Army to start inquiry on terror links
The Indian Army is to institute a court of inquiry to find out how three soldiers of the JAK Light Infantry’s Territorial Army battalion helped the Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) militant outfit, according to army officials.
By TNN |
JAMMU: The Indian Army is to institute a court of inquiry to find out how three soldiers of the JAK Light Infantry’s Territorial Army battalion helped the Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) militant outfit, according to army officials.
The court of inquiry, likely to be instituted in a day or two, will also look into as to how their alleged acts of subversion went unnoticed and whether there was something more than their self-declared element of fear and terrorist reprisal responsible for what they did.
A new fact has come to light that the three soldiers, all of whom belong to the Gursai area of Mendhar in the frontier district of Poonch, have told their interrogators that they had refused to part with their army uniforms, which the militants had asked for.
They had also refused to give their ‘pithoo’ bags. According to army sources, who spoke only on condition of anonymity, what they did was purely in the nature of logistical support and nothing else. The soldiers have said they were forced to help the militants, providing them mobile phone cards and sheltering them in their homes, after their (soldiers’) families were threatened, according to the sources.
It is being presumed that the army uniforms, the sale of which is banned in Jammu and Kashmir, might have been sought by the militants to mount a fidayeen attack. The three — identified as sepoys Asbdul Haq, Mohammad Sharief and Mohammad Shakeel of the Jammu and Kashmir Light Infantry — were picked up for questioning six days ago.
They were on leave when sleuths of the police, army and intelligence agencies picked them up for interrogation. These soldiers had come under the scanner on the basis of the information put together by investigating agencies following the interrogation of one Tipu, an LeT operator.
Tipu was arrested immediately after the June 12 grenade explosions at the Jammu bus stand in which one civilian was killed and 30 were injured.
The LeT operator had revealed the names of two policemen, constable Sikander and Kabir, who had assisted him in the grenade explosions as also in formulating future plans that included assassinating former chief minister Farooq Abdullah at his Bhatindi residence.
The sustained interrogation of the three led to the soldiers who were being questioned. While Sikandar was found to be deeply involved with the terrorists, Kabir was let off. Kabir’s involvement was reported to be marginal.
The court of inquiry, likely to be instituted in a day or two, will also look into as to how their alleged acts of subversion went unnoticed and whether there was something more than their self-declared element of fear and terrorist reprisal responsible for what they did.
A new fact has come to light that the three soldiers, all of whom belong to the Gursai area of Mendhar in the frontier district of Poonch, have told their interrogators that they had refused to part with their army uniforms, which the militants had asked for.
They had also refused to give their ‘pithoo’ bags. According to army sources, who spoke only on condition of anonymity, what they did was purely in the nature of logistical support and nothing else. The soldiers have said they were forced to help the militants, providing them mobile phone cards and sheltering them in their homes, after their (soldiers’) families were threatened, according to the sources.
It is being presumed that the army uniforms, the sale of which is banned in Jammu and Kashmir, might have been sought by the militants to mount a fidayeen attack. The three — identified as sepoys Asbdul Haq, Mohammad Sharief and Mohammad Shakeel of the Jammu and Kashmir Light Infantry — were picked up for questioning six days ago.
They were on leave when sleuths of the police, army and intelligence agencies picked them up for interrogation. These soldiers had come under the scanner on the basis of the information put together by investigating agencies following the interrogation of one Tipu, an LeT operator.
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Tipu was arrested immediately after the June 12 grenade explosions at the Jammu bus stand in which one civilian was killed and 30 were injured.
The LeT operator had revealed the names of two policemen, constable Sikander and Kabir, who had assisted him in the grenade explosions as also in formulating future plans that included assassinating former chief minister Farooq Abdullah at his Bhatindi residence.
The sustained interrogation of the three led to the soldiers who were being questioned. While Sikandar was found to be deeply involved with the terrorists, Kabir was let off. Kabir’s involvement was reported to be marginal.
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