New Delhi, Feb 23 The busting of a Lashkar-e-Tayiba linked module which was planning on carrying out strikes in Delhi and adjoining cities has thrown up several details about how the ISI is planning on carrying out future operations in the country.
The module that was busted following the arrest of 8 people from Tamil Nadu and West Bengal was being handled from multiple locations. The module was being handled in a manner in which the Pakistan link would not crop up.
Investigating Officers say that like the Faridabad module, this one, too, had a Jammu and Kashmir link to it.
Shabbir Ahmed Lone, a resident of Ganderbal in Kashmir was sent to Bangladesh by the ISI to handle this module. The ISI was cultivating Lone since 2019, the year he was released from jail. Lone was arrested in 2007 after AK-47s and grenades were found on him. He was released from jail in 2019, following which he was immediately dispatched to Bangladesh.
In the Faridabad module it was found that an Imam was handling the members of the outfit. He was being given instructions from a Jaish-e-Mohammad handler based out of Afghanistan, the probe had found.
An Intelligence Bureau official said that the module had conducted several dry runs. They were constantly testing the waters and challenging the Indian security agencies. They focussed largely on propaganda instead of the real attack.
In the first phase of their operation, they focussed only on putting up posters in various parts of the country. The posters were about the Kashmir issue and the same was found at Delhi, West Bengal. On February 10, several posters relating to the Kashmir issue were seen at Metro stations and other locations in Kolkata.
The probe has found that this module was planning on carrying out a large-scale attack in Delhi and adjoining areas. However further investigation has found that the focus of the module was also largely on Kolkata. Ahead of the elections, this module wanted to carry out attacks on temples and other places such as bus stands and Metro stations.
The ISI has been planning a large scale attack in West Bengal to disrupt the elections. In addition to this, the Pakistani spy agency has also set up multiple modules along the India-Bangladesh border.
With the Jamaat-e-Islami winning big in constituencies that are bordering West Bengal, the ISI feels that carrying out operations in these locations would be relatively easy.
Groups such as the Harkat-ul-Jihad-Islami (HuJI) and Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB) have been roped in to undertake this operation, an official said.
These groups have already starting sending in illegal immigrants in large numbers to these border areas and have hosted them in madrasas. The intention is to push them into India around a month before the West Bengal elections and then effect demographic changes, which would eventually lead to communal clashes.
Under the leadership of Muhammad Yunus, who was the caretaker of the interim government, the ISI made Bangladesh its playground. Post 'Operation Sindoor', the ISI needed another launch pad to carry out strikes against India. Officials explain that in Bangladesh, it found that solution.
The busting of the latest module clearly shows that the ISI wants to carry out operations from Bangladesh as it does not want the trail of the strikes to reach Islamabad, the official said.
Counter-terrorism experts explain that increasingly the focus is going to be more on operations from Bangladesh. The bordering areas are going to be a major cause of concern as the ISI would continue using the Jamaat’s clout in these locations to keep the border with India on the boil.
The experts say that operations led by the ISI will move more into the bordering areas of Bangladesh and all future attacks in India would be coordinated from these areas.
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