3, including Hizbul militant, held in attempt to enter India

LUCKNOW: :The UP Anti-Terror Squad (ATS) confirmed the arrest of a trained militant of Hizbul Mujahideen, a Pakistan national, and a Kashmiri resident while attempting to sneak into Indian territory near the Sonauli border in East Uttar Pradesh’s Maharajganj district on Wednesday, according to senior ATS officials.

They said they were trying to sneak into India from porous border at Sheikh Farenda village in Nepal when security personnel and immigration officials guarding the border spotted them and took them in custody.

Security and vigilance have been intensified on the IndiaNepal porous border following upcoming Lok Sabha polls in the country, they said.

The officials said that security personnel alerted the ATS, following which the trio was brought to the ATS headquarters in Lucknow. They were subsequently arrested under various sections of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, the Foreigners Act, and IPC sections related to fraud, use of forged documents, and using them as genuine documents. An FIR was lodged at the ATS police station in Lucknow regarding the matter.

In a press note shared with the media, a senior ATS official informed that the three accused were identified as Mohammed Altaf Bhat, a resident of Rawalpindi in Pakistan;

Sayyed Gajnafar, a resident of Jamia Ali Murtaza Mosque in Islamabad; and Nasir Ali, a resident of Srinagar.

The official said that Bhat, who was born in Jammu and Kashmir, was a trained militant who shifted his base to Pakistan after the Kargil war in 1999 to join the Muzaffarabad camp of Hizbul Mujahideen.

The official said that Bhat remained in the camp for several years and was recently asked by a handler from Pakistan’s

Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), to return to his native place in Kashmir and await further commands.

He added that Bhat was attempting to enter India with the assistance of another Kashmiri resident, Nasir Ali, who served as an overground worker for the ISI within India. The official said that Ali also took along his maternal uncle, Sayyed Gajnafar intending to avoid suspicion by security agencies even if intercepted during the process.