J-K: Slain sub-inspector Imtiyaz Ahmed Mir was desperate to meet parents, shaved off beard to dodge militants

Imtiyaz Ahmad Mir, a sub-inspector of Jammu and Kashmir Police, on his way home was shot dead by militants in Pulwama district in South Kashmir on Sunday. His body was recovered from the Chewa Kalan area of the district, the officials said.

"Now they (militants) will not be able to recognise me”, Mir told one of his supervising officers before he left for his home to meet his parents in Kashmir’s Sontabugh after a long time. These were probably his last words before he was trapped and shot dead by the militants. Mir had shaved off his beard and changed appearance so that the militants did not recognise him, his colleagues said, but little could he know that the militants were already waiting to target him.

Mir, 30, was shot dead by militants at Wahibug in the militancy-infested Pulwama district of South Kashmir when he was on his way home.

 "I had told him that he should not go as militants could attack. But he was desperate to see his parents who reside at Sontabugh in the interiors of Pulwama district," one of his supervising officers told news agency PTI. 

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Mir is the latest victim from the police force targeted by militants in the Valley. There has been a spike in incidents of attacks on security personnel and their families in recent months that is seen as part of an effort to demoralise them.

Wreath laying ceremony of our colleague SI #Imtiyaz who was #martyred today in a terror attack at #Wahibugh was held at DPL #Pulwama. Civil & Police officers led by IGP #Kashmir laid floral wreaths & paid rich tributes to the martyr. @JmuKmrPolice @HMOIndia @KVijayKumarIPS pic.twitter.com/0kQuzigp5g

— Kashmir Zone Police (@KashmirPolice) October 28, 2018

The incident came a month after Hizbul Mujahideen militants abducted and killed three policemen in Jammu and Kashmir's Shopian district.In August, as many as eight family members of policemen were kidnapped after militants raided their homes in Jammu and Kashmir. Releasing a 12-minute video, Hizbul Mujahideen commander Riyaz Naikoo had purportedly claimed responsibility for the abductions and issued a three-day deadline for the release of all relatives of militants, who were in police custody.

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The August 30 incident came after the NIA arrested the second son of globally-wanted terrorist Syed Salahuddin, leader of the Hizbul Mujahideen group.

Salahuddin's son was arrested on charges of receiving secret funds.In June, Army soldier Aurangzeb was abducted from a private vehicle when he was going home for Eid in Shopian. His bullet-riddled body was recovered from a Pulwama village hours later.

The incidents forced some SPOs to declare their resignation on social media. In fact, some militants had claimed that Mir had also submitted his resignation.Son of a retired police officer, Mir, who was from 2010 batch of sub-inspector, had served in Ganderbal district of South Kashmir for five years before being transferred to Kulgam district last year.

He was shifted to the CID department in March this year and his superiors recalled his dedication towards his work.When the body of Mir was being brought to Pulwama district lines by a police team from Wahibugh, it was attacked by stone pelters as security forces had launched a cordon-and-search operations in Chewa and the area where he was shot dead.

The police have also launched a probe to ascertain how the information about his journey to home had been leaked to militant groups, who had been waiting to ambush him at Wahibugh.

(With PTI inputs)