Bahadur Ali, a terrorist who was caught in Jammu and Kashmir last month, has revealed that he was trained by the Lashkar-e-Taiba to infiltrate into Jammu and Kashmir, “mix with locals and create trouble”, Indian investigators said, showing a video of his confession.
“LeT is being helped by Pakistan army in spreading unrest in the Kashmir valley,” NIA IG Sanjeev Kumar said in a press briefing in Delhi. “Pakistan army officers in civilian clothes visit LeT facilities and are referred to as Major Saheb and Capt Saheb,” Kumar added.
The NIA said this was one of many revelations made by Bahadur Ali, a LeT terrorist who was caught by security officers on July 25.
Kumar disclosed that Bahadur Ali was recruited by Jamaat-ud-Dawa and was subsequently radicalised by LeT. “Bahadur Ali said that there were 30-50 trainees at training camps of LeT from different parts of the countries including Afghanistan and Pak. He said that there were a few army officers in civilian clothes who checked their preparedness with a check-list,” said Kumar adding that Bahadur Ali crossed into Indian side on either 11th or 12th June along with two LeT cadres.
Counter-terror officials said Ali, who was described by the government as a “big terror catch”, had crossed over to India to attack security forces and fuel more unrest in the valley. He was on a fidayeen or suicide mission in Kashmir.
The agency also told reporters that the LeT has instructed its cadre to stay behind Kashmiris during protests in the valley that has witnessed a wave of violence after security forces gunned down Burhan Wani, a poster boy of the militant Hizbul Mujahideen.
According to the agency, Alli is the son of a former police constable in Pakistan’s Punjab province and has six brother and two sisters. They said his family owns 12 canals or over 5,000 square feet of land in Jia Bagga near Lahore.
He dropped out of the government primary school in his village after Class 8 and also attended a local madrassa Jamia Qasmia affiliated to Tablighi Jamaat.
In 2008-09 when Ali was 13 or 14, he met an imam of Ahle-Hadith mosque and his son who motivated him to join the sect. At the same time, he also met Mohammad Yusuf and Hafiz Shehzad, who worked for LeT’s parent outfit Jamaat Ud Dawa.
In 2013-14, he started working with Falah-e-Insaniat, the charity long suspected of a front of the LeT. A JuD donation collector by the name of Abdullah asked Ali to join the Lashkar.
Officials also said Indian national called Deen Mohammad is related to Ali.
He is the fourth Pakistan terror suspect to be captured alive in Kashmir since the arrest of Mohammad Naveed Yakub, a 22-year-old from Pakistan’s Faisalabad city who joined LeT at a young age after getting indoctrinated at a local mosque.
