NEW DELHI, Nov 24: After Indian counter terror investigators found tale-tale evidences of Pakistan’s involvement in the Nagrota terror attack in which four Jaish-e-Mohammed terrorists were killed in an encounter at Ban toll plaza in Jammu on November 19, the communication devices used by the four has also provided a vital key to establish that Pakistan was also behind a similar infiltration attempt by the same proscribed group on January 31, this year.
On January 31, the Indian security forces had gunned down three Jaish terrorists near the same toll plaza and arrested three over-ground workers after the early morning encounter. Among those arrested was the driver of the truck, Sameer Ahmed Dar.
Dar was the first cousin of Adil Dar, the suicide bomber who rammed his explosive-laden car into a CRPF bus at Pulwama on February 14, 2019, killing 40 CRPF personnel.
The Border Security Force personnel have found a tunnel through which the four killed terrorists were believed to have crossed into India before they were killed in the Nagrota encounter. The tunnel was 200-metre long dug from the Pakistani side.
The engineering detail that went into construction of the tunnel at Pillar 189 was really baffling. The tunnel, obviously constructed with the help of Pakistani Rangers, had enough space for terrorists to walk and cross the border. The tunnel was 40 metres long on the Pakistani side entry point. The four Nagrota terrorists had used to reach the pick-up point at Jatwal, 12 km from the International Border. A BSF official crawled into the tunnel from the Indian side about 150 metres deep inside to look for more clues to establish Pakistan’s involvement in pushing in infiltrators into India to carry out terror activities.
The official sources said investigations into the November 19 Nagrota encounter had revealed similarities in communication devices used by the two groups of Jaish terrorists and firmly establish that the Pakistani deep state uses Jaish to infiltrate into India from terror camps at Shakargarh across the Samba border.
“The Shakargarh Jaish camp is a place where Jaish jihadists trained as far as Peshawar and Bahawalpur assemble to launch into India for terror attacks. The Shakargarh bulge is on the sensitive chicken neck area of India and vital to national security,” the sources said.
Both the terror groups of November 19 and January 31 had used the same Land Mobile Radio (LMR) sets and had consecutive serial numbers. While the serial number of LMR on January 31 was 908331P00059, the number on November 19 was 908331P00058. Both the sets were named as “ Radio Alias: Freedom Fighter.” The call signs used were similar and the frequencies used were also same, the sources said.
The same type of hand-held device was used in both the incidents for earmarking the infiltration route. Investigators have also observed that both the GPS devices were damaged by the terrorists in a similar manner as they had been trained to do by their Pak handlers.
(Manas Dasgupta)