India gives names, addresses, profiles of handlers to NSA

Mukesh Ranjan,Tribune News Service,New Delhi, January 6

Even as India indicated that it did not favour “derailing the ongoing peace process” in the light of the Pathankot terror attack, both Prime Minister Narendra Modi and National Security Adviser (NSA) Ajit Doval have made it clear to their Pakistani counterparts that any further engagement would “entirely depend on what they deliver” on the vital inputs relating to the terrorists and their handlers based in Bahawalpur and Sialkot.

Editorial: Rapid-fire communication

Sources said Modi, in very “uncertain” terms, told Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif that it would not suffice to say that the terrorists are “non-state actors”; rather, India expects from him “credible action” to bring the culprits to the book.“All evidences, including phone intercepts, phone numbers of handlers in Pakistan, their names and locations have been shared. Now they have to take action. We expect them to take action in line with what they did in the case pertaining to the Peshawar terror attack of December 16, 2014,” sources said. On that fateful day, seven gunmen affiliated with the Tehrik-i-Taliban (TTP) launched an attack on Army Public School in the city, killing 132 schoolchildren, besides others.Sources said, in his conversation with his Pakistani counterpart Gen Naseer Khan Janjua, NSA Ajit Doval communicated about three specific handlers – Qashif Jaan of Sialkot and Maulana Ashfaq Ahmad and Hazi Abdul Shaqur of Al Rahman Trust in Bahawalpur. Even the phone details of the conversation between one of the terrorists, who attacked the Pathankot air base, and his mother have been given to Janjua, they added.“As per our information”, sources said, “the terrorists were trained at Chaklala air base in Rawalpindi and Layallpur air base in Faisalabad.” Claiming this as an assessment of the security establishment in India, those, in the know of the anti-terror operation in Pathankot said, “The terrorists had sufficient knowledge about fighter planes and the assets at any air base. They had brought a huge quantity of aluminium powder, which is used to ignite fire and the same could be extinguished easily.”

It gets curiouser: Local leader, 3 handlers, SP’s ‘changing’ tale

Jupinderjit Singh,Tribune News Service,Pathankot, January 6

Controversial SP Salwinder Singh and his two companions reportedly met  a prominent politician of Gurdaspur district the night they were ‘kidnapped’ by terrorists, before the Pathankot air base attack,  near Bamyal village.    This came to the fore during  investigation by the National Investigation Agency and Punjab  Police. Sources said the agencies had been tracking the movement of the politician prior to the Pathankot attack.Investigators have obtained vital leads on the police-politician-smuggler nexus in the region. They say this nexus ought to have come to light after the July 27, 2015, Dinanagar attack.The investigators believe that the terrorists were guided by three local handlers, with one of them well-acquainted with the layout of the Pathankot air base, including its key installations.An official said three groups worked in tandem to launch the attack — two comprised terrorist outfits and the third consisted of the three local handlers. Sources said it was being  probed if these handlers had any connection with the Gurdaspur politician or taxi driver Ikaagar Singh, who was found murdered. The officials are now interrogating Salwinder Singh and his cook Mohan Gopal. The two had on day one given similar statements but contradictions emerged when they were cross-questioned. Salwinder claimed in the FIR that they were tied up and gagged by terrorists before being thrown into a ditch.He claimed he gained consciousness after more than two hours, untied himself and then helped his cook. However, his jeweller friend had a different tale to tell. When told they had thrown a police officer out of the vehicle, the terrorists turned back, but could not find the SP and his cook at the spot, he claimed.The SP, in subsequent interviews, corroborated the jeweller’s claim. He said the terrorists had indeed returned to kill him but he had fled by then. Whereas the SP was initially quoted as saying that the terrorists had used his phone to make calls, the jeweller claimed it was his phone that the terrorists had used as they could not crack the SP’s phone code. The SP has stated in the FIR that the terrorists took away his two phones, one of them an iPhone.Police sources said till late afternoon on January 1, the SP was seen as a suspect in the murder of driver Ikaagar Singh. But this changed after phone intercepts pointed to the presence of infiltrators in the area. This explains the delay in the filing of two  FIRs, one regarding the SP’s kidnapping and the other on Ikaagar’s killing.  The police are not sure if Ikaagar was killed by terrorists. The post-mortem report suggests he  put up a stiff resistance.

SP faces disciplinary action

Quizzed by NIA for second consecutive day

Ravi Dhaliwal,Tribune News Service,Gurdaspur, January 6

SP Salwinder Singh is likely to face disciplinary proceedings for the alleged irregularities committed by him before and after his reported abduction on the night of December 31.He was quizzed by the National Investigation Agency for the second day today. The place where the team is keeping him is being kept under wraps. The officer and his two acquaintances, Gurdaspur jeweller Rajesh Verma and cook Madan Gopal, who were picked up by an NIA team yesterday evening, are still being questioned. Sources reveal that the statements of all three do not match.Punjab Police, meanwhile, are set to initiate disciplinary proceedings against Salwinder Singh as he was illegally using a blue beacon atop his private vehicle at the time of the incident. He is also under the lens for not joining his new place of posting at PAP complex, Jalandhar. He was transferred from the post of SP (Headquarters), Gurdaspur. Sources claim the officer was shifted following the report of a departmental inquiry.Yesterday, the officer had gone public on various TV channels highlighting his plight. His seniors in Chandigarh have not taken kindly to his “self-publicity bout”. Moreover, sources claim that he did not take permission from his seniors to divulge details of his abduction using a public platform.An officer said: “There are too many inconsistencies in the statement of the three men, including their take on the number of terrorists who kidnapped them.” Officials say this is a key issue, since the terrorists are believed to have attacked the base in two groups of four and two men each.The men have been claiming that they are unable to give exact details since they were blindfolded and gagged.The SP has been maintaining that the terrorists did not attack him since they never knew that he was a police officer. Driver Ikagar Singh, whose car the terrorists had hijacked before waylaying the SP, was killed after his throat was slit.

Terror threat near Tibri Cantt, massive search on

Ravi Dhaliwal,Tribune News Service,Gurdaspur, January 6

Around 1,000 Army men and Punjab Police personnel have converted Pandher village, around 2 km from the Tibri cantonment, into a fortress following reports that two armed men in Army uniform were seen moving around in a suspicious manner in the area. Two SWAT teams of the Punjab Police have reached the area.“The threat is real. It is not a hoax call. We have sounded an alert throughout the state,” said an SSP-level officer. Even as NIA Director General Sharad Kumar held a series of meetings at the Air Force complex in connection with the January 2 Pathankot terror attack, villagers said they saw some people in Army uniform entering sugarcane fields having 15-foot-high crop. “The Army has got vacated 500 houses in Pandher and adjoining Bhulechak and Babbehali villages,” sources said. The terrorists who attacked the Pathankot air base and the Dinanagar police station were also in Army uniform. “The fact that the cantonment area is just 2 km away has added to our worries. We cannot take chances. More forces are being requisitioned,” SSP Toor said.DGP Suresh Arora, who returned to Chandigarh from Pathankot today, was being regularly updated about the developments. A massive search operation was on and neither the Army nor the police were willing to comment.