Close on the heels of a fidayeen attack (suicide attack) on CRPF personnel in Srinagar the intelligence agencies have now warned the Union home ministry of an “unprecedented level of violence” in the Kashmir Valley during summer, particularly the tourists season.
Highly-placed home ministry sources confirmed that the fresh alert is based on specific intercepts and detailed interrogation of Zubair alias Abu Tallah alias Riaz, the Pakistan militant arrested by the special operations group of the J&K police. Abu Tallah, sources added, who has been subjected to thorough questioning by a joint team of the state police and central intelligence agencies has made some starling revelations. The Pakistani militant has revealed that terror outfit Lashkar-e-Tayyaba was preparing a special unit to carryout fidayeen attacks in the Valley during summer. He revealed that the entire operation was being supervised by two top Lashkar commanders, Hanzullah and Furqaan.
“Tallah has claimed that there was a growing feeling within the Lashkar top brass that violence levels in the Valley had gone down considerably giving an upper hand to security forces and a strong message needs to be sent out in wake of Afzal Guru’s hanging,” a senior intelligence official revealed.
Acting swiftly on the latest intelligence inputs the home ministry has directed security forces like the CRPF and BSF to re-work its deployment pattern in the Valley and prepare a detailed blueprint for security arrangements to be put in place during the summer season.
“In wake of the recent attack on CRPF jawans we need to re-visit our security arrangements in the Valley. So we have asked the security forces to prepare a detailed blueprint well in advance to deal with such eventualities,” a top ministry official remarked.
Ministry sources said once the BSF and CRPF formalise their security deployment for the summer season the issue will also be discussed with the Army which plays a vital role in counter insurgency operations in the Valley. Tallah has also claimed that more such Lashkar fidayeens have undergone training at camps in PoK and were looking for an opportunity to sneak into India.