Jaish-e-Mohammad Chief Masood Azhar’s nephew Mohammad Umar Farooq, who executed the February 14, 2019 Pulwama attack, wanted to target a team of journalists working for BBC who had gone to the residence of suicide bomber Adil Ahmad Dar to interview his father Ghulam Hassan Dar, according to the chargesheet filed by National Investigation Agency (NIA) on Tuesday.
The federal investigation agency has referred to a February 21, 2019 conversation between Umar Farooq and his Pakistan based uncle Ammar Alvi, in which he sought permission to target the BBC journalists who were in the valley. He believed that the attack would give JeM more international exposure.
To be sure, the NIA has gone by the conversation of the terrorists. It is unclear whether foreign journalists were present at the valley at that time.
Alvi, however, denied the permission to attack the journalists asking Farooq to “cherish the success of Pulwama attack for now”, according to charge sheet, which has been reviewed by HT.
The charge sheet doesn’t mention the names of the BBC journalists.
Alvi (46) has been named as a key handler of the Pulwama attack in the charge sheet, along with Farooq, Azhar, Abdul Rouf Asghar, and 15 others. NIA has found pictures of Alvi dating back to 2016 , where he is seen with Farooq at a training camp in Sangin, Helmand province of Afghanistan.
The charge sheet adds that Umar Farooq, who was still holed up in Kashmir after the Pulwama attack, was “worried” when Azhar, and Abdul Rouf Asghar, were among 44 terror suspects taken into custody by Pakistan under international pressure soon after the suicide bombing.
“A handler at one of the launch pads of JeM, with whom Farooq was in regular touch with, informed him that ISI (Pakistan’s spy agency Inter Services Intelligence) told them that the arrest was just an eyewash and their leaders would be released soon”, said an officer investigating the case quoting details of the charge sheet. The NIA has attached a transcript of this conversation in the chargesheet.
In another conversation with the Pakistan based JeM leadership, Farooq (killed in encounter with security forces on March 29, 2019) praises the role played by Shakir Bashir Magray, a Kashmiri collaborator. Farooq, according to details accessed by HT, informed the JeM leadership that Magray did what Afzal Guru did for the group in the Parliament attack in 2001.
Magray (24), a resident of Kakapora in the valley, was the first person to be arrested by NIA in the case on February 28 this year. The 200 kg IED used in the Pulwama attack was assembled in his house and he also conducted reconnaissance of CRPF convoys, arranged explosives, helped fit the bomb in the car and drove the suicide bomber to the attack site.
The agency has found hundreds of video clips, voice notes and WhatsApp messages from Farooq’s phone in which JeM terrorists are seen celebrating, training and practising before they are sent into India. Some videos also show them discussing plans, and transfer of funds.
According to the NIA chargesheet, Farooq spent a total of Rs 5.7 lakh Pakistani rupees (roughly Rs 2.51 lakh at today’s exchange rate) in arranging explosives and other items for the Pulwama attack out of a total of 10 lakh Pakistani rupee transferred into his two bank accountsin Pakistan’s Allied Bank Ltd and Meezan Bank, located across the border. It is not clear how he withdrew the money.
The central agency, referring to a United Nations’ report dated May 2020, said that JeM has close ties with Taliban and Al-Qaeda. It adds that JeM and Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) facilitate the trafficking of terrorist fighters into Afghanistan, who act as advisers, trainers and specialists in improvised explosive devices (IEDs). Farooq was also trained in Afghanistan in 2016-17.
It added that LeT and JeM were stated to have approximately 800 and 200 armed fighters respectively, co-located with Taliban forces in Mohmand Darah, Dur Baba and Sherzad districts of Nangarhar province. They operate under the umbrella of Afghan Taliban.
NIA Director General Y C Modi said: “Our charge sheet is based on fool-proof digital, forensic, documentary and oral evidence collected against the accused in this dastardly and barbaric attack. The charge-sheet has brought on record the all-out involvement of Pakistan-based entities to carry out terrorist strikes in India and to incite and provoke Kashmiri youth”.