Teenage Actor who Acted in the Movie “Haider”, joined Lashkar-e-Taiba, Neutralized in Encounter

Three militants from Lashkar-e-Taiba, including Mudasir Ahmad, 14, and Saqib Ahmed Bilal, 17, were killed in an 18-hour gun battle with security forces in the Mujgund area, about 12 km from Srinagar.

Saqib Bilal, a class 11 student, known for his cameo role in the Bollywood film ‘Haider’, starring Shahid Khan in the lead role, joined the militant group with his friend, Mudasir, who was studying in the class 9, after going missing on August 31.

It was discovered that both Saqib and his friend, from the Hajin area in Bandipora, in northern Kashmir, worked for a Pakistani militant commander, Ali Bhai, who also died at the meeting.

Bilal had passed his Class 10 with distinction and was studying physics, chemistry and mathematics in Class 11. He was a football enthusiast and had even played taekwondo and kabaddi. Saqib played the role of a teenager in the movie “Haider,” who is seen struggling between independence and militancy in the film. Ironically, the role of the life of the reel became the real life destiny for Saqib, admitted the father of the murdered.

The police confirmed that the two teenagers had joined Lashkar-e-Taiba, immediately after his disappearance on August 31.

The families of both teenagers had asked them to leave the militancy and return home.

The only reason the family could find, behind Bilal joining the militants, was a meeting between militants and security forces a day before his disappearance in Hajin. “Some militants were killed and the people went to see the place in ruins.” This could have influenced teenagers to take such a drastic step, assumed the members of the Bilal family.

Last week, a picture of Mudasir with a dagger and an assault rifle had gone viral on social media. A police officer said the photo was a few months old and was recently launched to attract more young people to the militancy.

The death of the two teenagers provoked anger in the people of Kashmir. The people were outraged by the fact that the militants attacked the children and attracted them to take part in the militancy. The public also expressed concern about how the security forces could go to kill when the minors were involved.

The bodies of the two deceased teenagers were buried in their native places on Monday and people in large numbers attended the funeral.

However, this is not the first time children are seen raising guns in Kashmir. More than 150 young people from Kashmir have joined the militancy this year. Local youths who joined the militancy have increased, especially after the murder of Hizb’s 21-year-old commander, Burhan Wani, on July 8, 2016.

A captured 20-year-old LeT agent, Zaibullah aka Hamza, had previously revealed that Lashkar-e-Taiba has recruited approximately 450 children between the ages of 15 and 25 who are being trained by LeT in Pakistan for anti-Indian activities. These guys are radicalizing in the name of Burhan Wani, Zaibullah added.