LeT terrorist Bahadur Ali confirms Pakistan's involvement in Kashmir unrest: NIA

Armed with the confessional statement of an alleged Pakistani LeT operative, the National Investigation Agency (NIA), on Wednesday, confirmed that Pakistani national Bahadur Ali who was captured in Jammu and Kashmir last month, is a terrorist with the terror outfit Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT). They said that Ali was trained by the LeT to infiltrate Kashmir and ‘mix with locals and create trouble’. The anti-terror probe agency also said it is gathering further evidence regarding the role of Pakistan- based Lashkar-e-Taiba in the ongoing turbulence in the Valley for the last 33 days. In a confessional video, Bahadur Ali alias ‘Saifullah’ also named various terror groups in Pakistan and confirmed the involvement of Pakistan in the Kashmir unrest following the death of militant Burhan Wani.

Bahadur Ali crossed into Indian side on either 11th or 12th June along with two LeT cadres: NIA pic.twitter.com/zQBmB5ZP4S

— ANI (@ANI) August 10, 2016

Addressing a media conference, IG NIA Sanjeev Singh said, that Bahadur Ali, who was captured in north Kashmir, was guided by the control room of terrorist groups in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir aided by Pakistani forces. He said, “Recovered articles show that terrorist was provided great references in codes. It shows very highly trained people trained him.” He also hinted on the role of Pakistan in the current unrest in Kashmir. “We have collected all kinds of evidences. Bahadur Ali was directed to take advantage of current situation in Kashmir,” said Singh.

Bahadur Ali underwent all three training process organised by LeT: NIA IG Sanjeev Kumar pic.twitter.com/LgzPafi9d1

— ANI (@ANI) August 10, 2016

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NIA stressed on the sophistication of the training received by the LeT terrorists. He said,“They also receive training on how to mingle with the crowds.”

Bahadur Ali, who was arrested by Indian authorities in J&K on July 25 '16, makes his disclosure on camera. pic.twitter.com/OdJbwghjOW

— ANI (@ANI) August 10, 2016

NIA revealed that Bahadur Ali was recruited by Hafiz Saeed’s Jamaat-ud-Dawah and later on was radicalised by LeT. In a confessional video Bahadur Ali gave information on the LeT training camps. He said, “There were 30-50 trainees at training camps of LeT from different parts of the countries including Afghnistan-Pakistan border.” The NIA’s comments came a day after India handed over a “strong demarche” to Pakistan over its continued support to cross-border terrorism in India. Ali outlined his journey from the training camps and into India. He described how he crossed over to India on 11/12 June along-with two other LeT commanders and described how the Pakistani army monitored the process, “There were a few army officers in civilian clothes who checked our preparedness with a check-list.” Ali told his interrogators that he was informed by his handlers from a control room code-named ‘Alpha-3’, believed to located at a high altitude somewhere in PoK, about the unrest in the Valley following the killing of Burhan Wani, a Hizbul Mujahideen militant on 8 July. His handlers from the control room asked him to throw grenades at the security forces and also informed him that other cadres of the terror group had managed to sneak into the Valley, mingled with protesters at other places and were fuelling tension in the Valley. A fourth-class dropout Ali, who hails from Jahama village of Raiwind in Lahore, was arrested from village Yahama in Mawar area of Qalamabad, Handwara, in North Kashmir on 25 July. The Army had recovered three AK-47 rifles, two pistols and Indian Rs 23,000 from his possession. This is for the first time that NIA has shown a video statement of a captured militant. Pakistan had earlier this year shown a video statement of Kulbhushan Yadav, an Indian national arrested in Balochistan in March over charges of spying for the Indian intelligence agency.