The dreaded HAJY quartet and the role played by Javed Nalka in the exodus of Kashmiri Pandits

New Delhi, Mar 22: A lot is spoken about Yasin Malik when it comes to terrorism in Jammu and Kashmir. However there is another element in the system who was equally notorious for all the atrocities against the Kashmiri Pandits. He goes by the name Javed Nalka.

Nalka who was working as a municipality worker was almost a forgotten name. However justice was served largely after 30 years when Nalka was arrested in connection with the killing of four Indian Air Force Personnel. The attack was carried out by the Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front of which both Nalka and Yasin Malik are part of.

Javed Nalka Mir was named as an accused in the IAF case along with Yasin Malik and others. He shot to fame when Malik was arrested between 1990 and 1994 for his role in terrorism in the Valley. It was during this period that Nalka became the acting chairman of the JKLF.

Nalka always wore fancy clothes, sported sunglasses. He even had a revolver which he would brandish and show off during the various press meets that he held. Nalka is also an accused in the 1989 kidnapping of Rubaiya Sayeed, the daughter of former Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister, Mufti Mohammad Sayeed. Nalka currently is in jail for the 1990 killings.

Nalka is also believed to be involved in the killing of Tika Taploo, a revered Kashmiri Pandit. He was brutally murdered in broad daylight on September 14 1989. Taploo was one of the first Kashmiri Hindu to be murdered by the first wave of Kashmiri terrorists. The wave of the exodus also began almost after Taploo's murder.

Taploo's popularity was growing and he was a fearless man who stood up for everyone's rights. This was perceived as a threat and hence Nalka is said to have executed the murder. Taploo's murder is also believed to be in retaliation as he had made efforts to send funds and bricks for the construction of the Ram Mandir in Ayodhya.

Nalka who like Malik has several properties including shopping malls was part of the main gang which included Bitta Karate alias Farooq Ahmad Dar that carried out the selected killings of Kashmiri Pandits.

Nalka was one of the main figures who was part of the HAJY quartet that included Yasin Malik, Hamid Sheilh and Asfaq Wani.