Were in direct touch with infiltrators, Pak based ultras
Nearly 20 under radar, arrests may go up to 12
Sanjeev Pargal
JAMMU, Nov 8: In a major crackdown on the network of militants engaged in facilitating movement of Pakistani terrorists in Surankote, Thannamandi and Mendhar in twin border districts of Poonch and Rajouri, police today arrested five more terror operatives of Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT) outfit.
“Arrested terror operatives were directly in touch with the militants who are being hunted by security forces in the forests of Bhatta Durrian in Mendhar for 29th day today, which is one of the longest search operations against the terrorists, and Panghai and Khablan in Thannamandi area of Rajouri district,” police officials told the Excelsior.
Five arrests which have been made under the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA) among other charges have taken total number of arrests in facilitating movement of militants in Pir Panjal mountains to seven.
Two terror operatives, who were arrested in Thannamandi today, have been identified as Mohammad Rahoof son of Mohammad Farooq and Wazir Hussain son of Ali Mohammad, both residents of Ward No. 1 in Khablan area.
Two terror operatives who were arrested in Gursai and Mendhar include Mohammad Khursheed son of Ghulam Qadar and Mohammad Latief, both residents of Bhatta Durrian.
Identity of fifth terror operative couldn’t be ascertained but he was stated to be a local resident of Mendhar.
“Crackdown on terror operatives was based on specific inputs developed by police that more than a dozen persons had facilitated movement of the militants in Mendhar, Thannamandi and Surankote forests where the search operations had started on October 11 and are still continuing without any success against the terrorists, who had reportedly infiltrated from Pakistan occupied Jammu Kashmir (PoJK) breaching the Line of Control (LoC),” the officials said.
The militant operatives in Thannamandi have been booked under First Information Report No. 223/2021 and Sections 307, 120B, 121, 122, 212 and 216 IPC, 7/27 Arms Act and 13 Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA) while the operatives in Mendhar have been charged in FIR No. 107/2021 and Sections 302, 307, 120-B, 212 and 216 IPC, 7/25 and 26/27 Indian Arms Act at Gursai Police Station.
With five arrests, a total of seven terror operatives have so far been arrested in Mendhar and Thannamandi and the numbers are expected to touch a dozen shortly as others are being searched, the officials said.
They disclosed that some of the terror operatives were also in touch with Lashkar-e-Toiba terrorists based in Pakistan and PoJK to facilitate smooth movement of the militants after their infiltration from the LoC to South Kashmir via Pir Panjal mountains.
“One of them had also received a call from Pakistan,” they said.
Asserting that not one but two to three groups of militants were initially active in the forests, sources said, since there has been no direct contact of security force with them for past few days, the possibility that they might have managed to escape from the jungles is also not ruled out.
However, the security forces continued to maintain cordon for them in the forests.
Number of the arrests is expected to cross a dozen, the officials said, adding that a number of terror operatives are under radar as they were said to have directly facilitated smooth movement of the infiltrators and also provided them logistics which helped them to sustain a long in the jungles.
Security forces have already detected a number of naturally made hideouts of the militants deep inside Bhatta Durrian forests of Mendhar. it is being anticipated that the militants might have earlier also stayed in these hideouts after infiltration from the LoC and heading towards South Kashmir.
“Most of the militants who infiltrated from the LoC were headed towards South Kashmir through Pir Panjal mountains,” the officials pointed out.
It may be mentioned here that nine Army personnel, two of them Junior Commissioned Officers (JCOs), have been martyred during search operations for the militants.
Five Army soldiers had lost their lives in Chamrer forests of Surankote on October 11 while four more sacrificed their lives in second contact with the militants on October 14 at Bhatta Durrian forests in Mendhar tehsil of Poonch district.
Nine militants were killed prior to the latest searches in Poonch and Rajouri districts this year.
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