Author: M Saleem Pandit
Publication: The Times of India
Date: July 26, 2006
URL: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/1808854.cms
Within days of an ominous warning by the country's
top security adviser about terrorists infiltrating the armed forces, two soldiers
have been picked up in Kashmir for possible links with the Lashkar-e-Taiba
(LeT).
In the first such case in 17 years of terrorism
in the Kashmir Valley, two policemen were also taken in by intelligence officials,
besides the two J&K Light Infantry men. Last week, TOI made public a letter
by national security adviser M K Narayanan warning the states that terrorists
could have found a way into the Air Force.
Military Intelligence officers picked up the
soldiers - identified as Lance Naik Mohammad Shakeel and Sepoy Abdul Haq -
to interrogate them about alleged links with a LeT field commander responsible
for organising attacks in the border districts of Poonch and Rajouri.
The arrested policemen - Sikander and Kabir
- were picked up after a LeT module was busted at Mendhar in Poonch district.
Police sources said they had been working for LeT for the past three years.
The depth of their involvement is being probed.
Military sources said jawans Shakeel and Haq, who are from Gursai village
in Mendhar tehsil in Poonch district, were taken into custody on Saturday
following a tip-off that they had been contacted by Pakistani national Abu
Osama, who is LeT's divisional commander for the Jammu region.
"Military Intelligence has picked up
the two, but facts will come out only after the agency discloses what the
erring soldiers said," Army spokesman Lt-Col R K Chibbar told TOI.
The preliminary interrogation report, sources
said, reveals the two were contacted by Abu Osama to deliver money to LeT
men.
The soldiers were allegedly asked to arrange
for SIM cards, batteries and pencil cells, and to deliver letters to other
LeT field commanders and operatives.
Shakeel and Haq told interrogators they were
forced to help LeT after terrorists threatened to eliminate their families
if they refused to carry out instructions, intelligence sources said.
The Army Headquarters in New Delhi, however,
downplayed the incident, saying that it was not a case of terrorists infiltrating
its ranks.
"In an operation on June 15, two over
ground workers of a terrorist group were picked up in the Rajouri-Mendhar
area. On interrogation, they named two soldiers for providing them administrative
support. When the soldiers were questioned, they said their families in the
Mendhar area had provided terrorists food and shelter on being threatened
by them," said a senior officer.
Given the likelihood of terrorist infiltration
in the Army, a central intelligence agency has suggested that the defence
ministry and Union home ministry order a thorough screening of the forces.
Sleuths say terrorists may have also infiltrated
the police and paramilitary forces. Also on Tuesday, J&K IG S P Vaid said
the two policemen were also being investigated for alleged terrorist links.
"The busting of a LeT module in Mendhar
in Poonch has exposed the involvement of two policemen as over ground LeT
workers. We have arrested the men, who were posted at Kathua and Surankot
in Poonch district respectively. Both had been working for LeT for the past
three years, and they had been in the police for just five years.'
