JeM planned strikes in Delhi; ultras sourcing arms from Bihar: DGP

Jammu, February 14

Following the arrest of a top terrorist who had made a video of National Security Adviser Ajit Doval’s office, it has come to light that Pakistan-based terror outfit Jaish-e-Mohammad is planning a strike in Delhi, J&K Police chief Dilbag Singh said on Sunday.

The DGP also disclosed that the terrorists in Kashmir have begun procuring weapons from Bihar and are using some students from Kashmir, studying in Punjab, for smuggling these illegal arms into the Valley. DGP Singh made these revelations at a news conference over the arrest of self-styled chief commanders Hidayatullah Malik and Zahoor Ahmad Rather, respectively of terror outfits Lashkar-e-Mustafa (LeM) and The Resistance Front (TRF).

Plan to set up base

Self-styled chief commander Hidayatullah Malik was also planning to set up a base in Jammu to carry forward terror activities in the region. —Dilbag Singh, DGP, J&K

Malik was arrested on February 6 by the Anantnag police from Kunjwani in Jammu district while Rather was apprehended on February 13 from the Bari Brahmana area of Samba district.

The UT police chief said these two groups, LeM and TRF, are frontal organisations of Pakistan-based JeM and Lashker-e-Toiba (LeT) to give “Kashmiri name’ to their terror activities. “Malik has been leading LeM floated last August although he had been an active militant for a long time. He had worked as an overground worker and floated the group on the directions of JeM,” said Singh.

Singh said JeM was involved in various terror activities in 2018 and Malik’s interrogation revealed that he was also a close associate of JeM commander Ashiq Nengroo who used to receive arms consignments from Pakistan in Jammu before escaping to the neighbouring country along with his family through an underground tunnel on the international border. After escaping to Pakistan, Nengroo, alias doctor, has been directing terror activities in Kashmir at the behest of Pakistani agencies. Malik visited Delhi on Nengroo’s orders and forwarded him a video the NSA’s office after recceing it, said the DGP.

That means JeM is planning attacks on targets in Delhi as well, he said, adding Malik’s arrest is a big breakthrough for the police as it has exposed the terrorist group’s plan. Malik, a resident of south Kashmir, had also set up a network to get weapons from Bihar and soured seven pistols from there till now and got them distributed among militants, the DGP said. — PTI