Ahead of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s arrival in Jammu at 11 am on Sunday, at 4 am, a loud explosion shook the Laliana village of Bishnah, about 12 km from Palli where the PM had addressed over 1 lakh people that day.
A huge crater was caused by the blast, which was initially dismissed as meteorite by the local police. Forensic teams rushed to the spot. No splinter traces were found but the glass windows of the villagers were all shattered. “It was a loud explosion. We suspect it was an Improvised Explosive Device (IED) dropped using a drone just like the Jammu airbase explosions,” a top police officer in Jammu and Kashmir told News18. The police covered the crater, collected the soil sample for forensic tests and played down the explosion to avoid panic as PM Modi was supposed to land in a couple of hours.
Fidayeen Squad
But this was just one of the challenges. Intelligence inputs suggested that Pakistan wanted to derail the PM visit at any cost. The Sunjwan terrorists were cordoned off after this input but the harbourer had told the police that he had brought in another group of terrorists who were still at large. Bilal Waghey and Ishfaq Chaupan — the driver and co-driver of the pick-up truck that ferried the Fidayeens were arrested less than 24 hours before the PM’s arrival.
“Bilal told interrogators that the Sunjwan terrorists infiltrated two days before the encounter. He ferried them from the border in his truck. But most importantly he also confessed that in February he had ferried a second group of about six terrorists from the same point till the valley,” a security grid official told News18.
The police are investigating to unravel the identity and location of this second group of suspected Jaish-e-Mohammed terrorists. The Sunjwan terrorists spoke Pashto. Afghan fighters are more ruthless and battled hardened. The worry in the security grid is if the second group is also that of Afghan fighters.
After the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan, this has been a big concern in the security establishment — infiltration of Afghan fighters in Kashmir, making the internal security challenge bloodier.
Infiltration Route
The challenge is also to figure and plug the infiltration route that the terrorists are taking. Multiple tunnels in the Samba sector were identified and sealed by the BSF and JK Police last year. But the police now suspect a new tunnel has been dug. “We have identified 93 vulnerable points, 43 pick-up points that can be used by the terrorists. CCTV cameras have been put all along the highway,” a senior officer told News18.
The cameras helped zero in on the Over Ground Workers (OGWs) who helped the Sunjwan terrorists. Investigation shows Bilal Waghey picked up the terrorists from Samba on April 20. He then stayed a night at Transport Nagar in Jammu, hoping to leave for the Valley a day later.
Shafiq Ahmed, a resident of Tral provided shelter to the Fidayeens in his Jalalabad house near the encounter site. Investigation suggests that the Jaish duo were desperate to complete the mission. Shafiq, who had stayed in touch with the Pakistani commanders through Telegram — Pagal Jamat — was asked to arrange the vehicle to transport the Fidayeens from Sunjwan. They, however, came across the cordon that the police and CISF had laid with specific intelligence inputs, and were subsequently killed. His co-harbourer Asif is still at large. The police suspect he might have fled to the Valley and turned to active terrorism.
While the coordinated efforts and alertness of the grid ensured PM’s visit was not disrupted, the challenge is far from over with the Amarnath Yatra just a few months away.
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