Pakistan-based terror outfits Lashkar-e-Taiba and Jaish-e-Mohammed are planning to attack Ram Mandir in Ayodhya, a report published in CNN News18 said.
Chiefly aimed at drawing optics, the terror outfits plan to bring in ammunition and infiltrate suicide bombers while India’s porous borders with Nepal, the report quoted sources as saying.
The Ram Temple, ahead of its due completion date, is a major target. The report further said that terrorists seek to foment Hindu-Muslim divide with their attack on the Ram Mandir.
The report cites consistent failures of Pakistan’s Intelligence Agency ISI, especially in the wake of the abrogation of Article 370, as a trigger for giving its approval for a targeted attack against Ram Mandir in Ayodhya.
The Pakistani army and security establishment are reportedly frustrated with the Indian Armed Forces’ continuing vigilance along the border and their successful handling of the infiltration bids by the Pak-sponsored terrorists. The infiltration tunnels have been identified and closed, and the narcotics smuggling has also been clamped down, said sources.
With the conflict shifting from Pakistan’s eastern border to the western front, as clashes between the Pakistani army and Taliban erupt, the ISI is losing its relevance and stronghold in the country’s security apparatus, which it seeks to restore by planning a terror attack in India.
According to the sources, as Ram Temple is an important issue for both Hindus and the Bharatiya Janata Party-led government at the Centre, the ISI believes any big or small attack on the revered place might make them relevant again, the CNN report said, citing sources.
The threat comes in the wake of earlier reports that suggested that Pakistan has prepared a new blueprint to spread terror in India. The ISI has elaborate plans to boost terror funding by the way of smuggling narcotics and embarking upon an ambitious disinformation campaign to target the Modi government. The intelligence agencies have said that narcotics is one of the biggest routes through which ISI wants to once again develop its stranglehold in Kashmir and inflame separatist sentiments in the Valley against the Indian government and the Indian Armed Forces.
