NEW DELHI: In a major crackdown on the terror eco-system in Jammu and Kashmir days after a string of civilian killings, the J&K police have detained around 430 overground workers (OGWs) associated with different terrorist outfits such as Lashkar e Taiba and Jaish e Mohammed, etc and are questioning them on their terror links and alleged supporting role in the recent attacks.
The OGWs were picked up from across the Kashmir Valley, prominently Srinagar, Anantnag, Kulgam and Shopian. One of the OGWs detained is a prominent drugs supplier based in Srinagar. As per the preliminary investigation, the local terrorists behind the targeted killings were mostly neo-recruits or ‘hybrid’ terrorists lured by handlers, including from Pakistan, with drugs or money to carry out one-off attacks with pistols supplied by the latter. Incidentally, many of the OGWs picked up by J&K police appear to be consuming drugs, said a source.
A call on arrest of the detained OGWs will be taken based on facts that come out during their questioning. They are likely to be sent to jails outside the Valley, possibly in Jammu or even another state.
The agencies have also identified two Pakistani Lashkar e Taiba terrorists who delivered the pistols to the local Kashmiris behind the recent killings. One of the Pakistani terrorists may have infiltrated recently, said a source.
The arrests of the OGWs came on a day that NIA conducted searches at 15 locations across Kulgam, Srinagar, Anantnag and Baramulla districts of J&K in two separate cases. While two and operatives of The Resistance Front were arrested in the LeT-TRF conspiracy case dating back to June 2021, three ISIS operatives have been arrested in the ISIS ‘Voice of Hind’ case. Sources said around more arrests may follow. The LeT-TRF case relates to the recovery of an IED from a LeT terrorist in Bathindi, Jammu for indulging in terrorist acts in J&K. The Voice of Hind’ case relates to ISIS conspiracy to radicalize and recruit impressionable Muslim youth in India through online propaganda to wage violent Jihad against the Indian state. This is supplemented by on-ground terror financing activities. NIA had earlier arrested four accused persons in the case.
On Friday, one LeT terrorist said to have been involved in the fatal shooting of Mohammad Shafi Dar on October 2 in Batamaloo was killed in an encounter.
The agencies have also identified the voice of the terrorist who figures in a video clip being circulated, where a new outfit called Geelani Force is claiming responsibility for the civilian killings and warning The Resistance Front not to take credit for them. “The voice is of a known Lashkar terror recruit based in Kulgam, which just proves it is essentially LeT behind the targeted killings, though masquerading as either TRF and now Geelani Force to maintain plausible deniability and project the terror acts as “indigenous” rebellion,” said an officer.
Strongly condemning the recent attacks on civilians, J&K Lieutenant-Governor Manoj Sinha had on Friday told TOI that the trend of killing ‘soft and easy’ targets shall be dealt with an iron hand, with a revised strategy focused on dismantling the entire terror eco-system.
“We have posted the best police officers across J&K. A strategy review meeting was held on Wednesday and the revised action plan has been rolled out. Counter-terror action is underway … We are confident about containing these ‘soft target attacks. We shall not buy peace but instead establish peace. Terror eco-system has to be dismantled whether here or elsewhere,” Sinha had said.