Jaish-e-Mohammad Attempts To Create Disturbances Not Only In Jammu And Kashmir But In The Rest Of India
By Ajit Kumar Singh
November
23, 2020
Four Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) terrorists were
killed in an encounter with the Security Forces (SFs) on November 19, 2020, at
Nagrota in Jammu District, Jammu and Kashmir (J&K). Senior Superintendent of
Police, Jammu District, Shridhar Patil stated, “Around 5 am some terrorists
opened fire at security forces near Ban Toll Plaza in Nagrota area. They were
hiding in a vehicle”. Two SF personnel suffered injuries in the operation.
However, the driver fled from the spot as security personnel approached the
vehicle. A large consignment of arms and ammunition, including six AK-56
rifles, five AK-47 rifles, three pistols, 16 AK magazines, a packet of RDX, 20
Chinese hand grenades, six UBGL grenades and 20 kilograms of explosive were
recovered from the encounter site.
Investigations
so far have revealed that the terrorists trained in ‘commando warfare’ walked
nearly 30 kilometres from the JeM camp at Shakargah in Pakistan to the Samba
(Jammu and Kashmir) border and then to the ‘pick-up’ point at Jatwal. There
then boarded a truck (JK01AL 1055) between 2.30 and 3 am [IST] in the night and
were seen crossing the Sarore toll plaza towards Jammu at 3.44 AM. The truck
then moved towards Kashmir, using the Narwal bypass route. The SFs intercepted
the truck around 4.45 AM at the Ban toll plaza in the Nagrota area.
Maulana
Masood Azhar
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Further, it
has been disclosed that Mufti Abdul Rauf Asghar, the de facto chief of the
outfit at a time when his brother, Maulana Masood Azhar Alvi, the founder and
chief of the outfit, is reported terminally ill, monitored the infiltration
from Bhawalpur with Qari Zarar. The ‘launcher’ of the infiltrators was Kashif
Jan, who handles all the JeM movements into South Kashmir, and reports directly
to Mufti Rauf Asghar.
Meanwhile,
an unnamed official source disclosed, “A few days ago, Abdul Rauf Asghar aka
Rauf Lala was seen across the International Border in Shakargarh area of
Narowal district. The area has launch pads (to push terrorists into India).”
Intelligence agencies had, indeed, warned of a possible infiltration bid and a
major terror attack on November 26 (coinciding with the November 26, 2008,
Mumbai attacks). Reports also indicate that officials suspect that the
terrorists were planning “something big” ahead of the eight-phase District
Development Council (DDC) elections, which are scheduled to be held from
November 28 to December 22.
India's
Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) thus noted,
The huge
cache of arms, ammunition and explosive material indicate detailed planning for
a major attack to destabilise the peace and security in the UT [Union
Territory] of Jammu and Kashmir, in particular, to derail the ongoing
democratic exercise of conduct of local District Development Council elections.
It is
pertinent to recall here that the National Investigation Agency (NIA) is
already investigating JeM's Nagrota Infiltration Transportation Module Case.
The case pertains to an incident on January 31, 2020, when a truck carrying
three freshly infiltrated Pakistani terrorists was stopped for checking by the
SFs at Ban Toll Plaza, Nagrota, Jammu, on the Pathankot-Srinagar Highway at
5:00 am. While the driver Sameer Ahmad Dar and his two associates, Asif Ahmad
Malik and Sartaj Mantoo, escaped taking advantage of the pre-dawn darkness, the
heavily-armed Pakistani terrorists hiding inside the cargo cabin of the truck
started firing at the police party grievously injuring one trooper. In the
ensuing search operation launched by the security forces in the Ban forest
area, the three Pakistani terrorists were killed, while the driver and his two
associates were arrested. On July 27, 2020, the NIA filed the charge-sheet
against six accused persons. The charge-sheet noted, inter alia,
This module
was in touch with Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammad handlers and launch-pad
commanders who used to send the location of freshly infiltrated terrorists and
also share the code-words for receiving them to driver Sameer Ahmad Dar on
secure messaging apps.
Though over
a month is still left, 2020 has already recorded the highest ever number of CFA
violations (3,629) in a single year, since 2005, when the first incident took
place. This comes on the tail of the
previous high of 3,168 in 2019. Pakistan violates the ceasefire with the
objective of giving cover to terrorist infiltration, and an escalation
indicates intensified efforts to this end. Available data suggests that, as
compared to 140 successful infiltrations in 2019, only around 30 terrorists
have managed to enter J&K from across the Border, though a large number of
aborted attempts go undocumented as the terrorists fail to breach the border.
Vijay Kumar, Inspector General of Police, Kashmir Range, disclosed, on
September 25, 2020, that 170 to 200 militants were active in Kashmir, of which
40 were foreigners. Reports, meanwhile indicate that at least 600 terrorists
were currently waiting at various launch pads across the border, to infiltrate
into Indian Territory.
Worryingly,
JeM succeeded in carrying out attacks in India using the same modus
operandi. For instance, on January 1-2,
2016, at least seven SF personnel were killed in an attack by JeM terrorists at
an Indian Air Force frontier base at Pathankot in Punjab. The terrorists, who
infiltrated from Pakistan, first killed one civilian en route to the Air Force
base. The attack ended with Indian SFs killing four Pakistani terrorists.
Of the three major Pakistan-backed terror
outfits operating in J&K, each of which also has a history of carrying out
attacks in other parts of India – Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), Hizb-ul-Mujahideen
(HM), and JeM – JeM has returned to prominence over last few years, with the
help of the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI). JeM is the current favorite of
ISI simply because LeT has come under the increased scrutiny of the
international community, particularly since the 26/11 Mumbai attack, while HM
has become a depleted force.
On March
15, 2019, NIA registered a case against JeM, noting:
The Central
Government has received information regarding Criminal conspiracy for strengthening
base of proscribed terrorist organisation JeM, in India, raising funds for
terrorist acts, conspiracy for carrying out terrorist acts, organizing
terrorists acts, conspiracy for carrying out terrorist acts, organizing
terrorist camps and recruiting persons for carrying out terrorist acts,
harbouring the cadres of JeM and becoming its member.
Later, on
September 16, 2019, NIA filed a charge sheet which read,
Further,
charge is abated against accused Mudassir Ahmad Khan @ MD (A-6) (since
deceased)… This case pertains to a criminal conspiracy hatched by senior
commanders of JeM to carry out terror attacks in different parts of India
including Delhi-NCR. Investigation has established that the accused persons are
members of proscribed terrorist organization JeM, who were planning to carry
out terrorist attacks and also propagating the activities of JeM…
JeM is
making attempts top create disturbances not only in J&K, but in the rest of
India. Two JeM terrorists were arrested in the night of November 16 from Delhi.
Abdul Latif and Mohammed Ashraf Khatana were arrested near the Millennium Park
in Delhi’s Sarai Kale Khan. Investigators said the two were planning an attack
in Delhi and had also planned to escape to Pakistan after their ‘job’ was done.
Latif is a resident of Doru village in the Baramulla District of J&K, and
Khatana is a resident of Hat Mulla village in Kupwara District, J&K.
The
volatility at the border in J&K at this point of time is at its maximum
with Pakistan’s clear intention of facilitating the infiltration of the maximum
possible number of terrorists before the onset of winter.
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Ajit Kumar Singh is a Research Fellow,
Institute for Conflict Management
Original Headline: JeM: Intensifying Efforts
Source: South Asia Intelligence Review
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