LeT chose Bahadur Ali for his Indian origins: NIA

NEW DELHI: Alleged Lashkar-e-Toiba ( LeT) militant Bahadur Ali, aka Shaifullah Mansoor, was selected to carry out attacks due to his Mewat (Haryana) origins, said the National Investigation Agency ( NIA).

Ali, 21, who was captured on July 25 near Kupwara in Jammu and Kashmir, told NIA that his grandfather migrated to Pakistan from Mewat before partition.

Born in 1995, Ali joined Lashkar parent organisation Jamaat-ud-Dawa (JuD) at the age of 13 and was later indoctrinated by Hafiz Saeed’s brother-in-law Abdul Rehman Makki.

Ali was selected because he could easily mix with locals due to his dialect and in case he got caught, Islamabad could easily deny his nationality, the NIA claimed.

According to the investigating agency, Ali entered India through the Line of Control with two other militants on June 12-13 this year.

“Ali has undergone three training modules at Lashkar camps in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir. He was taking directions from a Lashkar control room, codenamed ‘Alpha 3’, operated by one Waleed. The command room is situated in Muzaffarabad in PoK and monitors movement of militants in India,” said NIA IG Sanjeev K Singh.

NIA also blamed LeT for fuelling unrest in Kashmir following killing of HM commander Burhan Wani. Ali told NIA that he was informed by his handlers at ‘Alpha 3’ to mix with locals in Kashmir and throw grenades at the security forces.