Another accused identified by eyewitness in 1990 IAF attack case

After JKLF chief Yasin Malik, his close confidant Shoukat Bakshi was identified by an eyewitness before a special court here on Saturday as one of the shooters involved in the January 1990 terror attack on a group of Indian Air Force (IAF) personnel in Srinagar. In January 2024, Malik was identified as the main shooter by former IAF corporal Rajwar Umeshwar Singh, who survived the terror attack in which four IAF personnel were killed, in the special CBI court.

Besides the four men, including squadron leader Ravi Khanna, who were killed, 40 people were injured in the incident on January 25, 1990, in Rawalpora on the outskirts of Srinagar.  The IAF employees were waiting for their pickup to travel to the old Srinagar airfield for duty when they came under fire from terrorists. A charge sheet was filed on August 31, 1990, against Malik and five others, including Bakshi, in the designated TADA court here.

The others accused in the killing of the IAF personnel are JKLF operatives Ali Mohammed Mir, Manzoor Ahmed Sofi alias Mustafa, Javed Ahmed Mir alias ‘Nalka’, Javed Ahmed Zargar and Saleem alias Nanaji. Bakshi was identified by the prosecution witness, an IAF employee and one of the survivors, Senior Additional Advocate General Monika Kohli, said.