14-yr-old suspected of joining militancy!

NEW LOW IN KASHMIR

SRINAGAR:In what could be the case of youngest boy to join militant ranks, the gun-wielding picture of a 14-year-old youth from Hajin town in North Kashmir’s Bandipora district has surfaced on the social networking sites, even as police was verifying the authenticity of the photograph.

The youth identified as Mudasir Rashid Parray, 14, of Khankah Mohalla, an 11th standard student had gone missing along with another 16-year-old boy Bilal from his home since August 31, after an encounter took place at Parray Mohalla in which three Lashkar militants were killed.

The family searched him everywhere, but could not locate him after which they said they filed a missing report in the Police Station Hajin, locals said.

The family have also made announcement in the mosques on Friday prayers but were unable to locate him.

Despite repeated and emotional appeals by his family, which also went viral on social media, asking him to return home have now proven futile.

On Wednesday, Mudasir’s picture surfaced on the internet in which he is seen holding an AK-47 assault rifle.

Police sources believe that both the youth have joined militant ranks. A police official said that Mudasir has joined Lashkar e Toiba.

A police official said that the authenticity of the photograph is being verified.

“Yes, we have seen the picture and currently verifying its credentials,” he said.

This is not a first case from the militancy hotbed that Hajin town is.

In fact, Mudasir is the sixth boy from the area to take up guns in recent times.