2 years after Pulwama, Interpol issues notices
APART FROM MASOOD AZHAR, RED NOTICES HAVE BEEN ISSUED AGAINST HIS TWO BROTHERS AS WELL AS A COUSIN
NEW DELHI: Two years after a terror attack on a Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) convoy in south Kashmir’s Pulwama killed 40 security personnel, Interpol has issued red notices against Jaish-e-mohammad (JEM) chief Maulana Masood Azhar and three of his relatives in connection with the brazen strike that brought the already fraught ties between India and Pakistan to a new low, people familiar with the development said on Saturday.
The National Investigation Agency (NIA), which is probing the case, hopes that authorities in Pakistan, where Azhar and his aides are believed to be hiding, will honour the red notices and take action against the terror masterminds.
Apart from Azhar, red notices, or global arrest warrants, have been issued against his brothers Abdul Rauf Asghar and Ibrahim Athar, and his cousin Ammar Alvi.
The development comes at a time when the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) has begun a series of online meetings that will review Pakistan’s actions to counter terror financing amid signs that Islamabad is yet to completely implement the multilateral watchdog’s action plan. The crucial plenary meeting during February 22-25 will take a final call on Pakistan, which is in FATF’S “grey list”.
The fresh Interpol notices against Azhar and Rauf are in addition to the red notices issued against them previously — for their role in the attack on Indian Parliament in 2001 as well as the deadly attack on the Pathankot air base in 2016. Rauf has another Interpol red notice against him for hijacking Indian Airlines’s Flight IC-814 in 1999, which forced the government to release Azhar and two other terrorists (Mushtaq Zargar and Omar Sheikh) in exchange of about 150 passengers on board.
“Azhar and his brother live freely in Pakistan despite killing hundreds of innocent people…they are globally designated wanted terrorists and have three to four Interpol red notices pending against them. Pakistan must arrest them and hand them over to India,” said a counterterrorism official, requesting anonymity.
Under FATF pressure, Pakistan issued an arrest warrant against Azhar last month. But Indian counterterrorism officials call it “total eyewash”.
TARN TARAN: Border Security Force (BSF) troops gunned down a Pakistani national who had infiltrated into the Indian territory to push in drugs through the barbed-wire fence, near Khalra village, under the Bhikhiwind sub-division, during the intervening night of Friday and Saturday.
BSF has also recovered two mobile phones, a magazine of a pistol and six rounds during a search of the area.
A PVC pipe, used by Pakistani smugglers, to push in contraband into India has also been seized.
The incident took place about 2.30am when the visibility at the international border was almost zero due to the dense fog, said BSF officials, adding that it was a joint operation with the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB)’S Amritsar-based team.
“The NCB had a tip-off that some Pakistani smugglers would attempt to push in contraband into the Indian territory near pillar number 130/2
on Friday night. Our troops had laid an ambush. Sometime after midnight, suspicious activities were observed across the barbed-wire fence and before the zero line,” said a senior BSF official.
He added, “Sensing the threat and to stop the misadventure, our troops fired upon the intruders in self-defence, in which one Pakistani intruder was killed on the spot. During a search, 14 packets of contraband suspected to be heroin (total weight approx. 14.8kg) along with one pistol magazine, 6 rounds and two mobile phones were recovered from
the spot.”
The official said the intruder’s body had fallen nearly 25m ahead of the zero line. “We will inform the Pakistani rangers to identify the suspect,” he added.
In August last year, the same battalion (103) of the BSF had gunned down five intruders near Dall village.
One AK-47 assault rifle with two magazines and 27 live rounds, four .9mm Berretta pistols with seven magazines and 109 live rounds, 9kg heroin, two mobile phones and Rs 610 in Pakistani currency were recovered from the infiltrators.