In a major operation, the Counter Intelligence Kashmir wing of the Jammu and Kashmir police has dismantled a newly formed terror group called the Tehreek Labaik Ya Muslim (TLM).
The TLM is an offshoot of the Lashkar-e-Tayiba and formed after another of its proxies The Resistance Front has been largely dismantled in the Valley. The formation of the TLM was being watched closely by the security agencies and it was broken down just in the nick of time.
The outfit was being handled by the Pakistan-based Baba Hamas. The development comes in the wake of the Intelligence Bureau submitting a report to the Home Ministry about the efforts that Pakistan has been making to enhance the recruitment of terrorists through digital platforms. Pakistan feels that now that the Central rule has come to an end in J&K following the elections, it can now get back to recruitment and terror attacks which was the case before the abrogation of Article 370 by the Narendra Modi government.
The J&K has been tasked with eradicating the local terrorists, while the Indian Army would focus heavily on the borders to ensure that fresh infiltrations do not take place.
This development comes a day after terrorists opened fire at a camp which was housing workers of an infrastructure company at Sonamarg on the Srinagar-Leh highway. The attack was aimed at inflicting massive casualties, according to sources in the J&K police. In the attack seven employees of the company were killed after two terrorists opened indiscriminate fire.
Terror group dismantled
Acting on specific inputs the J&K police conducted raids at Srinagar, Ganderbal, Kulgam, Bandipora, Budgam, Pulwama and Anantnag. It was found that this terror group, the TLM was running a major recruitment drive. The TLM was behind the surge in the number of terrorists being recruited in J&K in the last couple of months.
While it operated under the name of the TLM, the police have learnt that it is an offshoot of the Lashkar-e-Tayiba.
Pakistan is intentionally keeping the mainstream Lashkar-e-Tayiba operatives away from J&K. They want locals to be recruited and groups operating locally to undertake attacks. This is being done so that Pakistan could have the deniability factor in the event of an attack. Furthermore, Pakistan is under immense pressure from the international community and had until recently been placed under the Grey List of the Financial Action Task Force.
In a bid to set up the TLM, the ISI had tasked Baba Hamas to oversee the operations. Hamas is an expert in the business and has links with transnational terror groups, according to a dossier on him. In the case of J&K, he was handpicked by the ISI and was given charge of managing cross border infiltration, fund raising and recruitment strategies.
New recruitment strategy
An Intelligence Bureau report speaks about the new strategies that were being used to recruit terrorists locally. In the last couple of months, the Intelligence has seen a rise in the number of digital activity. A close look at such activity revealed that a major recruitment drive was going on in J&K.
It was found that these terror groups were using the social media, WhatsApp and Telegram to reach out to people. Once the bait was laid, the youth would be brainwashed and then roped into the terror outfit.
It was also found that these terror outfits and their handlers were using the literature by Sayyid Qutub, an extremist from Egypt to lure the youth. Qutub’s literature is largely relied upon by the Al-Qaeda during recruitment drives and brainwashing programmes.
Further the investigations also found that these groups not just recruited youth through the digital platforms, but also trained them online. The new strategy is being used extensively since Pakistan does not want to leave any foot-print in the Valley.
Security agencies up their game
With Pakistan making all possible efforts to ramp up recruitments and terror activities in the Valley, the security agencies too have upped their game. Measures are being taken to tackle the problem both online as well as on the ground.
To counter the online strategy, social media monitoring units have been set up, which are involved in tracking recruits and their handlers. The intention is to neutralise the recruitment process in real time. During one such drive, it was found that there were several persons part of the Jamaat-e-Islami who were taking part in the recruitment drive.
On the ground too there are extensive operations that are being carried out by the security forces. To dismantle the TLM, the police relied heavily on Intelligence which was A Grade and actionable in nature. Given the nature of the Intelligence, the police were able to undertake a precision operation as a result of which the widespread network of the TLM was dismantled.
Following the Ganderbal attack, security has been increased across J&K. There are fresh Intelligence reports that suggest that the border areas and urban centres of J&K could be targeted. The paramilitary forces are in full force to ensure that security is not compromised.
In addition to this several officials of the National Investigation Agency are in J&K to investigate the recent incidents of terror and also assist the security forces with information.
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