HAJIN (BANDIPORA): The 14-year-old boy who was among the three militants killed in an encounter with security forces on Sunday in Bandipora joined the militancy when he was merely ten.Of late, Hajin, which was home to former Kashmiri renegades (surrendered militants) in the late 90s and who killed militants and civilians with impunity, has now turned into one of the safe havens for Pakistani terrorists. Sources said, over a dozen Lashkar-e-Taiba terrorists based in Bandipora's Hajin have been indoctrinating local youth to fight against India in the name of Islam and Islamic martyrdom. 14-year-old Mudasir Rashid Parray and 17-year-old Saqib Bilal were their primary targets.However, SSP Bandipora Sheikh Zulfikar Aazad disputed their age, claiming that Mudasir was 16 and Saqib 20. Mudasir was largely influenced by top Lashkar commanders, Abu Zargam and Abu Fanan as early as 2014 when he was working as an overground worker for them, his friend Aadil Dar (name changed), a meat seller of Hajin told TOI. A hardened stone-pelter, Parray would usually hoist Pakistani flags in the Hajin town whenever there was an anti-India protest in the district, his friend said.Questioned by the police on the charges of stone-pelting in 2014, 2016 and June 2018, Mudasir picked up the gun and joined Lashkar-e-Taiba in August this year, sources said. He was hugely influenced by the slain Pakistani Lashkar commander Mehmood Bhai, when he used to work as a courier boy for the outfit in 2014.Aadil said Mudasir was drawn towards militancy when he was just ten years old. He would be in constant touch with Pakistani Lashkar terrorists. "His parents were fed up with his behavior even though he earned his livelihood by helping me at my shop," Aadil said.Enrolled in class nine at Hajin government high school, Mudasir mostly played truant and spent time in the company of Pakistani Lashkar militants particularly Ali Bhai. "They would task him to carry weapons and other things from one place to another earlier. His mother Fareeda sent him to his maternal uncle's house at Sopore to keep him away from the bad company of terrorists. But his terrorist friends called him and asked him to formally join the group and do jihad," Mudasir's friends and acquaintances in the village said.SSP Bandipora said Mudasir was brainwashed by Pakistani terrorist Ali Bhai. Mudasir in turn, persuaded 17-year-old Saqib Bilal to join the terror group. Though Saqib was also inclined towards 'jihad', he was not as hardcore as Mudasir, he said. Mudasir and Saqib were deputed to operate with Ali Bhai. All three were killed at Mujgund in the outskirts of Srinagar. Saqib's mothersaid she was proud of her son's "martyrdom".Villagers from the adjacent areas of Bandipora and Hajin participated in the funeral of the young militants. Pro-Pakistan and anti-India slogans reverberated at the funeral. Dozens of youth clashed with security forces.

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