The desperate Pakistani sponsored Islamic terror groups Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) and Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) are preparing to launch large-scale terror strikes against India in the coming winter, according to the latest intelligence reports.
Reportedly, the terror attacks are aimed at preventing the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir’s return to normalcy and also to test the strength of the Narendra Modi government.
The Hindustan Times reported that the inputs conveyed to the government by intelligence agencies suggest that the Jaish leadership has asked its trained and indoctrinated terrorists to report at its Markaz Usman-o-Ali headquarters at Bahawalpur this week as a precursor to possible Fidayeen attacks in India.
JeM chief Masood Azhar, who is bed-ridden and his younger brother or de facto chief Mufti Abdul Rauf Asghar are presently at Bahawalpur. The inputs indicate that LeT’s commander Abu Uzail has claimed that India would soon face a deadly suicide attack.
Further, the inputs also say that Pakistan-sponsored terror groups will attempt to send their cadres across the Line of Control (LoC) after October 26 – the day that Jammu and Kashmir’s erstwhile ruler signed the instrument of accession that made the former princely state a part of India.
Read: New map demarcating Union Territories Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh released by the Centre
As far as now, the Union government and security agencies have managed to keep the region out of any attacks, but national security planners believe that the Pakistan-based groups will attempt a strike this winter to prove their relevance and dominance.
On August 5, in a historic act, the Indian parliament had passed laws and resolutions to split the region of Jammu and Kashmir into two Union territories — Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh and abrogated Article 370.
Reportedly, the Pakistani General Headquarters (GHQ) at Rawalpindi, the nerve Centre of the Pakistani armed forces and terror apparatus emanating from the country, has apparently given the green signal to infiltration of Jaish-e-Mohammad terrorists into India.
According to the Indian security agencies, due to the counter-insurgency grid that is currently placed in the region since August 5 and the risk of interception of its cadre by Indian security forces at the border, there has been little or no Jaish infiltration in the Sialkot sector over the past three months.
The intelligence reports have specifically highlighted the movement of 20 Jaish cadres, led by seven Afghan commanders, towards the forward launching pads across the LoC in Pakistan for possible infiltration into the Valley. Incidentally, the same cadres were detained by the Pakistan army in the second week of October and sent back to their camp at Balakot, Manshera, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
Currently, the Islamic terrorists that are active in the Valley including mixed cadres led by the Jaish are trying to create terror by selectively targeting outsiders. Meanwhile, the LeT leadership has again become active with Hafiz Saeed’s number two Abdul Rehman Makki delivering the Friday sermon from Jamaat-ud-Dawa Markaz Al Qadsia, Lahore on October 18. Makki, who carries a bounty of $2 million on his head, made his first public appearance to deliver the sermon after his arrest on May 15, 2019.
The arrest and detention of LeT leaders is a bit of an eyewash with LeT chief Hafiz Saeed, Makki, Zafar Iqbal – the head of education wing, Yahya Aziz – spokesperson, finance heads Haji Ashraf and Mohammed Bhutvi all under house arrest or detention at the Qadsia mosque at Chowburji in Lahore rather than any Pakistani prison.