifullah and Aadil posing with AK series rifles and sword in a hideout in Kashmir valley or across the border. The photograph landed at the desk of top officials at DGP headquarters last week and was passed on to anti-terrorist squad of UP police on Monday.
“We have received a dossier on Wani and his activities and are trying to find out if he is in touch with youths in Aligarh. We are taking help of Aligarh police and have deputed cyber experts to find out from where the photograph was uploaded,” said inspector general of UP ATS Asim Arun. Having gone missing on January 2, 2018 from AMU, Wani had joined Hizb-ul on January 5. Three days later, Hizb-ul chief Syed Salahuddin issued a statement confirming that Mannan Wani had joined the outfit.
He was expelled from AMU subsequently. Mannan Wani (27) had joined AMU to pursue PhD in applied geology. He hails from Sogam in Kupwara.