A policeman from Shopian district has “deserted” his department and joined the militant outfit Lashkar-i-Toiba, a source said on Friday. The police however said it was “investigating the matter to know the facts.”
The source in police said that Ishfaq Ahmad Dar, a selection grade constable hailing from Heff village of Zainapora-Wachi belt in Shopian, had returned home on leave early this week from Kathua police lines where he was undergoing a training.
“After returning home, he went missing following which the family filed a missing report with the police on Friday,” the source said, adding that the policeman had joined the Lashkar ranks.
Even pictures where Dar in civvies is seen carrying an AK-47 rifle have gone viral on social media.
No police officer came on record to confirm the policeman’s whereabouts. However, additional superintendent of police Shopian Ifroz Ahmad told Greater Kashmir that the police was investigating the matter.
Pertinently, in May this year, a constable Syed Naveed Mushtaq, a resident of Shopian district, fled with four INSAS rifles, including his own rifle, from the guard post at Food Corporation of India godown at Chondpora, Budgam and later joined the HizbulMujahideen ranks.
In July this year, an army man identified as sepoyZahoor Ahmad Thokar—hailing from Sirnoo village of Pulwama and posted in 173 territorial army engineering regiment at GantmullaBaramulla district—deserted his unit along with his AK 47 and three magazines and joined the militant ranks
On March 27, 2015, Naseer Ahmad Pandit, a resident of Karimabad village in Pulwama, decamped with two AK rifles from the residence of a PDP minister with whom he was posted for duty. Pandit however was killed in a gunfight with government forces along with another militant WasimMalla in Vihil village of Shopian on April 7 last year.
Syed Rakib Bashir, another policeman from Zadoora-Pulwama went missing in November 2015, a day after joining the police as a special police officer (SPO). Raqib worked as an active Hizbul militant for two-and-a-half months before he was killed in a gunfight with government forces on February 6, 2016 at Gundipora village of Pulwama.
In January 2016, Shakoor Ahmad Parray of Kumdalan village of Shopian, a security guard to a police officer in Bijbehara ran away with four rifles to join militant ranks. However, he was arrested soon by the police.