Updated: August 31, 2020 7:01:36 am
NIA found Shakir Bashir Magrey’s photo from Umar Farooq’s phone (above)
While each step of the February 2019 Pulwama attack was carried out on the instructions of the Jaish-e-Muhammad chiefs in Pakistan, the target itself, a convoy of vehicles carrying CRPF personnel, was chosen by a 22-year-old merchant from Kakapora. in the same district of South Kashmir, researchers have found.
This man’s contribution to the attack was highly appreciated by the key attack planner, Mohammed Umar Farooq; In a voicemail sent to Pakistan, Mohammed Umar compared him to Afzal Guru, the convict of the 2001 attack on Parliament who was hanged in 2013.
On your 13,500-page charge sheet, The National Investigative Agency (NIA) has claimed that this man, Shakir Bashir Magrey, a new JeM recruit who ran a furniture store near the Lethpora Bridge on the Jammu-Srinagar road, was the most important local cog in the terrorist of the February 14, 2019. bombing in which 40 members of the CRPF died.
The NIA announced the arrest of Shakir Bashir Magrey in February this year.
Editorial | Cooperation in the Pulwama investigation can only be of benefit to Pakistan. And in the interests of peace and stability in the region
After the nephew of Jaish Masood Azhar’s boss, Usman Haider, was assassinated in an encounter in Kashmir in October 2018, another of Azhar’s nephews, Mohammed Umar, was given the responsibility of planning and carrying out a major attack on law enforcement, the NIA found.
According to the charge sheet, Mohammed Umar and his associates decided to build a car bomb to carry out the attack. However, the group could not decide the goal or the location.
“They kept arguing about where the security forces gather in large numbers. It was Shakir Bashir, who later suggested that CRPF convoys passing through the road could be attacked near his store. Since he had his store right on the road, he said he regularly watched those convoys go by. He noted that at one point the road has a steep slope and turns, which would be the ideal place to hit a car bomb as the convoy would slow down. The site also had an access road to enter the highway, ”said a senior NIA official.
The success of the attack and Shakir Bashir’s contribution to its planning made Mohammed Umar love so much that in a voice message sent to Masood Azhar’s brother, Rouf Asgar in Pakistan, he said that the work done by Bashir was as good as the by Afzal Guru. in the attack on Parliament, the officer said.
“He (Mohammed Umar) asked the Jaish chiefs in Pakistan to take care of him (Shakir Bashir),” the officer said.
According to the charge sheet, Bashir’s contribution, in fact, went far beyond the choice of target and the performance of recognitions. The IED itself was mounted in his home, and he even drove the car bomb onto the road before fidayeen (suicide bomber) Adil Ahmed Dar took the wheel.
Bashir sheltered Umar and his associates at his home on multiple occasions, and the final video of Adil Ahmed Dar was also filmed at his residence, the NIA found.
Afzal Guru’s name also appeared in another voicemail exchange between the attackers and their Pak bosses. Umar and his associates said that Adil Dar’s video was a presentation by “AGS Media”. ‘AGS’ stands for ‘Afzal Guru Squad’, a name that Jaish has used to mark several of his recent attacks, including the one on the Pathankot Air Base in 2016.
“The [Jaish] the bosses were not very happy with the use of the term “AGS Media”. In a voice message sent to Umar, they asked him not to use it again, particularly for the video that they were supposed to make of the bodies of CRPF personnel after the attack. This video was supposed to be used for propaganda, and Pakistan’s message was to use only the Jaish flag. We don’t know why they did this, ”said an NIA official.
READ | Pulwama attackers wanted an attack to provoke war between India and Pakistan: NIA charge sheet
Shakir Bashir is also suspected of being involved in planning another attack the group intended to carry out after Pulwama. Voicemails from Umar’s phone show that these plans were in an advanced stage, but had to be shelved due to the Balakot airstrike in India (on February 26) and because Umar himself died in an encounter about a month later. of Pulwama’s attack.
“In a voice message sent to Pakistan, Umar reported that a second car had been prepared for the attack. However, this car has yet to be found, ”said another NIA official.
The group had also wanted to kill foreign journalists in an attack, but they were detained by their bosses in Pakistan, according to the NIA.
“This was when many foreign journalists gathered at fidayeen Adil Dar’s home in Kakapora after the attack. A voicemail sent to Pakistan asked: “Bade firangi jamaa hain, udaa dein kya?” (Many foreigners have gathered here, should we finish them off?) ”The officer said.
According to the charge sheet, Shakir Basheer has no history of involvement in terrorist activities. He was introduced to Umar in August 2018, three months after Umar infiltrated India, by a wealthy Pulwama sawmill owner Bilal Kuchey. A resident of Kakapora, to whom Shakir Basheer and Adil Dar belonged, Kuchey himself was lured to the Jaish by his acquaintance Abbas Rather, a floating worker for various terrorist groups.
Rather, a resident of Hajibal in Pulwama, has a small grocery store, but has been known to do surface work for Lashkar-e-Taiba, Jaish and Hizb-ul-Mujahideen, NIA sources said. A typical conflict zone operator, Rather was also a police informant and had served time behind bars under the Public Safety Act.
Rather, he played a crucial role in bringing the group together and introducing them to Umar. He was also instrumental in implicating Insha Jan, a 19-year-old woman from Hajibal, and her father in the conspiracy, according to the NIA.
“Jan’s two cousins had previously joined the militancy and died in clashes with the police. Umar spent considerable time at Jan’s house. She would cook and take care of him. They have posed together with guns and ammunition for multiple photographs, ”said an NIA official.
📣 The Indian Express is now on Telegram. Click here to join our channel (@indianexpress) and stay up to date with the latest headlines
For the latest news about India, download the Indian Express app.
© The Indian Express (P) Ltd
.
