New Delhi, (PTI) In a new twist to the turmoil in Kashmir,
the NIA today claimed it was being orchestrated by Pakistan-based
LeT and that it was gathering further evidence of the terror group's
role in fuelling the unrest, triggered by the encounter killing of
a militant leader.
Armed with a confessional video of a captured LeT militant, Inspector
General of NIA Sanjeev Singh told reporters that since the summer
this year, the banned outfit, with the "help of Pakistani forces
deployed on the border", pushed heavily armed terrorists into India
with the direction to mix with the local people, create disturbance,
and attack police and security forces.
The video shows 21-year-old Bahadur Ali, a resident of Raiwind in
Lahore, spilling beans about LeT's role in the disturbances. He is
also shown speaking about the LeT's sophisticated communication network
and assistance rendered to it by the Pakistani army.
Ali, who was arrested on July 25 this year from Yahama village in
Handwara in North Kashmir, was in one of the groups allegedly instructed
to take advantage of the current situation and throw grenades at
the security forces by mixing with the protesters.
"During communications with Ali, Alpha-3 (a communication centre
in Pakistan-occupied-Kashmir) told that the LeT cadres had been successful
in fuelling large-scale agitation in Kashmir after Eid subsequent
to the death of Burhan Wani.
"Further investigation is continuing on the disclosure of Bahadur
Ali regarding his role in the present unrest in Kashmir," Singh said.
The anti-terror probe agency also said it is gathering further evidence
regarding the role of Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba in the ongoing
turbulence in the Valley for the last 33 days.
The National Investigation Agency's (NIA) comments came a day after
India handed over a "strong demarche" to Pakistan over its continued
support to cross-border terrorism in India.
NIA also showed to the media a video of Ali alias Saifullah, a Punjabi-speaking
man, talking about his family, the time he spent in the terror outfit
and his crossing over to the Indian side of the border.
Ali told his interrogators that he was informed by his handlers
from a control room code-named 'Alpha-3', believed to located at
a high altitude somewhere in PoK, about the unrest in the Valley
following the killing of Burhan Wani, a Hizbul Mujahideen militant on July 8.
His handlers from the control room asked him to throw grenades at
the security forces and also informed him that other cadres of the
terror group had managed to sneak into the Valley, mingled with protesters
and were fuelling tension in the Valley.
This is for the first time that NIA has shown a video statement
of a captured militant. Pakistan had earlier this year shown a video
statement of Kulbhushan Yadav, an Indian national arrested in Balochistan
in March over charges of spying for the Indian intelligence agencies.
