A Pakistani militant belonging to Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT) outfit who was tasked with reviving militancy in certain areas of the Kashmir valley was arrested from Baramulla District, Police said on April 24, reports Daily Excelsior. Mohammad Waqar Awan alias ‘Chota Dujana, a resident of Mohalla Miana in Mianwali area of Punjab in Pakistan, was arrested earlier this week and paraded before the media on April 24 at the Police Control Room in Srinagar. Awan told reporters that before he joined militancy, he was told that atrocities were being committed on the people of Kashmir by Security Forces (SFs) but he saw no such thing in the Valley. “I received training for four months at a camp in Muzaffarabad. I was told that atrocities are committed on children and women. Prayers are not allowed in mosques and houses of Muslims are destroyed,” he told reporters, adding he found that the conditions were different in Kashmir.
Police officials said Awan’s arrest and ‘confession’ is a ‘live evidence’ for Pakistan as to how youths are manipulated on its soil, prepared for militancy and then sent here to join Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM)or Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT). Asked if he was involved in any attacks in the valley, Awan said, “I was not involved in any attack”. The Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) of Baramulla, Abdul Qayoom, said Awan had infiltrated in the valley in July 2017. “He was active in Handwara (area of north Kashmir’s Kupwara District). For the last about two years, he was active in different places of Srinagar.