NEW DELHI/SRINAGAR: Tightening its noose in the Jammu and Kashmir terrorism conspiracy case, the National Investigation Agency (NIA) on Friday filed a charge sheet against 25 people for allegedly hatching a conspiracy for undertaking terrorist activities in the Valley and other parts of the country.
The anti-terror probe agency has named Bashir Ahmed Peer aka Imtiyaz Alam, Imtiyaz Kundoo aka Fayaz Sopore, Bilal Ahmed Mir aka Bilal Fafoo, Owais Ahmed Dar, Tariq Ahmed Dar, Tariq Ahmed Bafanda, Mohammad Haneef Chairalu, Hanan Gulzar Dar, Mateen Ahmed Bhat, Kamran Ashraf Reshi, Rayid Bashir, Mohammad Manan Dar aka Manan, Zamin Adil Bhat, Hariis Nisar Langoo, Rouf Ahmad Bhat, Sobiya Aziz Mir aka Mariyam-Al-Kashmiri, Amir Ahmad Gojree, Sadaat Amin Malik aka Syed Arhan, Ishfaq Amin Wani aka Rehan Amin Wani, Rashid Muzafar Ganai, Nashir Ahmad Mir, Irfan Tariq Antoo, Suhail Ahmad Thokar, Adil Ahmad War and Arif Farooq Bhat under several sections of the IPC and the UA(P) Act, a NIA spokesperson here said.
The case was filed against the cadres of proscribed terrorist organisations — Laskhar-e-Taiba (LeT), Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM), Hizbul Mujahideen (HM), Al-Badr and their affiliates such as The Resistance Front (TRF) and the People Anti-Fascist Forces (PAFF).
“Investigation has unearthed a deep-rooted conspiracy of Pakistan based proscribed terrorist organisations joining hands in form of a united group and shifting of their modus operandi by floating pseudo offshoot outfits portrayed as indigenous resistance groups, in whose name terrorist acts are being committed with an intention to claim deniability at the international level,” the official stated.
The official said that after the abrogation of Article 370 in August 2019, the NIA probe revealed, the shift in claims of terrorist acts done in J&K was discernible.
“Many affiliate/offshoots outfits such as TRF, PAFF, United Liberation Front J&K ULF J&K, Muslim Janbaaz Force (MJF), Kashmir Janbaaz Force (KJF), Kashmir Tigers, Kashmir Fight, Mujahideen Gazwat-ul-Hind, Kashmir Gaznavi Force etc had suddenly mushroomed, laying claims to various terrorist acts,” the official said.
The investigation further established that all these “pseudo-outfits are in fact offshoots/rechristened versions of proscribed terrorist organisations based in Pakistan” and have been floated under a deep-rooted conspiracy to portray terrorism in J&K as home-grown insurgency, the spokesperson said.
“A well-organized propaganda machinery operating in cyberspace through various websites, blogs, social media handles, closed channels on encrypted communication platforms etc wherein concocted and skewed narrative is presented to impressionable and Pak-based nodes have been used to radicalize youth,” the official said.
The investigation revealed that all this media propaganda of different terrorist outfits was epicentered around common nodes operating from Pakistan.
“A key element of aforementioned conspiracy was inducting new cadres in form of ‘Hybrid terrorists’ belonging to various walks of life, who could use their cover to remain rooted in the society and simultaneously carry out instructions of their terrorist handlers,” the investigation revealed.
“While acting as an OGW (over ground worker), they were also found indulging in terrorist actions such as grenade lobbing, undertaking lone attacks on vulnerable targets, arson etc. The investigation has also revealed a clear shift in the strategy of terrorist organization towards targeted killings of minorities, civilians, migrants, government officials and unguarded security personnel,” the official concluded.