Agency finds international border, not LoC, route of choice for militants who carry out attacks in Valley
NEW DELHI: A National Investigation Agency (NIA) probe has revealed that in the last three years over 40 terrorists were pushed by Pakistan into India through the international border in Jammu, and then transported deep into the Kashmir Valley to carry out targeted strikes, said multiple government, intelligence and security officials familiar with the matter.
NIA has drawn its conclusion about the number of infiltrators after interrogating half-a-dozen overground workers (OWGs) — a nomenclature used by the J&K police for civilians who help militants — linked to Pakistan-based terror group Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) — who were arrested over the past year, the officials added.
“NIA submitted a detailed report to the Union home ministry last week, underlining the fact that Pakistani terrorist outfits were no longer solely using the Line of Control (LoC), the de-facto border between the Valley and the Pakistan-occupied-Kashmir (PoK) to infiltrate terror operatives, and they were using the international border as well. That as many as 40 terrorists have used the international border to enter India is particularly alarming,” said a home ministry official who spoke on the condition of anonymity.
“In its report, NIA said that OWGs, during their interrogation, disclosed that they picked up over a dozen groups, consisting of three to four terrorists, mainly from Jaish, from the Samba sector’s Bei Nullah area in the last two to three years. In one case, a group of Jaish terrorists after infiltrating from the international border attacked the Nagrota army installation in November, 2016 in Jammu. In another case, in September this year, the Jammu and Kashmir police intercepted three terrorists in Jhajjar Kotli and the whole group was neutralised. The rest of the groups were taken to the Tral area of the Valley from where they scattered to other parts,” the official added.
An NIA official, who asked not to be named, confirmed that a report on infiltration through the international border has been sent to the home ministry.
“Since the OWGs were regularly talking about picking up terrorists from the Jammu area, we decided to alert the government about it in the form of a report. The NIA report is just not a compilation of the interrogation reports, but has used mobile phone data to confirm the location of the OWGs when they claimed to pick up the groups of terrorists. The OWGs were taken to the spot from where they picked up the group of terrorists in the Bei Nullah area, and their journey onward to the Valley was tracked,” the official added.
Valley remains tense, army calls for peace
Separatists call for march towards cantonment, army advises not to fall prey to ‘anti-national forces’
› The objective of [the security] forces is to bring peace and normalcy in the Valley with the people’s support ARMY STATEMENT
From page 01 SRINAGAR: The army on Sunday advised people against marching towards Srinagar’s Badami Bagh cantonment a day later in response to a separatist call for it to protest against the killing of seven civilians in South Kashmir in security forces’ firing on Saturday.
PTI■ CRPF personnel stand guard during restrictions imposed to thwart any possible protest called by separatists over civilian killings in Srinagar on Sunday.
The civilians were killed in the firing when residents gathered at the scene of a fire-fight and threw stones at security forces battling militants in an orchard in Pulwama district’s Sirnoo village.
The Kashmiri separatists called for a three-day strike and asked people to march towards the cantonment on Monday in protest against the killings. “We will all march towards Badami Bagh on Monday and ask the Army that instead of killing us daily, it should kill us all,” separatist Mirwaiz Umar Farooq said.
The Army called the march call an attempt to sabotage peace at Pakistan’s behest. “We advise the people not to fall prey to such designs of anti-national forces. The Indian Army is always with the people of Kashmir and would foil all such evil attempts of terrorist-separatist-Pakistan nexus to pit the civilian population against the security forces,” the army said in a statement.
“The objective of [the security] forces is to bring peace and normalcy in the Valley with the people’s support.”
The statement said the security forces make “every attempt to avoid any loss of civilian lives in cross-fire and minimise collateral damage to property”.
Restrictions imposed on the people’s movement in Srinagar would continue on Monday while the roads leading to the cantonment would be sealed to prevent the march, according to officials aware of the developments.
They said the Mirwaiz will be placed under house arrest to prevent him from leading the march.
Separately, a shutdown was observed across the Kashmir Valley in protest against the civilian killings on Sunday. Restrictions were imposed on the people’s movements in Pulwama and adjoining areas.
In Pulwama, the people were asked to stay indoors while additional forces were deployed across the district and other sensitive places in Kashmir to prevent protests.
“The situation is tense and the people have been asked to remain inside their homes. It is just like an unannounced curfew,” said Abdul Qayoom, a Pulwama resident.
Train services between Baramulla in North Kashmir and Banihal in Jammu region were also suspended as shops and businesses remained shuttered and the traffic was off the roads across the Valley.