New Delhi/Nagpur: The NIA today said it has proof against alleged Pakistani terror suspect Bahadur Ali and can show a video of him talking about his training by terror outfit Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) and infiltration into Jammu and Kashmir.
Ali, a resident of Jia Bagga village in Pakistani Punjab, was arrested in Jammu and Kashmir’s on July 25 following an encounter with security forces in Kupwara district.
Four other terrorists were gunned down in the shootout. Counter terror officials said he was captured with weapons, communication equipment and material of Pakistani and international origin.
They said Ali, who was described by the government as a “big terror catch’, had crossed over to India to attack security forces and fuel more unrest in the valley. He was on a fidayeen or suicide mission in Kashmir.
During a press conference on Wednesday, the National Investigation Agency said LeT has instructed its cadre to stay behind Kashmiris during protests in the valley that has witnessed a wave of violence after security forces gunned down Burhan Wani, a poster boy of the militant Hizbul Mujahideen.
“Bahadur Ali lays bare the Lashkar conspiracy to throw grenades amidst protesters in Kashmir,” NIA DG Sharad Kumar told media. Kumar added that Ali tried throwing grenades from behind protesters twice.
According to the agency, Alli is the son of a former police constable in Pakistan’s Punjab province and has six brother and two sisters. They said his family owns 12 canals or over 5,000 square feet of land in Jia Bagga near Lahore.
He dropped out of the government primary school in his village after Class 8 and also attended a local madrassa Jamia Qasmia affiliated to Tablighi Jamaat.
In 2008-09 when Ali was 13 or 14, he met an imam of Ahle-Hadith mosque and his son who motivated him to join the sect. At the same time, he also met Mohammad Yusuf and Hafiz Shehzad, who worked for LeT’s parent outfit Jamaat Ud Dawa.
India on Tuesday called in the Pakistani envoy to lodge a strong protest over Islamabads continuing cross-border terrorism amid a sharp downturn in bilateral ties.
A strong demarche on Pakistans use of terrorism against India and the recent arrest of Ali was handed over to Pakistani high commissioner Abdul Basit by foreign secretary S Jaishankar. The demarche made specific reference to LeT terrorist and (Pakistani) national Bahadur Ali, external affairs ministry spokesperson Vikas Swarup said. Pakistans Foreign Office spokesperson strongly rejected Indian claim of any cross-LOC infiltration.
