Pulwama bombers had int’l media in sight: NIA
NEW DELHI: 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.