One of the oldest surviving terrorist and divisional commander of the Hizbul Mujahideen (HM) outfit, Muneer Hussain, was one of the two terrorists shot by the Army on Monday while they were infiltrating through the Line of Control (LOC) in the Poonch district of Jammu.

Muneer, a resident of Poonch, was responsible for several attacks on security forces. He was tasked to revive terrorism in the border districts of Rajouri and Poonch, said an Army spokesman. He was the most dreaded terrorist killed in the last 10 years in the Rajouri and Poonch area.

Muneer was a close associate of the Pakistan-based Maulana Dawood Kashmir (TuJ) who in turn is a close associate of top HM terrorist Syed Salauddin who steers terror strikes in India.

He attended a recent HM meeting in Islamabad where it was decided to revive the terror outfit in Rajouri and Poonch.

In 1993, Muneer went to PoK and returned in 1996. He again went to PoK in 1998. He masterminded a number of attacks on security forces.  As per police records, his two wives and children are residing in Surankote of Poonch. An identity card of the Bagh district of PoK issued to him by Pakistani authorities has been recovered from his clothing.

Muneer, along with his body guard, was sent with the agenda to revive HM in Rajouri Poonch, South of Pir-Panjal (SPPR).  He was given a larger leadership role of Tanzeems and told to recruit youth for terrorism in South of Pir Panjal. His body guard was shot while he was fleeing towards the LoC.

It is evident that Pakistan is trying to send terror veterans to J&K to motivate and recruit youth thus making desperate attempts to revive terrorism, said the defence spokesman.

He said the infiltration bid was eliminated in a joint operation by the Indian Army and J&K Police in the early hours.

Two infiltrating terrorists were engaged by the joint teams and one terrorist fell down immediately,  second terrorist tried to run back to LoC but was engaged and hit and seen falling down near LoC. The operation was continuing.

Pakistan-backed terrorists have again been infiltrating through the LoC in the Rajouri and Poonch districts from where terrorism was wiped off about 20 years ago.

A terrorist was killed on Saturday in the Budhal Khawas area of Rajouri and an AK-rifle and two pistols recovered from him. Another terrorist was on Sunday killed while infiltrating in the Amrohi village area in the Tangdhar Sector of South Kashmir’s Kupwara district. One AK-rifle, six pistols and Pakistani currency were recovered from him.