1990s comes full circle: Former JLLF commander held in long dormant militancy FIR

Srinagar: Jammu and Kashmir Police on Tuesday arrested former militant commander–turned–separatist leader Javed Ahmad Mir alias Javed Nalka and another separatist leader Shakeel Bakshi in connection with a nearly three-decade-old militancy-linked case registered at Shergari Police Station in Srinagar.

A police official said Mir, a resident of Zaina Kadal in Srinagar’s old city, and Bakshi, a resident of Batamaloo were taken into custody for their alleged role in FIR No. 192/1996, pertaining to a violent procession on July 17, 1996.

According to the case records, Mir and several other separatist leaders were accused of leading a large funeral march carrying the body of slain militant Hilal Ahmad Beigh. The procession, which moved through Naaz Crossing, allegedly turned into a clash with police, involving stone pelting, rioting and anti-India sloganeering, leaving several personnel injured and causing damage to property.

The FIR had named a number of prominent separatist figures, including Syed Ali Shah Geelani, Abdul Gani Lone, Mohammad Yaqoob Vakeel, Nayeem Khan, Shabir Shah, Bakshi and Mir. While Geelani, Lone and Vakeel have since passed away, Khan and Shah remain lodged in Tihar Jail since 2017. Bakshi and Mir were arrested on Tuesday.

Before joining militancy, Mir worked in the water-works department. He joined the Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF) in the late 1980s and was part of the organisation’s early militant leadership alongside Yasin Malik and others as the insurgency broke out in the Valley. Security operations in the early 1990s eliminated most senior JKLF commanders, but Mir evaded arrest and was seen as among the group’s key surviving leaders of the time.

Mir is also an accused in the January 25, 1990 attack in Rawalpora, Srinagar, in which four Indian Air Force (IAF) personnel were killed and several others injured when militants opened fire at unarmed airmen waiting for transport. A special NIA court in Jammu has framed charges of murder, conspiracy and offences under the Arms Act against Mir, Yasin Malik and others in that case.

In 2019, Mir was arrested by the CBI on a non-bailable warrant for failing to appear before court but was granted bail the same day.

The JKLF was banned under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act in 2019. Mir’s latest arrest indicates renewed scrutiny of long-pending militancy-era cases. Legal experts say the action may revive several dormant investigations and offer a path toward long-overdue closure for affected families.