Srinagar: The National Investigation Agency (NIA) on Friday filed a charge sheet against twenty-five accused persons in the Special NIA Court in New Delhi. The case pertains to the hatching of conspiracy, both physical as well as cyberspace, for undertaking violent terrorist acts in J&K and other parts of the country. The case also alleges the involvement of the said people with cadres of proscribed terrorist organizations like Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT), Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM), Hizb-ul-Mujahideen (HM), Al-Badr and their affiliates such as the Resistance Front (TRF), People Anti-Fascist Forces (PAFF), etc.
The preliminary investigation has unearthed a deep-rooted conspiracy of Pakistan-based proscribed terrorist organizations joining hands in form of a united group and shifting their modus operandi by floating pseudo offshoot outfits portrayed as indigenous resistance groups. Under these groups, the terrorist acts are allegedly being committed with an intention to claim deniability at the international level, claimed the investigating officials.
They further highlighted that after the abrogation of article 370, this shift was discernible in claims of terrorist acts done in J&K. Many affiliate/offshoots outfits such as The Resistance Front (TRF), People Against Fascist Forces (PAFF), United Liberation Front J&K ULF J&K, Muslim Janbaaz Force (MJF), Kashmir Janbaaz Force (KJF), Kashmir Tigers, Kashmir Fight, Mujahideen Gazwat-ul-Hind, Kashmir Gaznavi Force, etc. had suddenly mushroomed, laying claims to various terrorist acts.
The investigation further established that all these pseudo-outfits are in fact the rechristened versions of proscribed terrorist organizations based in Pakistan and have been floated under a deep-rooted conspiracy to portray terrorism in J&K as a home-grown insurgency. A piece of well-organized propaganda machinery operating on cyberspace through various websites, blogs, social media handles, closed channels on encrypted communication platforms, etc. wherein concocted and skewed narrative is presented to impressionable and Pak-based nodes have been used to radicalize youth, the investigation outputs concluded.
The Investigation has revealed that all this media propaganda of different terrorist outfits was epicentral around common nodes operating from Pakistan. Moreover, a key element of the aforementioned conspiracy was inducting new cadres in form of ‘Hybrid terrorists’ who could use their cover to remain rooted in the society and simultaneously carry out instructions of their terrorist handlers. While acting as an OGW, they were also found indulging in terrorist actions such as grenade lobbing, undertaking lone attacks on vulnerable targets, arson, etc. The investigation has also revealed a clear shift in the strategy of the terrorist organizations toward targeted killings of minorities, civilians, migrants, government officials, and unguarded security personnel.
With these inputs and related arrests, the officials confirmed that further investigation into the case and the related matters will remain under process.
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