Syed Salahuddin, the head of Hizbul Mujahideen, stepped forward as the last prayers wound down. His hand clutched a single rosary, his eyes scanning a swarm of armed men eight rows away. The scene looked calm, yet every guard wore a grin at a warning: no sudden moves.
Hamza Burhan, codenamed "Doctor" and the ringleader behind last year’s Pulwama blast, lay in a dark green shroud. He had been shot in Pakistani‑occupied Kashmir a mere day before, the bullet impact was clear on every side of his body. Iraq? Karachi? the name “Arjumand Gulzar Dar” hardly changed the picture.
Apathy ran through the crowd; dozens of other wanted militants stepped forward, hand‑shaking in the hush. Bakht Zameen Khan, the top Al‑Badr commander, stood next to the coffin, flanked by guards thrown out of the ISI’s own armory. The watchful eyes on him were the worst evidence of a growing war from the shadows.
Photojournalists captured heavily armed troops pushing an AK‑47‑armed courier past Zameen Khan. The lights flickered, the smell of gun oil thick as incense, and yet the crowd went on. Behind the trembling spoils, conspiracies hide: Pakistani officials, speculation over who really pulled the trigger in the mountainous frontier, and a plan to leave the commissionering leader’s van locked by a rival faction.
Truth is, the security detail far above ordinary police shows a board-game of moves. The large contingent offered more than just safety; it guarded the line of succession of terror leadership in a region that has been a springboard for menacing passages across borders. The evidence: a festal crowd, surly smiles, and a feeling that an empty coffin simply symbolizes a new weapon in a quiet arsenal.
Still, the cleanup operation after the Pulwama incident sent ripples through bat‑winged cells. The operation in POK was framed in a legal debate of "intra‑state crime." Terror circles responded with more men, different names, and a new dictator wave. As the funeral prayer crowds rose and fell, a deeper question looms: who is next in line when weapons are ready on the brink of a city’s heart?
