Riaz Naiku was the operational commander of the banned terrorist group Hizbul Mujahideen in India. He was killed in an operation in Pulwama district of Kashmir Valley on May 6, 2010. Naiku was one of the most wanted terrorists in the Valley.
Wiki/Biography
Riyaz Naikoo was born in April 1985 (aged 35 at the time of his death) in Beighpora village in Awantipora township of Pulwama district in Jammu and Kashmir. He grew up in Beighpora and attended government school in the neighbouring village of Gulzarpora. Naikoo then attended high school in Noorpora. He graduated in science with a major in mathematics.
family
Riyaz Naikoo was born into a Kashmiri Muslim family. His parents, Asadullah (father) and Zeba (mother), were farmers who worked on their fields in Beighpora. Naikoo’s father, Asadullah, also ran a small tailoring shop in the village.
Riyaz Naikoo’s parents Asadullah and Zeba
Riyaz Naikoo has three brothers and one sister, and he is the second oldest among his siblings.
Meritorious mathematician
Riaz Naikoo was reportedly an academically gifted student. According to his father Asadullah, Naikoo scored 464 marks out of 600 in Class 12. After graduating in science with mathematics as the main subject, Naikoo started teaching mathematics in a private school in his hometown. He taught there from 2010-11. Naikoo also gave free classes to several students in his village.
Events that led him to become a radical
On June 11, 2010, a tear gas shell hit Tufail Ahmad Mattoo, a 17-year-old boy, who was playing cricket at the Ghani Memorial Stadium in Srinagar, killing him.
Toufal Ahmed Matou
The gas shells fired by the Jammu and Kashmir police were meant to quell protests against a fake clash of three civilians in Machir. The death of Tufaiel Ahmed Mattoo sparked massive protests in the Valley; people hailed Mattoo as a martyr. Soon, the protests turned violent and a vicious cycle was created: one boy was killed in the protests, another was killed, and so on; resulting in the death of several young men in the Valley. These protests gave rise to a culture of stone-pelting at security forces, which became a common phenomenon in the Valley. Shocked by Mattoo’s death, Riyaz Naikoo also participated in these protests and was among dozens of young men arrested by the police.
Stone pelting in Kashmir
Missing
When Riaz Naikoo was released from jail in 2012, he was no longer the math teacher. Something had changed inside him. According to his father, Asadullah, in the summer of 2012, Naikoo had asked him for 7,000 rupees for admission to a postgraduate college in Bhopal. On May 21, 2012, Naikoo disappeared from his home, just as Asadullah and his wife had prepared a chicken dinner and were going to the evening prayers. Asadullah said,
After praying, I could not find him. I thought he must have gone to meet his cousins, but he did not come back.”
Asadullah added that they had tried to call him several times but his phone was always switched off. On June 6, 2012, the police informed Asadullah that Naikoo had joined the Hizbul Mujahideen. Police searched Naikoo’s home several times after he reportedly went missing. His father, Asadullah, told reporters,
Our house has been searched at least 30-40 times since 2012. We were beaten most of the time. My wife was also beaten in the past, especially when the police came last time. They broke our refrigerator, rice cooker and radio. They even threw away our clothes.”
According to Naikoo’s uncle Ghulam Qadir, the Jammu and Kashmir police raided Naikoo’s house and spray-painted the name of Musa (a Hizbul Mujahideen terrorist) on the house.
Riyaz Naikoo’s House
Joining the Mujahideen
When Riyaz Naikoo joined Hizbul Mujahideen in 2012, the group was led by 21-year-old Burhan Wani, the most charismatic figure of this generation of Hizbul Mujahideen.
Riyaz Naikoo in the Islamic Jihad
Naikoo became a close associate of Burhan Wani and later a key member of the banned terrorist group in the Valley, where he became a close aide to many of Wani’s close friends, including Saddam Pader.
Burhan Wani and his gang
Riyaz Naikoo and Saddam Pad
Burhan Wani’s successor
On July 8, 2016, after Burhan Wani clashed with security forces in Bumdoora village in Kokernag district of South Kashmir, 21-year-old Zakir Rashid Butt alias Zakir Musa took over from him to command operations in the south. Soon after taking over from Burhan Wani, Musa began posting off-topic statements through videos. In one video message, Musa said,
Islam does not allow for nationalism and democracy. When we pick up stones or guns, we should not do so with the intention of fighting for Kashmir. The only motive should be the supremacy of Islam so that Sharia law can be established here.”
In another video in May 2017, Moussa said that if any Hurriyat leader came in the way of him establishing Islamic rule in Kashmir, he would chop off their heads and hang them at Lal Maidan in Srinagar. This message did not go down well with the senior commanders of Hizbul Mujahideen, who did not support his statement. There were rumours that Moussa would leave the group and join a new group called Ansar Ghawzat-Ul-Hind, but Riyaz Naikoo rose to command the Hizbul Mujahideen and became Moussa’s successor. Regarding Naikoo’s rise in the Hizbul Mujahideen, a senior intelligence official once said in an interview –
While Musa’s loss of popularity in the south was also partly to blame, Naikoo’s leadership qualities and ability to unite his colleagues and subordinates prevailed. He may not have had any words for other militant groups operating in South Kashmir, but he managed to hold his group together.”
According to a senior intelligence official, it was with the help of Altaf Dar alias Altaf Kahru that Naiku was able to rise through the ranks of Hizbul Mujahideen, as Kahru was close to Hizbul Mujahideen chief Syed Salahudien. After Kahru’s clash with security forces in August 2018, it became a difficult task for Naiku to carry out operations in the Valley.
Altaf Kachroo, a close aide of Riyaz Naikoo
die
He was shot dead in his hometown village of Begpora on May 6, 2020. According to locals, Naiku had been on the run for eight years, trapped in a joint siege by the Indian Army, the Central Reserve Police Force and the Jammu and Kashmir Police. The media called Naiku’s death a huge victory for the Indian security forces.
Facts/Trivia
- Naikoo is an A++ category terrorist with a reward of Rs 13 lakh.
- According to sources, Naikoo had an underground hideout and he used to go back to his village through a tunnel.
- Riyaz Naikoo was such an important member of the Hizbul Mujahideen that in January 2020, Kashmir Police Inspector General Vijay Kumar said,
If we can kill Riaz Naikoo, Hezbollah will be almost wiped out from south Kashmir.”
- In May 2018, he had asked Kashmiri women to avoid chatting with soldiers and strangers on social media, saying,
We urge sisters to stay away from the army and police and avoid chatting with strangers on social media. You should also not share your secrets with strangers. This can be used to blackmail you.”
- In June 2018, there were rumors that militants were planning to attack the Amarnath Yatra. Riyaz Naikoo refuted the rumors and said:
Amarnath Yatra is not our goal. They come here to perform religious rituals. They (yatris) are our guests.
- Naiku is believed to be the mastermind of the ‘Kidnapping Day’ incident, in which family members of 11 policemen were abducted by militants in south Kashmir and were not released until Naiku’s father was freed by the police.
- According to Naiku’s mother, Zeba, he had come to see her twice since he left home in 2012, in 2013 and 2015.
- His mother, Zeba, said Naikoo loved to draw and he had many paintings of roses.
- Naikoo’s mother Zeba also said that Naikoo was soft-spoken and humble. She said,
My youngest son always complains about my cooking but Riyaz Saab always keeps his head down and eats everything I serve him. Whether there is salt in his food or not, Riyaz Saab never points it out. May Allah bless him.
Categories: Biography
Source: HIS Education