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Probe agency to seek info on 3 Hiz terrorists from Pak court
Srinagar: The State Investigation Agency (SIA) — a special unit carved out of the Jammu and Kashmir Police — has filed a charge sheet against three Hizb-ul-Mujahideen terrorists, including an Indian national posing as a student in a Pakistani university and his father who is a senior member of the terror outfit, the agency has said in a statement
Srinagar: The State Investigation Agency (SIA) — a special unit carved out of the Jammu and Kashmir Police — has filed a charge sheet against three Hizb-ul-Mujahideen terrorists, including an Indian national posing as a student in a Pakistani university and his father who is a senior member of the terror outfit, the agency has said in a statement.
The charge sheet was filed in November last year before the TADA/POTA/NIA Special Court in Jammu against Indian resident Asif Shabir Naik a resident of Kashtigarh in Doda district of Jammu region, his father Shabir Hussain Naik alias Khalid Shabi and one Safdar Hussain alias Ehsan of village Marmat of Doda. According to the agency, both Shabir and Safdar are currently based in Pakistan, while Asif Naik was intercepted at Srinagar airport.
A statement by the agency said intelligence inputs had indicated that Asif Naik was enrolled in a university in Pakistan for a mass media course and had been visiting Pakistan on the pretext of studying there. The statement further said Naik was in fact visiting terrorist training facilities across the border.
“The investigation started on 7 November 2021 and conducted over last about six months assumes importance in the context of the government’s strategy to identify J&K residents who are hiding in Pakistan and co-ordinating terrorist and secessionist activities behind the scene from across the border,” the SIA statement said.
The agency has requested a trial court to invoke Letters Rogatory to seek information about Shabir and Safdar, said an SIA spokesperson.
“While Asif Shabir Naik arrested in the instant case is in Judicial custody, the other two accused especially the mastermind Shabir Hussain Naik and his associate Safdar Hussain hiding in Pakistan have been Challaned U/S 299 CrPC as Absconders,” the spokesperson said, adding that Shabir was now HM’s media advisor and was looking after the propaganda cell of the terror outfit.
“The investigation revealed how Pakistani agencies have been brazenly and egregiously misusing not only the travel between the two countries on the basis of valid travel documents but also the Indian students going to Pakistan for higher studies,” the spokesperson added.
The SIA said that in this case, the terror outfit, with the backing of state agencies made up a cover for Asif, who then used to travel to Pakistan to meet his father and also undergo training in sabotage and subversion.
“The forensics of the phone devices of Asif showed that he had videographed army installations along the Baramulla Srinagar road. He had also photographed the access road to the airport and security features adjacent to it,” the spokesperson said.
While the visa on Asif’s passport showed that he’s a visitor, immigration records indicated he was a student, the spokesperson added.
“Interrogation of Asif in the context of digital evidence revealed that Pakistan had arranged his admission in International Islamic university in Islamabad in a mass communication programme as cover and simultaneously facilitated his internship in the media cell of HM run by his father. Investigation revealed that Asif had completely concealed that his father was in Pakistan and a senior figure in HM and close to the leader Syed Sallauddin. He had falsely mentioned that he was visiting Pakistan to meet a relative,” the SIA statement said.
According to the agency, it is suspected that Asif was to return to India as a journalist and embed himself in the country to receive instructions on planning, coordinating and executing terror attacks.
“But for the videos in his cell phone, the latter part of the adversary agenda would not have surfaced. Pertinent to mention here that the accused Asif Shabir Naik stayed in Pakistan for almost 3 years along with Shabir Hussian Naik and Safdar Hussain in HM camps. Moreover, the major part of the investigation pertains to the territory of Pakistan. Even when its is comprehended that Pakistan authorities would not cooperate in assisting this legally mandated investigation, it was thought prudent and legally warranted to use the tool of letter rogatory and request the Pakistani court of law through the laid down channel seeking information of the activities of the accused Asif Shabir Naik while in Pakistan,” the SIA statement said.
The spokesperson said similar Letters Rogatory-related requests have been initiated for Shabir and Safdar. “Endeavours are being made to get some more evidences and the investigation in this regard will continue,” the spokesperson added.
