'If Seema Haider doesn't return to Pakistan…': Mumbai traffic police gets threat of another 26/11

The messages, which were in Urdu, read, “If Seema Haider does not return to Pakistan India will be destroyed. Be ready for a 26/11-like attack.”

Mumbai: The traffic police control room on Wednesday received messages that threatened to carry out a 26/11-like terrorist attack if the Indian government failed to return Seema Haider – the Pakistani woman who fell in love with an Indian national through an online gaming application and landed in the country via Nepal.

Sachin Meena (L) and Seema Haider at their residence in Rabupura village, about 90 km from New Delhi. (AFP)

Investigation to trace the sender of the WhatsApp messages that allegedly came from a mobile number associated with a foreign country is underway, police officers said.

“We are trying to find the origin of the messages and if any mischief was played to hide the actual location of the sender by using something like VoIP (voice over internet protocol),” a crime branch officer said.

The messages, which were in Urdu, read, “If Seema Haider does not return to Pakistan India will be destroyed. Be ready for a 26/11-like attack. The Uttar Pradesh government will be responsible for it.”

On November 26, 2008, a group of 10 Lashkar-e-Taiba operatives carried out a coordinated attack in Mumbai, killing 164 people and injuring several others.

Seema Haider, a woman from Pakistan, illegally entered India via Nepal with her four children after she fell in love with a Hindu man through PUBG Mobile. The couple started living together in Greater Noida.

In August 2022, a series of WhatsApp messages in Hindi were received by the traffic police control room, which claimed that seven Indians had hatched a terror plot that would be worse than 26/11. The sender also claimed himself to be from Pakistan. “UP ATS karwana chahti hai Mumbai udaana. (Uttar Pradesh anti-terrorism squad wants to destroy Mumbai),” one of the messages said.

The police could not trace the sender of those messages, as they originated from outside of India, but the seven numbers given by him were found to be held by Indians with no ulterior motive.

“Baloch dacoits have already recorded a video from Pakistan in which they have threatened that if Seema Haider is not sent back to their country, they will rape and kill the Hindu population living in Pakistan. In the viral video, four men are seen wearing masks and holding rifles,” a police officer said.