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Kashmir : Lashkar’s overground links exposed |
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Just days after completion of two years of the ceasefire along the line of control (LoC) on November 26, security forces have eliminated three notorious terrorists belonging to the Lashkar-e-Taiba. Ubaid-ur-Rahman, a resident of Mohalla Gulistan in Faislabad, Mohammad Salim, of Lalookhet in Karachi, and Sadaqat Ali, of Wah Cantonment were killed in the course of the most successful counter-Lashkar operation in over a year. All the three militants are believed to have cross the Line of Control on November 20, with instructions to carry out fidayeen (suicide) attacks on targets in Srinagar.
Jammu and Kashmir Police investigators, the sources said, were led to the Lashkar unit in the course of an investigation into a November 30 bank robbery. On Thursday, the police arrested two residents of Srinagar for their alleged role in the armed robbery. Searches at their home near the Kashmir University campus led to the surprise recovery of ammunition, grenades and a satellite phone concealed inside a washing machine - equipment typically used by terrorists, not bank robbers.
Interrogation of Bukhari and Sofi led to the revelation that the robbery had been carried out to finance the Lashkar’s operations in the Srinagar area. Sofi, one of the terrorists, the investigators found, used his connections in the State Youth Congress to obtain documents identifying himself and the three killed Pakistanis as members of the organization. Sofi had joined the National Conference in 2003, and was given accommodation at the Dolphin Hotel in Srinagar after he claimed he faced terrorist threats.
Sofi joined the Youth Congress recently, and continued to use his political work as cover for his activities as Lashkar operative.
The cracking of the bank robbery also led the state police to unearth the network behind eight major militant strikes. These include the recent assassination of the Minister of State for Education and several suicide attacks in Srinagar.
In another development, teams of Punjab Police and their counterparts from Jammu and Kashmir, arrested 14 persons suspected to be associated with the Hizbul Mujahedin terrorist group from a bus near Jalandhar on December 2. Identitity checks on the passengers of the bus found that voter identity cards of nine persons were fake.
President Kalam praises the courage of quake-hit
On the second and last day of his two-day visit to Jammu and Kashmir, President A.P.J. Abdul Kalam flew along the line of control to see the damage caused by the October 8 earthquake. Speaking to the quake-affected people of Uri, he appreciated their courage in overcoming the situation created by the earthquake. He said, “It is courage and determination that help to heal the wounds speedily and restart the process of life.”
President Kalam spent most of his time on November 27 with school children and asked them to concentrate on studies to make Jammu and Kashmir a prosperous state. He appreciated the relief measures taken up by the Government, the Army, the Air Force, the paramilitary forces and non Government organizations.
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