As reported by DNA, the latest intelligence reports suggest that Pakistan’s ISI is making all possible provisions to re-establish the not so active terror organization Al-Badr, to carry out attacks in Kashmir.
The Home Ministry reports indicate that an extensive plot, where this terror outfit will execute simultaneous attacks in both India and Afghanistan, might be underway, which will help Pakistan to avert attention.
Pakistan-based Al-Badr terrorist outfit, a designated Foreign Terrorist Organization by the United States, was formed in June 1998 with the professed goal of strengthening the ‘Kashmiri freedom struggle’ and to ‘liberate’ the Indian State of Jammu and Kashmir and merge it with Pakistan.
Al-Badr reportedly traces its origins to 1971 when a group of the same name carried out attacks on Bengalis in what was then known as East Pakistan. The group also operated as part of the Hizb-e-Islami (HIG) of warlord Gulbuddin Hekmatyar in Afghanistan during the 1980s.
The Al-Badr, currently an active terrorist outfit in Jammu and Kashmir, was outlawed by the Government of India on April 1, 2002, under the Prevention of Terrorism Ordinance-2001, which became the Prevention of Terrorism Act on April 28, 2002.
Al-Badr had been rendered defunct after its last surviving terrorist Muzaffar Ahmad Naikoo alias Muz Molvi, a resident of Sopore, was killed by security forces in Machwa area of Central Kashmir’s Budgam district in January 2017. However, Al Badr recently released a 4:24-minute video of heavily armed, masked terrorists announcing their arrival in Jammu and Kashmir.
This terrorist outfit seems to be undergoing a massive revival on the terror map of Jammu and Kashmir. As confirmed by Zee Media’s Manish Shukla, Al-Badr has ‘recruited’ around 15 local men in Kashmir in last three months. The terrorist also claimed that they are aiming to raise their strength from its current 100 working for it with 200 joining them in the coming weeks.
In an attempt to become notorious, Al-Badr’s chief Bakt Zamin, addressing a rally in PoK, said that the group will become the ‘voice of Kashmir.’ Alongside, the group had also released a video warning more attacks. In the video released on 5th June, the self-styled Al-Badr commander was seen apologizing to the local Kashmiris, who were injured in the grenade attack in Pulwama.
As per the intel, other groups such as Lashkar-e-Toiba and Jaish-e-Mohammad are also helping out Al-Badr, the terror group, which was initially active in Afghanistan began its India operations in 1998.
What is alarming is that the new outfits divisional commander, Hamza Burhan, has threatened to target political activists and cops in the valley. “We want to inform people that they should not go near the posse of police, Army, CRPF or pro-India political workers. We will target the security vehicles and cops wherever we find them,” he said while also confirming that the outfit has the strength of 100 ultras and in next few weeks another 200 youth will be joining them.
