JeM Chief among 12 charge-sheeted in terror attack case ahead of PM’s Jammu visit

STATE TIMES NEWS

JAMMU: Five Pakistani terrorists, including the chief of proscribed Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) outfit, were among 12 people chargesheeted in a case related to a terror attack in April ahead of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s maiden visit to Jammu and Kashmir’s Samba after the abrogation of Article 370, an official said on Wednesday.
The National Investigation Agency (NIA) filed the charge sheet against JeM chief Masood Azhar Alvi alias Maulana, a resident of Bahawalpur (Pakistan), his four Pakistan-based associates, two slain terrorists and five Kashmir residents in a special court here, a federal agency spokesperson said.
While two Pashto-speaking terrorists, who had infiltrated from across the border using an underground tunnel and transported from Samba to Jammu, were eliminated in the encounter on April 22, a CISF officer lost his life and nine others, including two policemen, were injured in the terrorist attack which took place just two days ahead of the Prime Minister’s scheduled visit.
“The chargesheet was filed against 12 accused in the case relating to the conspiracy hatched among Kashmir based terrorist operatives, Pakistan based handlers and terrorists of proscribed terrorist outfit JeM, in furtherance to which, two JeM terrorists were infiltrated into India through a (cross-border) Tunnel,” the NIA spokesperson said.
The NIA said the tunnel had been excavated on the International Border in the area falling under Border Out Post Chack Faqira in the Samba sector in J&K in order with the intention of disrupting the scheduled visit of Prime Minister in the Jammu region.
The movement of the terrorists was intercepted by the security forces and both terrorists were killed in an encounter with the security forces in the area of Sunjwan on the outskirts of Jammu city, the official said.
The spokesperson said the case was initially registered on April 22 at Bahu Fort police station in Jammu and re-registered by the NIA on April 26.
Besides Azhar, others chargesheeted in the case include Pakistani terrorists Rouf Asgar Alvi alias ‘Abdul Rouf Asgar’ of Bahawalpur, Mohammad Mussdaiq alias ‘Doctor’ alias ‘Abdul Manan’ alias ‘Wahid Khan’ of Sailkot, Shahid Latif alias ‘Chotta Shahid’ alias ‘Noor Al Din’ of Gujranwala-Punjab, Masood Ilyas Kashmiri alias ‘Abu Mohammad’ of Pakistan-occupied Jammu and Kashmir, the NIA said.
Shafeeq Ahmad Sheikh, Abid Mushtaq Mir and Asif Ahmad Sheikh, all residents of Pulwama and Bilal Ahmad Wagay and Mohd Ishaq Chopan of Anantnag, besides the two slain terrorists were also chargesheeted in the case, the spokesperson said, adding the charge against the slain terrorists stand abated.
The official said the investigations have revealed that the accused, south Kashmir residents, entered into a criminal conspiracy with two freshly infiltrated Pakistani JeM terrorists and JeM leadership in the furtherance of which they received, transported and provided logistic support to newly infiltrated JeM terrorists who entered into the Indian territory to execute a suicidal attack on the security forces and other vital installations in Jammu region with a view to disrupt the scheduled visit of the Prime Minister to Jammu region.