Pak terrorists training for ''samundari jihad'', Parliament told

Smita Sharma 
Tribune News Service
New Delhi, January 2

The Ministry of Home Affairs in a written response in Parliament on Wednesday said Pakistani terror groups are preparing to launch operatives through sea routes. 

As per available inputs, Pakistan-based terrorist organisation had exhorted its cadres for Samundari Jihad against India, MoS for Home Affairs Hansraj Ahir said in a written reply in Rajya Sabha. 

The Ministry was responding to a question whether Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT) has planned a 26/11 kind of terror strike in the port, cargo and oil tankers on high seas. 

In response Minister of State (MoS) home affairs Hansraj Ahir said there is no specific input about any such plan. However, available inputs indicate that the Pakistan-based terrorist groups continue to train their cadres for underwater strike capabilities in a bid to infiltrate them into India by sea/ water ways, added Ahir in his reply. 

Ten heavily-armed terrorists of the LeT, including Ajmal Kasab, had taken the Arabian Sea route to enter Mumbai in a dinghy and carried out the bloody terror attacks in the financial capital in 2008 killing 166 people, including foreign nationals. Since then several measures have been announced to plug in the sea route loopholes and strengthen coastal security. All steps are being taken to ensure that terrorists do not enter India through sea routes, said Home Minister Rajnath Singh at a briefing later. 

This a day after Prime Minister Narendra Modi in his first interview of 2019 had said talks with Islamabad is possible but cross-border terrorism must end as any dialogue will be drowned amid the noise of bombs and guns. 

The ministry also informed the house that of the sanctioned 340 km of fence along the Indo-Pakistan Border at Banaskantha, Patan and Kutch in Gujarat, work has been completed along 280 km of the stretch so far.

No ISIS/Taliban in Valley

In a separate question on the presence of Islamic State in the Valley, the Ministry has said nothing has been established on the ground that ISIS is operating in any part of Kashmir. 

However, Ansar Gazwat-Ul-Hind (AGUH) formed and led by Zakir Musa (former Hizbul Mujahideen militant) has posted adverse materials on social media. There are reports that at present, Zakir Musa has support of less than 10 militants. No militant Tanzeem like Taliban is presently operating in any part of the Kashmir Valley, says the Home Ministry.