Police foiled an attempt to target the newly elected District Development Council (DDC) members and revive militancy in Budgam District of Jammu and Kashmir (J&K) in India, with the arrest of three militant associates of Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT) in Budgam District on January 31, reports Daily Excelsior. Acting on a specific input, Budgam Police, 53 Rashtriya Rifles (RR) of Army and Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) arrested three militants from Budgam during searches. Those arrested have been identified as two former militants Mohammad Yousuf Dar alias Janbaz Kashmiri, Abdul Majeed Mir alias Majid, both residents of Chewdara Beerwah and Reyaz Ahmad Basmati, resident of Safa Kadal in Srinagar. Police said that these militant associates were affiliated with LeT and were also working for other militant outfits like Tehreek-ul-Mujahideen (TuM). Police said, two hand grenades, 25 AK-47 rounds, 4 detonators, mobile phones used to contact Pakistani handlers, threat posters and other incriminating material have also been recovered from their possession. Police said that these militant associates were operating in Budgam and Srinagar Districts with the aim to target newly elected DDC members and disrupt elections.
They were in touch with handlers in Pakistan including Sheikh, Usman, Tariq, Haftullah and others. These militant associates in garb of securing admissions in Pakistani educational institutions and were managing contacts with Pakistan based militant handlers in order to recruit militants and revive militancy in Budgam.
A joint operation by Army and Jammu and Kashmir Police (JKP) recovered a large cache of weapons and ammunition from dense forest area in Gadyog in Khawas area in Rajouri District of Jammu and Kashmir (J&K) in India on January 31, reports Daily Excelsior. During the search operations, one AK 47 rifle, three magazines of AK 47, 94 rounds of AK 47 ammunition, two Chinese pistols, two pistol magazines, eight rounds of pistol ammunition, five UBGL grenades, one Kenwood radio set and three radio set antennae were recovered. Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP), Rajouri, Chandan Kohli said, the desperate plan of militant organisations to revive terrorism in Rajouri and Reasi Districts suffered a major setback when Army and JKP jointly carried out search operations in the forest area of Khawas tehsil (revenue unit) in Rajouri District. The timely recovery of huge cache of arms and ammunition has thwarted any possible untoward incident in otherwise peaceful region and has scuttled the nefarious plans of militant outfits to try derail peace and harmony in South of Pir Panjal Ranges, Kohli said.