Incidents involving Lashkar-e-Toiba : 2012

2012

• January 29: Police on LeT module in the Pattan area of Baramulla District.

• January 24: SFs recovered a large quantity of arms, ammunition and explosive material during two different search operations conducted in Budhal and Thanna Mandi areas of Rajouri District. The seizure belonged to LeT and HM outfits.

• January 23: Police arrested a surrendered militant while two other former militants were reported to have joined the militant cadre after killing a SPO, Mohammad Hanief, on December 10, 2011 and taking away his AK-47 rifle in upper reaches of Thathri in Kishtwar District of Jammu and Kashmir.

• January 22: The leaders of the PDC, comprising of 44 politico-religious parties of the country gathered at Liaquat Bagh in Rawalpindi in a rally against what they called the anti-Pakistan forces. "Al-Jihad, Al-Jihad" (the holy war, the holy war) slogans rose from the crowd in response to every fiery claim by orators who warned against the 'grand conspiracies' being hatched by the 'enemies of Pakistan'. A majority of the participants in the rally were holding JuD flags, led by Hafiz Saeed, whose 17-minute speech, consistently referring to Indian-American aggression against Muslims, resonated with the crowd of over 50,000.

  "The current standoff between state institutions is the result of a sin that we committed 10 years ago by allowing our territory to be used against Afghan Muslims, and until we repent for that grave mistake, we will never be able to overcome these issues," Saeed said, adding, "This is America's war and we only want to fight Pakistan's war." The PDC urged the Government to get rid of the US war on terrorism. The leaders demanded Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani to make a timeframe to leave the war and formulate independent policies by keeping the national interests supreme. Saeed said that India is a greater threat to Pakistan than the United States (US). "The current Government is conspiring with the US to give in to Indian supremacy in the region. Granting Most Favoured Nation (MFN) status is part of that plan. We must practically oppose this," Saeed added. Activists of the participating religious outfits freely distributed hate material, including jihadi pamphlets, books, CDs and posters inciting sectarian hatred and urging jihad.

• January 21: A Delhi court will hear arguments taking cognizance of the charge sheet filed by NIA against Pakistani-American LeT operative David Coleman Headley and eight others including JuD chief Hafiz Mohammad Saeed and LeT militant Zaki-ur Rehman Lakhvi. Headley and others are charged with planning and executing terror strikes in India, including the 26/11 Mumbai attack.

• January 20: Police arrested three OGWs of the LeT from Handwara in Kupwara District. The arrestees were identified as Mohammad Rafiq, Aabid Hussain Rather and Abdul Rashid Khoja. Police said that these OGWs were arrested while they were coercing the inhabitants of Muqam and Hindwanpora villages to donate money for the LeT outfit. Police said five letter pads of LeT outfit were recovered from them.

• January 19: SFs shot dead LeT 'commander', Abrar Khan alias Abu Mavia alias Abu Wasim alias Mistry, hailing from Pakistan, in an encounter at Khaneti Mohalla in Salwa area of Mendhar in Poonch District. Police sources said an operation was launched in Salwa area on specific information about the presence of Mistry in the forests. A contact with the militant was established at about 6am. His dead body was recovered later in the afternoon. Recoveries made from his possession included one AK-47 rifle with four magazines, one UBGL, four UBGL shells, 107 AK rounds and one pouch. Mistry, an 'A' category militants, was operating in twin border Districts of Rajouri and Poonch for past quite some time and had developed good network in Mendhar and adjoining areas.

  The JuD said that the cricketer-turned-politician Imran Khan will attend its Difa-e-Pakistan (Defence of Pakistan) rally to be held in Multan District of Punjab Province on January 29, 2012. JuD leaders said the Difa-e-Pakistan gathering would also be attended by Jama'at-e-Islami (JeI) chief Munawar Hassan and Awami Muslim League chief Sheikh Rashid Ahmed and leaders of other religious and political parties. There was no word from Imran Khan's Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf party on the development. Khan has not attended other 'Defence of Pakistan' meetings organised by the JuD but a message from him was read out at a rally held in Lahore on December 18, 2011.

  The movement was launched shortly after a cross-border November 26, 2011, NATO air strike that killed 24 Pakistani soldiers. During rallies and meetings organised as part of the movement, leaders of the JuD and other extremist groups have mainly targeted the US and India.

• January 18: Security agencies have been put on a high alert after IB warned the Delhi Police last week that a LeT operative, identified as one Rehman, may have gained entry into the city to carry out a terror strike during the upcoming Republic Day (January 26) celebrations. Sources said Rehman is believed to be heavily armed and carrying sophisticated weapons and gadgetry and may have specifically entered Delhi with a mission to disrupt R-Day celebrations."We don't know his location. There are active IM sleeper modules in the city and Rehman may try to get in touch with their members to carry out a terror strike on the upcoming Republic Day celebrations. We are taking every measure to disrupt any attempt to strike the city," an unnamed top special cell official said.

• January 14: DIG, North Kashmir Muneer Ahmad Khan said that there is 90 percent decline in militancy in Bandipora District but added that the militants in the District are using hi-tech devices and travel to Pakistan to get the training in handling them. He said Police in December 2011 arrested two militants who had recently returned from Pakistan after getting training in handling the hi-tech gadgets.

  General Officer Commanding-in-Chief, Northern Command, Lieutenant General K T Parnaik said on January 15 that nearly 2,500 militants were camping in terrorist training camps in Pakistan and PoK. Some 300 militants were also camping in launching pads in Pakistan and PoK. "Camps in PoK and Pakistan have 2,000 to 2,500 terrorists as per our own sources. However, in launching pads (along the borderline with Pakistan) they are around 300 or so," he said. On the security situation in J&K, the Army Commander said it was good. "Violence parameters have been down in 2011. Last year was a fruitful year. We had a fair amount of peace in the state," he added. "Though there had been continued attempts to push terrorists into this side of the border yet we successfully thwarted most of them. As per the reports, there would be attempts to revive the terrorists activities in the State as such we all have to remain alert and take pre-emptive measures," he added. To a question about reports of LeT revitalizing woman cadre, he said, "We keep getting these inputs from the intelligence sources. Frequent reports keep coming to us through sources about whatever happens across the border so far as terrorist mechanism is concerned. There are reports that woman cadre of the LeT is being trained in Muzaffarabad area of the Pakistan-occupied-Kashmir before being pushed into this side of the border. However, this is not yet corroborated. We have not shared this report officially with the State Government and anyone else and it will require sometime to further corroborate."

  Alleged IM militants Salman alias Chotu and Shahzad Ahmed alias Pappu have allegedly confessed to the Bangalore Police that they had got explosives for the 2008 Delhi serial blasts from Udupi, a coastal town in Karnataka. Both LeT-trained Salman and Shahzad, natives of Azamgarh in Uttar Pradesh and arrested by Delhi Police in 2011, are co-accused in the Chinnaswamy Stadium blast case in 2010.

  In their confessional statement, they allegedly told the Bangalore anti-terrorism cell that their associates Mohammed Saif (now in jail) and Khalid (absconding) went to Udupi on August 31, 2008, and brought the explosives to Delhi on September 3, 2008. The Delhi blasts took place on September1 3, 2008.

  JuD chief Hafiz Mohammad Saeed expressed support for the contacts between the US and Afghan Taliban and urged the Government to open a dialogue with Pakistani militants. Addressing a news conference at Karachi Press Club in Karachi, he said that by initiating a reconciliation process for Afghanistan the US had "in effect accepted its mistake" of invading the country.

• January 13: Mohammad Rafiq alias Rafi, the SPO arrested along with five others, was reportedly engaged in espionage, according to. There were reports that he had developed contacts with Pakistan Army, ISI and militant 'commanders' of LeT and HM during his stay in Pakistan, before returning to India and joining the services. This aspect was, however, yet to be confirmed by Police.

  Parveen Akhter, wife of Mohammad Azam of Mendhar in Poonch District, has turned out to be another woman militant with confirmed involvement of her links with a Pakistan based militant of LeT outfit, also named as Mohammad Azam. Police arrested Parveen Akhter along with Bashir Akhter of Qasba in Poonch District. During questioning, Parveen Akhter alias Parveena is said to have disclosed that Mohammad Azam used to smuggle weapons from PoK up to the LoC at fixed spots in Poonch District. Parveena picked up the weapons, FICNs, SIM cards and other material from the LoC and supplied them to militants, including Mohammad Hafiz of Surankote. Hafiz has already been arrested by Srinagar Police.

• January 10: A red alert was sounded in Kishanganj District after intelligence reports suggested that eight LeT terrorists had sneaked in there from across the porous Indo-Nepal border, official sources said. The sources told agency that sleuths of the IB have already visited the District and held a 'secret' meeting with Kishanganj (P Ranjit Kumar Mishra in this regard. Apart from SSB personnel, District Armed Police personnel too were maintaining strict vigil on the porous border and people moving into the district from Nepal were being thoroughly frisked, the SP said. All the important trains were being escorted with heavy security personnel as personnel of the RPF were deployed in railway stations in the District. Vigil was also being kept on the movement of trains in other Districts of the Seemanchal belt: Purnia, Araria, and Katihar, sources said.

  Railway stations along the Bihar-Nepal border have been put on alert after intelligence reports that a group of terrorists have sneaked into the State and could pose a threat to railway facilities in the area. According to intelligence agencies, the terrorists could attack stations near the border like Raxaul, Sugauli, Adapur, Sikta, Narkatiaganj, Betiah and Motihari. RPF's chief security commissioner (Samastipur) S N Arya said that following the threat reports received from the intelligence departments of the State and Central Governments, all railway stations along the Bihar-Nepal border have been put on maximum alert. According to reports, he said that a Pakistani terrorist was arrested in Kathmandu in Nepal last week. To seek his release, a group of seven to eight Afghani terrorists sneaked into the District from across the Nepal border, posing major threat to Railway Stations and trains besides other vital installation along the border, Arya said.

  The Army said that Security Forces had foiled numerous infiltration attempts and terrorists were on the run with their leadership eliminated to a great extent in Jammu and Kashmir. "The relentless hard work by security forces has kept terrorists on the run in Jammu and Kashmir", General Officer Commanding in Chief (GOC-in-C), Northern Command, Lieutenant General K T Parnaik said. "As their numbers have dwindled and the leadership has been eliminated to a great extent, the operations are now entering a more difficult phase," he added. "This demands excellent synergy among all security forces, intelligence agencies and the civil administration," the Army officer said. He expressed hope the terrorists would be dealt a final blow in the state soon.

  According to a recent intelligence report, the LeT in association with IM is planning to carry out attacks in Mumbai and Delhi in near future. Probable targets include ports and vital installations on the coastal front.

• January 7: The DPC on warned of countrywide protests if the Government reopens supply routes for allied forces stationed in neighbouring Afghanistan. The DPC, which comprises the JI, JuD, Frontal organisation of Sipah-e-Sahaba Pakistan and others, made the demand in a joint declaration adopted at a meeting between the top leadership in Islamabad.

  The meeting was attended by DPC Chairman and JUI-S chief Maulana Samee-ul-Haq, Gen (r) Hameed Gul, JI chief Syed Munwar Hassan, JuD chief Professor Saeed Ahmad, Pakistan Awami League chief Sheikh Rasheed, Pakistan Muslim League-Zia-ul-Haq leader Ijaz ul Haq, Abdul Rasheed Turabi, Jamiat Al-Hadith General Secretary Abtisam Elahi, Ghulam Mustafa Jadoon and Hafiz Abdur Rehman. Addressing a news conference, DPC leaders warned they would resist any move by the Government to reopen NATO supply routes. They added that a mass awareness campaign would be launched against the "terrorism" being "covertly sponsored" by India and the United States in the country. DPC leaders said that the meetings would be held in Rawalpindi on January 22, Multan on January 29 and Karachi on February 12.

• January 5: Police in Anantnag busted a six member LeT module. Police said that the module was busted after the arrest of a youth, Younis Ahmad, of Arwani. "During his questioning he reveal that he along with other members of this module had arranged weapons and delivered them to the militants operating in Tral", said Police. Police said that on his disclosure his five associates who were also working for LeT were arrested. Police identified them as Shakoor-ul-Mansoor Parray, Tawseef Hussain Bhat, Mudasir Ahmad Bhat, Mohammad Shafi Bhat and Mohammad Younis Bhat son of Ghulam Ahmad.

  Police said that the module was involved in arranging and transportation of weapons and were also facilitating the movement of militants by providing them information regarding the movements of security forces in the area. The module had also succeeded in recruiting some youths into the militancy, said police. Police said that module was working at the behest of a LeT 'commander' of Pulwama and Kulgam.

• January 4: Bandipora Police neutralized two militant modules, one each of LeT and HM, who were planning the target killings in the District. Superintendent of Police (Bandipora) Bashir Ahmed Khan said that Police arrested six youths in two separate raids from Hajin area of Sonawari in the District. They were affiliated with HM and LeT. Khan said that Police arrested a youth, identified as Fayaz Ahmed of village Hajin. He said that during the questioning Fayaz disclosed that he was working with the HM since last nine months. Khan said that on his disclosure, Police arrested two of his accomplices from Hajin. They have been identified as Zubair Ahmed Parray. Khan said that the trio confessed that they were working with the HM and were recruiting the youth into militant ranks. During the questioning they said that they were tasked to kill some influential political workers and Police personnel in the District. A matrix sheet and list of people of few political workers and police personnel were recovered from their possession, Khan added.

  Police neutralized an LeT module, believed to be planning target killings, operating in Sonawari area and arrested three militants, identified as Zahoor Ahmed Dar, Ghulam Muhammad Bhat and Nissar Ahmed Ganie. Zahoor Ahmad Dar had visited Pakistan at the behest of LeT for computer training in May 2011. After staying in training camps for 15 days he returned back. Later, Zahoor Ahmed contacted a surrendered militant, Ghulam Mohammad Bhat, for sending across some educated youths for computer and arms training. Ghulam Mohammed motivated Nissar Ahmed Dar at the behest of Zahoor Ahmed and sent him across for computer training and was transporting money and other material for the LeT cadres. These youths were assigned the job of targeting political activists and police personnel in the District. The arrested militants had earlier threatened Panches and Sarpanches during 2011 Panchayat elections.

• January 3: The LeT is raising a group of 21 female terrorists at its training camps in PoK for carrying out sabotage activities in India, Army sources said, "We have confirmed reports that LeT is imparting training to 21 selected female terrorists at its training facilities in Muzaffarabad in PoK for carrying out terrorist activities in India," an unnamed Army official said in New Delhi.

  Army said the new group, named as Dukhtareen-e-Toiba, is planned to be made active in the Kashmir Valley by the LeT. The women terrorists are planned to be infiltrated into India through routes in Uri sector or using the aerial route through some other country.

  DNA quoted sources as saying, "Inputs reveal that 21 girls are being trained by LeT at Divalia, Muzzafarabad, under the name of Dukhtaran-e-Toiba." The group, after training, have been placed under the command of an LeT 'commander', Sayeed Sadaqat Hussain, for future deployment in Kashmir, the sources added.

  Intercepts indicate that the new front is being activated since the earlier formation of women DeM led by Asiya Andrabi has not been successful in mobilising people as it had in the past. According to reports, the sources said, the effort is to try and infiltrate these trained cadres into India either through the Uri sector or even Nepal.

  Another training camp, according to other information, is located at Turbeladem in PoK in which over 400 terrorists in various groups are being trained and that the facility is being commanded by a senior officer of ISI. The sources said the ISI asked the LeT and other terror groups to carry out attacks against the Indian troops deployed on the LoC. These groups, the reports said, carried out reconnaissance in areas on the other side of the LoC facing the Indian forward defence locations.