Amid a resurgence in assaults on outsiders and Kashmiri Pandits within the Valley, the National Investigation Agency (NIA) on Thursday performed searches at a number of areas within the Union Territory, together with at residences of suspected operatives of The Resistance Force (TRF). An affiliate of LeT, the outfit, together with parts from Jaish-e-Mohammed, are suspected to be behind the latest assaults on outsiders within the Valley.
According to NIA, the searches have been performed at 11 areas — six throughout Srinagar, Baramulla (2), Awantipora (1), Budgam (1) and Kulgam (1) — in reference to a case of “radicalising /recruiting / motivating youths of J&K to violent activities by Sajad Gul, TRF Commander and others”.
The areas searched embrace the home of Basit Ahmad Dar, an energetic militant in opposition to whom NIA has lately introduced a reward of Rs 10 lakh.
“The case relates to activities of ‘The Resistance Front’ (TRF), a frontal outfit of the Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) and it’s self-styled commander Sajjad Gul, who has been actively radicalising, motivating and recruiting youth of J&K to affect violent activities,” the NIA mentioned in an announcement.
The company said that Gul, alongside along with his different affiliate commanders of LeT based mostly in Pakistan, “has been recruiting individuals (overground workers) to do reconnaissance of pre-determined targets, coordinating and transporting weapons to support LeT and TRF”.
During the searches, the company claimed to have recovered “various incriminating materials such as digital devices, SIM cards, digital storage devices, documents, etc”.
Agencies suspect overground employees of TRF and JeM to have been handed over the job of concentrating on outsiders and Kashmiri Pandits within the Valley. These are largely untrained part-time militants who’ve common jobs however can execute minor assaults on directions.
In the final fortnight alone, there have been 4 such assaults during which six migrant employees and one Kashmiri Pandit particular person have been shot at by suspected militants. The final time such incidents came about within the Valley was in October final yr, when a number of migrant employees and Kashmiri Pandit individuals have been killed.
The incidents, coming days earlier than Home Minister Amit Shah’s go to to Kashmir, had led to exodus of migrants and Pandits from the Valley.
,
With inputs from TheIndianEXPRESS
