State moves SC for transfer of 7 Pak ultras from Jammu to Delhi

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, February 22

The Jammu and Kashmir Government on Friday requested the Supreme Court to allow the shifting of seven Pakistani terrorists from the 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 the shifting of one Pakistani terrorist Zahid Farooq, who was affiliated to the LeT.

All 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 in the Nadimarg area of Shopian district in South Kashmir in 2003.

The Jammu and Kashmir Government’s standing counsel Shoeb Alam said the terrorists needed to be shifted out of the 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 the Jaish-e-Muhammad and LeT were indoctrinating the minds of other inmates lodged in the prison. Transporting the militants to court and back to the prison posed a threat to the 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 the 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 the 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 had considerable local support and it could not be ruled out that they might be receiving information, resources as well as other help to carry out terrorist-related activities, the state government said.

Threat to escorting cops

• The state said if not Tihar Jail, they can be shifted to other high-security prisons in Haryana and Punjab
• The state government said intelligence inputs received indicated that militants belonging to terror outfits like the Jaish-e-Muhammad and LeT were indoctrinating the minds of other inmates lodged in the prison
• Transporting the militants to court and back to the prison posed a threat to the escorting policemen and common public, it said
• 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 the Jammu jail. He was arrested by security forces while trying to cross the border security fence on May 19, 2016.