Majid Jahangir

Tribune News Service

Srinagar, March 15

The Jaish-e-Mohammad’s Pakistani militant who was arrested in Baramulla last month had not only managed to acquire a fake Aadhaar card during his nearly three month hiding in Kashmir but had also stayed at the J&K Police facility for three days.The 18-year-old Mohammad Sidiq Gujjar, alias Shahid, a resident of Sialkot in Pakistan, was arrested during an operation on the intervening night of February 24 and 25 on the outskirts of Baramulla. He was part of the Jaish’s four-member fidayeen squad which carried out an attack on an Army installation in Tangdhar, Kupwara, in November last year.“The fake Aadhar card of Indian nationality for Gujjar was prepared in the frontier district of Kupwara by a computer operator,” said a senior police officer.The Pakistani militant is believed to have told his interrogators that he was trying to revive the group in Kashmir, whose cadre strength has reduced to less than 10.Born in 1998 at Galotia Kalan in Sialkot, Gujjar was motivated by a friend, Abdul Razzaq, to join the Jaish outfit after passing Class IX, the police said.“Gujjar being a minor got easily motivated for jihad to seek Jannat thereafter. He later joined the Balakote training camp (Syed Shah Ismail Shaheed Madrassa ) wherein he started receiving training in two phases,” said a police report accessed by The Tribune. “The training was imparted by a senior militant of Jaish, Gori Fazal Shah. Besides arms and ammunition, he had specialised training in handling GPS devices, wireless communication devices and map reading. After completing the training, he was allowed to meet his 10-member family at Galotia Kalan for two or three days.”“He was then send to a launching pad at Kundal Shahi in PoK from where he along with his three associates Hussain, Mavia and Rizwan during the intervening night of November 24 and 25, 2015, infiltrated into India and reached Tangdhar Army Camp in the wee hours of November 25, and attacked battalion headquarters of the 3/1 Gorkha Rifles unit in which a civilian was murdered,” the report added. A police officer said Gujjar being the youngest of the attackers was asked by the other members of the group to flee after attacking the army base.“His three associates before getting killed instructed Gujjar to launch another massive attack in the Kashmir valley and establish the Jaish base for furtherance of terrorist activities in the Kashmir valley,” the report said.“The Jaish fidayeen managed to escape from the spot and stayed in forests of Kupwara for two months in the hunt for susceptible youths for recruitment to carry out further attacks in the Valley,” it said. “Gujjar met with a person who owns a computer shop at Kupwara market, who helped him get an election card and an Aadhar card, which helped him roam freely in Kashmir.”The report said the computer shop owner (who was detained by the police for questioning) also helped him get in touch with a person who resides in Kupwara town in getting contacts at Baramulla and also accompanied him on February 6 to the house of a Baramulla resident, who is “already a notorious person and has been involved in various stone-throwing incidents and anti-national activities.” Gujjar got in touch with other youth too in Baramulla.“The whole group, which now consists of the subject (Gujjar), Farhan, Ahsan, Rashid lived in the fear that the news about the presence of subject in the Baramlulla area might be leaked out. They managed to take one Suhail Ganie in confidence whose father is working in the police as a follower at STC (Subsidiary Training Centre), Sheeri, and the subject stayed there from February 18 till February 21, 2016,” the report said, adding that Gujjar also imparted training to local youth near Baramulla.All five associates of Gujjar in Baramulla were arrested by the police.

Wanted to revive Jaish in Valley

• Mohammad Sidiq Gujjar (18), alias Shahid, a resident of Sialkot, was arrested on February 24 night in Baramulla
• He was part of the Jaish’s four-member fidayeen squad which carried out an attack on an Army installation in Tangdhar, Kupwara, in November last year
• Sidiq not only managed to acquire a fake Aadhaar card during his nearly three month hiding in Kashmir but had also stayed at the J&K Police facility for three days
• He told his interrogators he was trying to revive Jaish in Kashmir, whose cadre strength has reduced to less than 10