Sanjeev Pargal
JAMMU, Sept 15: A Visa Section Officer in Pakistan Embassy at Kathmandu in Nepal had supplied hawala money and explosives to several militants to fan militancy in India even as a team of the National Investigating Agency (NIA) today reached Kishtwar to interrogate Mehraj-ud-Din Wani alias Javed alias Daand, a top militant arrested recently from Batote-Ramban stretch of Jammu-Srinagar National Highway.
Daand is understood to have disclosed during his interrogation by Kishtwar police that Visa Section Officer in Pakistan Embassy at Kathmandu, Arshad Ayub alias Cheema had been supplying hawala money, explosives and other items to the militants in Nepal before launching them into India.
Daand has admitted his close links with Cheema, who had been operating with different names and supplying arms and hawala funds to Kashmiri militants.
Investigations by police have confirmed that Arshad Ayub alias Cheema was later caught red handed in Nepal along with a consignment of RDX. As he enjoyed diplomatic immunity, Nepal had declared him as persona-non-grata and expelled him from the country.
Sources said another militant, Tanveer Ahmad, who had reached Kishtwar from Pakistan via Nepal and surrendered before police, had also confirmed that Pakistan Embassy in Nepal had become a hub of militancy to which he himself was a witness.
Tanveer had visited the Pakistan Embassy in Nepal and made sensational disclosures about presence of the militants there, they added.
Not only the Pakistan Embassy but also the militants have developed hideouts at various places in Kathmandu in Nepal and were using them after flying there from Pakistan. When required, these militants were pushed into India from Nepal-Uttar Pradesh border, sources said.
Daand has so far disclosed four to five hideouts of militants in Nepal. However, sources said, the ISI could disband its hideouts for the militants in Nepal temporarily after the arrest of Daand fearing raids from Nepal police. Teams of NIA and J&K Police could also visit Nepal to quiz Daand’s wife, Sapna and his other contacts.
Pointing out that all passports and visas, used by Daand to travel from Pakistan to Nepal and vice versa were fake, sources said one of the passports seized from his possession was also fake. Daand disclosed that every time on return to Pakistan, the militants had to deposit fake passport in the ISI office and get a new one on another name.
Police said Daand had claimed that he had to convert and name himself as Raju for marrying Nepali girl, Sapna in 1998. Later, he disclosed everything to his wife, who wanted her to snap his connections with militants and lead a normal life. However, Daand said he told his wife that he could be shot dead anytime as the ISI had a vast network in Nepal.
Sources said Daand was running his provisional store at Thamil in Dumbarai City of Kathmandu with the name and style of Raju.
Meanwhile, a team of NIA today reached Kishtwar to join the interrogation of Daand along with Kishtwar police as he was reportedly instrumental in launching a number of militants into India from Pakistan and Nepal. Delhi Police would also be visiting Kishtwar shortly as Daand was involved in 1996 blast at Lajpat Nagar.
Sources said the name of a Pakistani militant Javed Guru had figured in Lajpat Nagar blast at that time but he had remained untraced. Sources now believed that Daand had then operated with the name of Javed Guru. He could be involved in various other subversive activities across the country. He had links in Bangalore, which were being pursued.
Two SIM cards—one of a Nepal telecom company and another Indian were being examined by the experts to extract data from them to get identity of contacts of Daand.
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