Pakistan exploiting religious fault lines to keep terror alive in J&K: Intel

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, March 20

Pakistan appears to have changed its tactics to keep J&K on the boil as instead of directly pushing trained terrorists onto the India side, the agencies of the neighbouring country are “now exploiting the religious fault lines”, brainwashing and radicalising Valley youths to join terror ranks, officials in the security grid feel after analysing the recent trends on the ground. Officials said Pakistan had been desperate for long to get itself out of the grey list of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) and this change in tactics should be seen in this backdrop.

From its earlier policy of “bleed India thousand times” by directly sending trained terrorists and engage the forces in an indirect war, the Pakistan’s external spy agency, ISI, has changed its approach to launch into a low-intensity conflict by using “religious fault lines” and radicalise youth by instilling in them a sense of deprivation, officials said.

In its bid get itself out of the FATF grey list, which Pakistan has been trying since 2016, the ISI began creating multiple shadow terror groups like The Resistance Front (TRF), Kashmir Tigers (KT), The People’s Anti-Fascist Force (PAFF) and Kashmir Janbaz Force (KJF).

Most of them are offshoots of banned terror outfits like Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT), Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) and Hizbul Mujahideen, the officials said, adding that they were set up with the primary aim of creating a smoke screen to shield Pakistan from FATF sanctions and also to paint that terrorism in Kashmir is because of disenchantment among the local youth.

Having seen its failure in mobilising locals, especially after the death of separatist leader Syed Ali Shah Geelani in September last year, the ISI believes that religion holds the key to its next move in Kashmir, believe the officials.

Analysis of the recent intercepts and questioning of arrested terrorists show that the ISI and others in Pakistan are desperate to polarise the local population in the Valley and generate dissent against the State in the name of religion, the officials said.

Brainwashing youth

• To keep J&K on the boil, the agencies of the neighbouring country, instead of directly pushing trained terrorists onto the India side, are brainwashing and radicalising Valley youths to join terror ranks.
• The anti-social elements have seen failure in mobilising locals, especially after Geelani’s death.

Creating shadow groups to unleash unrest

• The ISI has created shadow groups, such as The Resistance Front, mostly affiliated to banned groups like LeT and JeM.
• Recent intercepts and interrogation of ultras have revealed that Pakistan agencies are desperate to polarise the local population.

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