Terrorists wanted to kill cops’ families: Punjab Police

Jupinderjit Singh

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, July 30

The Punjab Police are convinced that the three terrorists involved in the Dinanagar terror attack crossed the International Border via Fatto Chak (a Pakistani village) and Mastgarh (an abandoned village in the Dorangla area of Gurdaspur district in India). However, an analysis of the coordinates obtained from the GPS devices used by the terrorists hints that the Dinanagar police station was not their target.

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The terrorists aimed to attack families of police personnel by storming the Civil Lines area in Gurdaspur. The coordinates of this area were fed in their GPS devices as their final destination. Though the Central agencies claim the terrorists came from the Bamyal sector, state police officials say Fatto Chak-Mastgarh was their entry point.

The focus is now on establishing the identity of the three terrorists so that the Indian authorities can take up the matter with Pakistani officials. Other than the GPS coordinates, there is no evidence to suggest their Pakistani link. The literature found from their possession related to the Lashkar-e-Toiba and other terror outfits. The terrorists had shaved their bodies neck down. “This is usually done by jihadis who launch fidyaeen attacks fully knowing that they won’t return alive. It’s like a customary exercise before going for an event where death is sure,” sources said. 

Former Director General of Police (DGP) KPS Gill told The Tribune on the sidelines of a function here today that he wouldn’t be surprised if the investigation showed that the terrorists were from Afghanistan. “Their identity is vital if we want to confront Pakistan. In the 26/11 attack, we were lucky to catch Kasab alive. Some journalists in Pakistan later traced his house. This route is closed in this case. The terrorists can be poor villagers from remote areas of Pakistan or may even be from a country beyond,” he said. A senior official said there was no mark on their bodies, clothes or equipment and mobile phones to suggest that they came from Pakistan. 

The Punjab Police and the Central security agencies believe the anti-India agencies operating from Pakistan have learnt a lot from the 26/11 attack. This time, their effort was not to leave any evidence of their link to Pakistan. The Indian Government is relying deeply on GPS coordinates to take up the matter with Pakistan.

The official revealed that the first GPS device had pre-fed coordinates of 11 places out of which the seventh entry corresponded to the spot where the bombs were planted on the railway track. The eleventh entry marked coordinates of a place before Dinanagar. The second GPS device had pre-fed coordinate of three locations with Civil Lines, Gurdaspur, as the final destination.

“Dinanagar was nowhere in picture. After the terrorists’ plan of taking control of a vehicle and killing families of police personnel at Civil Lines (Gurdaspur) failed, they got confused and ended up at the Dinanagar police station,” he added.