Over 200 Jammu and Kashmir youths who have been given Pakistani visas by the Pakistan High Commission are found to be missing from the valley, which has put the Intelligence agencies on high alert. The authorities fear that these youths have been picked up by Pakistan, which is training them to create unrest in Jammu and Kashmir.
Intelligence sources said: “Pakistan has been targeting the youth from J&K by training, equipping and arming them to carry out terrorist attacks in J&K on the lines of February 2019 Pulwama attack.”
According to reports, since 2017 the Pakistan High Commission has issued Pakistani visas to 399 youth from jammu and Kashmir, out of which whereabouts of 218 are not known.
Pakistan High Commission in New Delhi not only runs espionage networks for its military spy agency but also recruits terrorists
Sustained efforts by Pakistan high commission officials in New Delhi to allegedly recruit young men from Jammu and Kashmir for terrorist activities was one of the factors behind India’s decision to reduce its staff presence by half, people familiar with the development said on Thursday.
A source in New Delhi confirmed that the probe by the intelligence agencies indicated that Pakistan was using its High Commission in Delhi not only to run espionage networks for its military spy agency but also recruits terrorists.
India for these reasons and also due to the mistreatment meted out to the Indian diplomats in Pakistan, who were abducted by Pakistani security agencies, asked Pakistan High Commission in Delhi on June 23 to reduce its staff presence by half within 7 days. India would also reduce its own staff in Pakistan by the same proportion.
The Ministry of External Affairs had summoned Pakistan’s Charge d’ Affaires Syed Haider Shah and informed him about India’s concerns regarding the activities of officials of his mission, who have been involved in espionage and associated with terror outfits.
Pak High Commission and its link to terror attacks and terror funding
In the past, India has thwarted many attacks on the Indian soil by terrorists who infiltrated India after receiving their training in Pakistan on the visa issued by the Pakistan High Commission in Delhi.
NIA which is probing the case of suspended J&K DSP Davinder Singh, who was arrested along with two Hizb-ul-Mujahideen terrorists Naveed Babu and Asif Rather on the 11th of January when they were travelling together in a car, recently revealed that one assistant at Pakistan high commission named Shafaqat was in touch with Singh.
In the month of May, two officials of Pakistan High Commission in New Delhi were caught spying by Delhi Police on May 31. They are accused of roaming around in various places using fake identities.
The two officers, Abid Hussain and Tahir Hussain, reportedly worked in the visa section of the Pakistan High Commission in New Delhi. The Delhi Police Special Cell nabbed the duo red-handed after they were found engaged in espionage activities using fake identities.
Although they are officially employed in the high commission, they were actually ISI spies sent to India. Both the officers had been declared as persona non grata by the Indian government
On April 5, three amongst five terrorists who were neutralised by the Indian Army were from Jammu and Kashmir. It was reported that Adil Hussain Mir, Umar Nazir Khan and Sajjad Ahmed Hurrah, the three terrorits who were killed, had travelled to Pakistan in April 2018 on the visa issued by the Pakistan High Commission in New Delhi.
The NIA while investigating the Jammu and Kashmir terror funding case named the First Secretary Press at the Pakistani mission Mudassar Iqbal Cheema. Cheema was at the mission from September 2015 to November 2016. He had given Zahoor Ahmad Shah Watali, the main accused in the case, Rs seventy lacs in two instalments. Watali was the main conduit to send money to Hurriyat leaders from the Pakistani high commission.