Militant recruiting for Jaish-e-Mohammad arrested in J&K
Security forces have foiled an attempt by militant outfit Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) to replenish its depleted ranks in Jammu and Kashmir, with the arrest of a Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK)-based militant in north Kashmir on Saturday.
According to the General Officer Commanding (GOC), 19 Division, J.S. Jain, the militant was captured from Hajibal area of Baramulla, around 60 km north of Srinagar, on Saturday.
The police identified him as Abdul Rehman, a resident of Pollas village. Preliminary reports suggest he infiltrated from the Machil sector in January.
He had received training in a JeM training camp in Pakistan’s Balakot.
‘Planning to set up a base’
“He was tasked with local recruitment and carrying out suicide attacks within the Valley,” said a police officer.
The militant, according to the police, was planning to establish a base of the JeM in Baramulla town.
“An aadhaar card bearing the name Shabir Ahmad Khan, son of Ghulam Rasool, was also recovered,” said a police official.
In March, The Hindu was the first newspaper to report that a JeM militant, Mohamad Sidiq Gujjar (17), a resident of Galotia Kalan, Sialkot, Pakistan, had obtained an Aadhaar card to escape the security forces’ search and cordon operations in the Valley.
JeM’s revival
A batch of around five Jaish militants had crossed the Line of Control (LoC) in Kupwara district on the intervening night of November 24 and 25 to launch a fidayeen attack on the Army’s 3/1 GR base in Tanghdar.
The attack, according to the security agencies, was aimed at announcing the group’s return in J&K after all the top Jaish militants were eliminated in south and north Kashmir.
The last active militants of the outfit, Adil Pathan and Chota Burmi, were killed in October last year in south Kashmir’s Awantipora area.
Headed by Pakistan-based Maulana Masood Azhar, released in exchange for passengers of the hijacked IC 814 plane in 2000, the group had made a major attempt to revive itself by launching Al-Shohada Brigade or Shaheed Afzal Guru Squad, named after Parliament attack convict Afzal Guru, in 2013.
