A detailed intelligence assessment whose contents have been accessed with the Hindustan Times shows that all is not quiet on the western (and northwestern) fronts of India with Pakistan-based terrorist groups trying to reactivate groups from the days of the Afghan jihad, create new fronts and discover new ways to target India.
It also shows that terrorist groups are especially targeting the Sialkot-Shakargarh and Bhimber-Samahni sectors, with the Pakistani establishment supporting them with gun launches from drones across the border and increasing signals from mobile towers along the Control line to facilitate communication.
Pakistan-based terror groups have changed tactics by moving military training camps (askari) to the Af-Pak region, and their existing camps have become centers of religious indoctrination, the assessment adds, which, anticipating the The crucial Paris Plenary of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) suggests that Pakistan is trying to disguise its adherence to the agency’s restrictions against terrorist financing.
The FATF meeting on October 21-23 will decide whether Pakistan remains on the “Gray List” due to inaction by the Imran Khan government on banned terrorist groups and to curb money laundering activities or whether it will be removed from her on the basis of easy steps taken to escape the economic guillotine. The gray list (known as jurisdictions under increased oversight by the FATF) comprises countries whose systems are not strong enough to prevent money laundering or terrorist financing, but which have promised to work to address these issues.
Also read: India beats Imran Khan’s adviser for fictitious claim, then farewell shot
According to the assessment, prepared by India’s national security planners, the shift in strategy by Pak-based groups, notably Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) and Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) to move terrorist training to the camps. around the Durand Line could also be aimed at operating in collusion with Taliban groups and the Afghanistan-based Haqqani Network (HN) following the signing of the peace agreement between the United States, the Taliban and the Afghans. The leader of the HN is the outlaw terrorist Sirajuddin Haqqani, who is also the deputy leader of the Taliban with control over Nangarhar and a strong presence in Kabul. He has a $ 5 million bounty on his head.
Other intelligence reports corroborating this suggest that while the Pakistani deep state has asked Muridke-based LeT to keep a low profile ahead of the Paris meeting, there has been no truce in the organization’s terrorist activities. based in Bahawalpur. JeM with India as the main objective. The JeM has been infiltrating its cadres in Jammu and Kashmir, on the one hand, while planning joint terror attacks with its fellow Deobandi ideologue, the Taliban in Afghanistan.
“The JeM has intensified its focus on the Sialkot-Shakargarh and Bhimber-Samani sectors of Jammu to increase violence on the union’s territory,” said a senior counterterrorism official who asked not to be named. The Sailkot-Shakargarh sector is a so-called chicken neck area, and both it and the Bhimber-Samani sector are strategically important from an Indian defense perspective. Not surprisingly, both are regular witnesses to cross-border layoffs.
While the LeT is now being run by lead defendant 11/26 Zaki-ur-Rehman Lakhvi and Hafiz Saeed’s son Talha, JeM is a full-fledged Masoor Azhar family business with his brother Mufti Rauf Asghar acting on behalf of the sick Azhar, and other brothers, including Maulana Ammar and Azhar Ibrahim, work together.
In addition to the two main terrorist groups, the deep state of Pakistan, upset with the international community for ignoring the repeal of Article 370 of August 5, 2019 by the Modi government, is trying to reactivate the groups active during the days of the Afghan jihad. and also create new fronts, which will also help spin a narrative of local terrorism in the valley.
According to the intelligence assessment, the task of resurrecting Harkat-ul-Mujahideen has been entrusted to a serving colonel in the Pakistani military intelligence with the support of HUM chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman Khalil, with the aim of shift focus from Afghanistan to J&K. Khalil currently resides on the outskirts of Islamabad and runs a chain of madrasas known as Jamia Khalid bin-Al-Waleed in Pakistan. It has a jihadist umbilical chord with the Taliban and HN of the 1990s. In this context, Maulana Mohammed Sajjad Shahid Kashmiri, a resident of occupied Kashmir, has been appointed director of Tehreek-e-Millat-e-Islamiya (TMI), the Jammu and Kashmir chapter of mankind revived.
Also Read: India Accepts Imran Khan Advisor’s Claim On Outreach From New Delhi To Pak
Intelligence data suggests the deep state of Pakistan is also trying to reactivate Brigade 313, a 2008 breakaway group from Harkat-ul-Jihad-al-Islami (HUJI), which is much closer to Al Qaida than any group. Kashmiri terrorist. Founded by Illyas Kashmiri, the head of Daniel Pearl’s killer Omar Sheikh and 11/26 conspirator David Headley, the 313rd Brigade is currently being used by former LeT agents Huzaifa Bhai, Obaid-ur-Rehmani Barlas Kashmiri and Sumama Bhai to recruit cadres in the valley through cyber platforms. The group is also promoting Ansar Ghazwat-ul-Hind (AGuH) after the removal of Zakir Musa and Hamid Lehari by the Indian security forces last year. Illyas Kashmiri was killed in a US drone strike in 2011.
In the last two years, J&K has witnessed an outbreak of new terrorist teams such as “The Resistance Front”, TMI, AGuH and J&K Ghaznavi Force, all created to propagate the Pakistani narrative that terrorism on the territory of the union it is indigenous and local. According to counterterrorism experts in India, these teams have been created from members of LeT, HuM, HuJI who underwent terrorist training in Pakistan but were not active due to being arrested, exposed or released after serving jail terms in India.
To facilitate infiltration and provide secure communications to terrorists, Rawalpindi Headquarters has resorted to lining up mobile communication towers along the Line of Control (LoC) to ensure that the signal spills over into Indian territory. Not only this, the signal strength of two radio base stations in Pandu and Thub in occupied Kashmir has been enhanced to reach audiences from Buglanaar to the north and Samba to the south via the LoC.
Also read: Pakistan Prime Minister’s Advisor Says India Has Sent Message With ‘Wish For Conversation’
The promoters of the Rawalpindi-based Pak terror groups are now exploring new technologies not only to transport weapons, explosives and ammunition via China-made drones from across the LoC, but also the use of explosives-laden drones to carry out attacks against Indian targets. It is for this reason that India recently tested anti-drone technology at the LoC and the international border. The country is also working on an indigenous laser-based anti-drone system.
.
