Jammu and Kashmir police has unearthed a major nexus between the militants and mainstream political leaders after they arrested a top Pakistani Lashkar-e-Tioba commander from the residence of highly protected Sarpanch, who unsuccessfully contested the recent assembly polls on National Panthers Party (NPP) ticket from Sangrama constituency of north Kashmir.
Jammu and Kashmir police has unearthed a major nexus between the militants and mainstream political leaders after they arrested a top Pakistani Lashkar-e-Tioba commander from the residence of highly protected Sarpanch, who unsuccessfully contested the recent assembly polls on National Panthers Party (NPP) ticket from Sangrama constituency of north Kashmir.
Police have arrested Sarpanch Farooq Ahmad and suspended his three personal security officers (PSOs) for allegedly harbouring Pakistani militant Zubair Ahmad Mughal alias Amir Mavia alias Abu Mawiya who hails from Ghulshan e Iqbal Karachi.
How was the militant arrested?
Based on a specific intelligence input regarding presence of a LeT terrorist in village Choora of Sopore, a joint operation was launched by the army and police in the wee hours of Friday.
"During the operation, the joint team successfully apprehended a top LeT terrorist, who was later identified as Abu Mawya of LeT. One AK 47, three magazines and around 90 rounds of ammunition were also recovered from the terrorist. An FIR has been registered and the terrorist had been handed over to the local police station", a defence spokesman said.
Where was he hiding?
Police raided the residence of Sarpanch Farooq Ahmad in Choora village and apprehended the LeT commander along with arms and ammunition. The Sarpanch who is affiliated to National Panther's Party was also taken into custody. His three PSOs, who were deployed by Jammu and Kashmir police for his security, were placed under suspension.
Who is this Sarpanch?
Sarpanch had recently unsuccessfully contested assembly polls from Sangrama constituency on NPP ticket and bagged some 850 votes. Given the threat perception, J&K police had deployed three of his men to guard the sarpanch. "We have arrested the Sarpanch involved in this incident," Abdul Qayoom, senior superintendent of police, Sopore told dna.
How did the police unearth the nexus?
According to police, Ahmad is hand in glove with the militants. He used to introduce Abu Mawya as a guest from Ghaziabad in UP to deceive police and security agencies. Such was the secrecy that even his PSOs did not know the exact details of the militant who was hiding in his house for the last six days.
"When police raided his house, he resisted the arrest of the ultra saying he is his guest from Ghaziabad. However we recovered a fake voter card which Ahmad had made for the militant. After checking its veracity, we found that the card was issued to some other person from Kupwara. And Sarpanch had just scanned the card, changed the name and superimposed the photo of militant on it", said a police officer.
What has police investigation got so far?
During investigation, police has found that the Sarpanch had taken Abu Mawiya to Srinagar. Sources said Abu Mawiya has told interrogators that he along with two other Pakistani militants had infiltrated recently into Kashmir.
"We are looking at different angles. We are trying to figure out how many militants the sarpanch had harboured. Was he working as over ground worker for militants and helping them to have foothold since he was a protected person", said a police officer.
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