Kashmiri youths arrested in Gujarat linked to Aijaz Ahangar’s ISPK! all residents of Soura Srinagar
Kashmiri youths arrested in Gujarat linked to Aijaz Ahangar’s ISPK?
Srinagar: Ubaid Naseer Mir (21) son of Mohammad Naseer Mir, Hanan Hayat Shawl (20) son of Abdul Qayoom Shawl and Mohammad Hazim Shah (21) son of Abdul Rashid Shah, all residents of Soura Srinagar, have been arrested by the Anti-terrorist Squad (ATS) of the Gujarat Police in the coastal town of Porbandar on Friday.
Director General of the Gujarat Police, Vikas Sahay, however disclosed their arrest to mediapersons on Saturday, following their sustained interrogation for about 24 hours. He said that the three Kashmiri youths, ostensibly working as labourers, had been indoctrinated and radicalised by their handler Abu Hamza. Sumaira Bano Malik of Surat in coordination with one Zuber Ahmad Munshi, had planned their travel to Iran by sea. They would have acted as captains and GPS operators on board a ship.
From Iran, the three Kashmiri boys were supposed to enter Afghanistan and join as regular cadres of the terror group Islamic State for Khorasan Province (ISKP). The ISKP appears to be an affiliate of ISIS or Al-Qaeda. But counterinsurgency experts insist that ISPK and Islamic State of Jammu and Kashmir (ISJK) are fully controlled by Pakistan’s premier intelligence agency ISI. They claim that the real Al-Qaeda and ISIS are operating independently with no control of ISI over them.
Highly placed official sources in Srinagar told India Narrative that the Gujarat Police, in coordination with the J&K Police, were looking into the background of the three detainees. “As of now, nothing adverse has been detected against them. The Gujarat Police have received some electronic evidence of their involvement with a terror network. Some video clips show them taking oath of allegiance to ISPK. Some of their electronic devices including a tablet have been seized. However the real task of delving deep into their background is still underway”, said an officer.
According to the police, some jihadist literature was recovered from the three Kashmiri youths during the raid. The ATS also recovered some banner flags of ISKP, videos and audio clips of Kashmiri youth giving speeches to ‘Ameer ul Momineen’ (Commander of the Faithful and Leader) from their mobile phones and taking the oath of allegiance to the Amir and his organisation.
While Sumaira Bano Malik has also been arrested, a manhunt has been launched in coordination with the Jammu and Kashmir Police, to arrest Munshi. One Abu Hamza of the extremist terror organisation is said to have indoctrinated the Kashmiri youths.
A top official said that the trio was believed to have been in touch online with the dismembered network of the ISKP commander Aijaz Ahmad Ahangar, son-in-law of the Tehreekul Mujahideen founder-commander Abdul Gani Dar a.k.a Ghazali. After joining militancy in early 1990s, Aijaz Ahangar of Nawakadal Srinagar married Ghazali’s elder daughter Sabira. Ahangar subsequently migrated to Pakistan along with his family. He served with some jihadist groups. Finally he floated his own ISJK, an affiliate of the ISI-controlled ISKP in Afghanistan. For over 25 years, he operated in Pakistan and Afghanistan.
Years after his arrest and release, Ghazali (80) of Russu, Budgam, was killed by unidentified persons inside the Jamiat-e-Ahle-Hadith mosque at Maisuma in Srinagar on 13 February, 2020. According to the Police, a rival faction of Ahli Hadith believed Ghazali to be the key planner of the assassination of another Ahle-Hadith cleric, Maulana Showkat Shah. On 8 April, 2011, Shah was killed in a blast of the IED that had been tied to a bicycle outside the same Ahle-Hadith mosque. He got fatally hit when he was entering the mosque premises to perform his afternoon prayers.
Ahangar is believed to have died in an American drone attack along with some of his associates. Some reports insist that Ahangar’s 15-year-old son Abdullah Bin Aijaz aka Abu Umar, who too had joined ISJK, was also killed in the drone attack in July 2017. However, there has been no substantial confirmation to these reports, pouring out through very well-placed and usually reliable sources in Afghanistan.
According to these reports, Ahangar’s associates in ISJK/ISKP are still active in parts of Afghanistan, Pakistan and India and trying to spread their network with indoctrination and recruitment of cadres through the internet.TNN
JKNN
