The National InvestigationAgency (NIA) conducted searches on Monday in 12 locations across four districts of Kashmir as part of its investigation into the alleged conspiracy of newly-floated offshoots of various proscribed Pakistan-backed terrorist outfits to destabilise Jammu & Kashmir.
The searches were conducted in Kulgam, Bandipora, Shopian and Pulwama, covering the residential premises of “hybrid” terrorists, who carry out attacks and then slip back to their routine lives, overground workers linked with the offshoots and affiliates of the banned terrorist outfits, and those of sympathisers and cadre.
The agency seized several digital devices during the exercise. The investigation is related to a case registered by the NIA on June 21, 2022. The newly floated offshoots have been identified as The Resistance Front, United Liberation Front Jammu & Kashmir, Mujahideen Gazwat-ul-Hind, Jammu & Kashmir Freedom Fighters, Kashmir Tigers, PAAF and others.
“These outfits are affiliated to Pak-backed organisations like the Laskhar-e-Taiba, Jaish-e-Mohammed, Hizb-ul-Mujahideen, Al-Badr, Al-Qaeda, etc., which have been banned by the Indian government,” an official said.
Among the suspects whose premises were searched are those under the NIA’s scanner for their role in the collection and distribution of sticky bombs/magnetic bombs, Improvised Explosive Devices, funds, narcotic substances, and arms/ammunition.
As alleged, Pakistan-based operatives have been promoting terrorism via social media platforms to promote terror. Drones are being used by them to deliver arms/ammunition, explosives and narcotics to their operatives and cadre in the Kashmir valley. “The organisations, supported by their masters in Pakistan, have been conspiring to commit acts of terror and violence, by radicalising the local youth and mobilising overground workers, to disturb peace and communal harmony in J&K,” the agency said.
