Arranged shelter, food for ultras
Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, Nov 2: A LeT operative was arrested from Mendhar for his links with militants in J&K and across the border in Pakistan today. He was among a dozen people detained for questioning in connection with the ongoing search operation in a forest belt in Poonch district.
The accused Yasir Arafat son of Mohammad Khursheed, a resident of Bhatta Durrian in Mendhar tehsil of Poonch district, was among three suspects detained by the police for questioning from Nepal while they were trying to flee to Saudi Arabia from Kathmandu on October 25.
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SSP Poonch Dr Vinod Kumar told the Excelsior that Yasir Arafat was in touch with the group of militants hiding in Bhatta Durrian forests and had provided them food and shelter.
Besides, 18 people, including two women, were earlier detained for questioning during the operation in Bhatta Durrian forest.
The officials said the operation to track down a group of militants in Bhatta Durrian forest in Mendhar along with Surankote forest in Poonch and nearby Thannamandi in Rajouri district entered the 23rd day today.
Yasir Arafat was working in Saudi Arabia and had returned to Mendhar in March-April this year. He was in close touch with militants from Saudi Arabia and after returning to Mendhar maintained his links especially with the cadre of Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT) outfit.
He had provided food and shelter to the militants in his house who had struck at Chamrer forests in Surankote on October 11 and Bhatta Durrian in Mendhar on October 14 in which a total of nine Army personnel, two of them Junior Commissioned Officers (JCOs), were martyred.
Yasir Arafat was formally arrested after his links with the militants were established. Sources said two militants used to come to his house for food and shelter while rest stayed in the forests. There were at least five to seven militants in the jungles.
Pakistani militant Zia Mustafa, who was shifted from Kot Bhalwal Central Jail Jammu to Mendhar on police remand for questioning in connection with the operation, was killed when the security forces accompanying him to identify a hideout came under fire from hiding ultras on October 24.
The questioning of Arafat revealed his links with Mustafa, who was the alleged mastermind in the March 2003 Nadimarg massacre of 24 Kashmiri Pandits, and his handlers across the border, the officials said, without giving further details.
Arafat was detained by a police party from Kathmandu in Nepal along with Mohammad Noor of Gulhutta-Mendhar and Mohammad Rashid of Bhatta Durrian while they were on their way to Saudi Arabia.
The trio were detained for questioning after information was received that they were in touch with militants hiding in Bhatta Durrian and were planning to escape outside the country, the officials said.
They said a few more detained persons are likely to be arrested for providing support to the militants voluntarily, while those found innocent have been released.
The officials said the search operation deep inside the forest area was continuing but there was no breakthrough against the holed-up militants who are avoiding direct contact with the search parties and are on the run taking advantage of the thick foliage, natural caves and difficult terrain.
The contact with the hiding militants was only established twice on October 11 at Surankote and Thannamandi and again at Bhatta Durrian on October 14, the officials said, adding after the fresh firing on October 24 in Bhatta Durrian which left the Pakistani militant dead, there was no contact with the militants.
A militant hideout was busted on October 26 during the operation, leading to the recovery of an AK assault rifle with a magazine, 29 rounds, two grenades and two detonators besides some blankets, tiffins, two pairs of shoes, two syringes and four biscuit packets.
Rajouri and Poonch in Jammu region have witnessed a rise in infiltration attempts since June this year, resulting in the killing of nine militants in separate encounters.
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