THE JHARKHAND STORY DESK
New Delhi, May 21: Arjmand Gulzar alias Burhan Hamza, a wanted operational commander of the banned Al-Badr terror outfit, was shot dead by unidentified gunmen in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir’s Muzaffarabad, security sources said on Thursday.
Gulzar, a native of Ratnipora in Jammu and Kashmir’s Pulwama district, was wanted in India for allegedly running terror operations, recruitment and radicalisation networks in South Kashmir from across the border.
According to security agencies, he played a key role in coordinating funding, weapons supply and recruitment for terror activities in Pulwama, Shopian and Awantipora.
Declared terrorist by MHA in 2022
Officials said Gulzar had travelled to Pakistan around seven years ago and later joined Al-Badr, eventually rising to become one of its top operational commanders.
The Union Ministry of Home Affairs had designated him a terrorist in 2022. He was on the list of most wanted terrorists for his alleged involvement in terror recruitment, grenade attacks and explosives-related cases in Jammu and Kashmir.
Security agencies also linked him to digital radicalisation efforts similar to those associated with slain Hizbul Mujahideen militant Burhan Wani.
Series of attacks on terrorists in Pakistan and PoK
Gulzar’s killing is the latest in a series of attacks by unidentified gunmen targeting terrorists and extremist operatives in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir since 2023.
According to security sources, more than 50 commanders linked to terror outfits such as Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) and Hizbul Mujahideen have been killed in similar incidents over the past three years.
In April, Lashkar commander Sheikh Yousuf Afridi was shot dead in Pakistan’s Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, while in March, unidentified attackers targeted LeT founder-member Amir Hamza in Lahore. He survived the attack.
Security officials said Gulzar’s death is a major setback for terror groups attempting to revive militancy in Kashmir using bases in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir.