J&K moves SC seeking transfer of 7 Pak terrorists to Tihar

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, February 22

The Jammu and Kashmir government on Friday requested the Supreme Court to allow shifting of seven Pakistani terrorists from Jammu Jail to Tihar Jail in Delhi, alleging they were ‘indoctrinating’ local prisoners.

The state said if not Tihar Jail, they can be shifted to other high security prisons in Haryana and Punjab.

A Bench of Justice LN Rao and Justice MR Shah asked the Centre and the Delhi government to respond to the Jammu and Kashmir government’s petition.

The bench clubbed it with another petition filed by the state government on February 15 for shifting of one Pakistani terrorist Zahid Farooq, who was affiliated to LeT. All the petitions will now be heard together.

The seven terrorists sought to be shifted out of Jammu and Kashmir are: Waqas Manzoor alias Qazir, Mohd Abdullah alias Abu Tallah and Zaffar Iqbal of Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT); Zubair Talha Zarror alias Talha (LeT) from Multan in Pakistan and arrested in 2013; Mohd Ali Hussain (LeT) arrested in 2014; Hafeez Ahmed Baloch of terrorist group Al-Badr arrested in 2006 and Zia Mustafa accused of killing of 24 Kashmiri pandits at Nadimarg area of Shopian district in South Kashmir in 2003.

Jammu and Kashmir government’s standing counsel Shoeb Alam said terrorists needed to be shifted out of Jammu jail as they were involved in the indoctrination of local prisoners and pose a security threat to the people and security personnel.

The state government said intelligence inputs received indicated that militants belonging to terror outfits like Jaish-e-Muhammad and LeT are indoctrinating the minds of other inmates lodged in the prison. Transporting the militant to court and back to prison posed a threat to escorting policemen and common public, it said.

Agreeing to hear the matter, the bench asked Alam to ensure that a copy of the petition along with notice was served on the seven prisoners as well.

A day after the Pulwama attack on February 14 in which 40 CRPF personnel were martyred, the Jammu and Kashmir government had moved the apex court to shift Farooq, out of Jammu jail. He was arrested by security forces while trying to cross the border security fence on May 19, 2016.

It was reliably learnt that the prisoner and other individuals have considerable local support and it cannot be ruled out that they may be receiving information, resources as well as other help to carry out terrorist related activities, the state government said.