A group of terrorists from Pakistan-occupied-Kashmir, tutored on Sikh traditions and Gurmukhi script, may infiltrate into India to carry out strikes in Punjab, Delhi and Jammu and Kashmir, intelligence agencies have learnt.
“The group consists of 15 to 20 terrorists and they have been specially briefed on the topography and maps of Punjab,” said a government official who has been briefed on the intelligence inputs.
The input has been shared with all stakeholders – police and Punjab, Jammu and Kashmir and Delhi, Army and the BSF that guards the Indo-Pak border.
According to sources, Pakistan’s intelligence agency the ISI has gathered top operatives from terror outfits like Lashkar-e-Taiba, Jaish-e-Mohammad, Hizbul Mujahideen and Khalistani outfits Babbar Khalsa International and Khalistan Zindabad Force to plan strikes in Delhi, Punjab and Jammu and Kashmir.
The group of terrorists from PoK was first trained at Lashkar’s facilities at various places in Pakistan. Later for two months, Ranjeet Singh Neeta, based at a Gurdwara in Pakistan, tutored them for two months on Sikh traditions and Gurmukhi script.
There have been renewed efforts to revive militancy in Punjab by Pakistan sponsored elements in the recent past. Ever since the end of militancy in Punjab in mid 90s, the ISI has tried many times revive it but didn’t find success so far. The recent terror attack in Gurdaspur district was another example of the ISI’s efforts.
{{/usCountry}}There have been renewed efforts to revive militancy in Punjab by Pakistan sponsored elements in the recent past. Ever since the end of militancy in Punjab in mid 90s, the ISI has tried many times revive it but didn’t find success so far. The recent terror attack in Gurdaspur district was another example of the ISI’s efforts.
{{/usCountry}}On July 27 this year, three gunmen dressed in army fatigues, entered into Punjab from across the border and reached Dinanagar town in state’s Gurdaspur district. They planted improvised explosive devices on a railway track near Dinanagarand sprayed bullets at bus before attacking a police compound. All three gunmen were killed in an operation mounted by the Punjab police commandos.
The intelligence agencies have warned that some of newly trained terrorists may already have entered India.
The arms and ammunition to be used for such attack are likely to be sent from Jammu
and Kashmir by concealing them in specially created cavities in chassis of trucks headed for Punjab, says the input.