Pakistani Terror Plot On Hindu Holy Shrines In Kashmir Foiled
Dated 17/6/2007
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Television Channel 'Times Now' reports that two terrorists of the Pakistan Based Lashkar E Taiba, have been arrested for plotting to attack the holy shrines of Vaishno Devi and Amarnath.
The Amarnath shrine and the holy site of Vaishno Devi in Jammu and Kashmir are considered centres of peace and tranquility for lakhs of devotees across the country. What is frightening is that the two accused - Raees Hyat Khan and Mohammad Taj - are but college students. Their innocent faces mask the new face of terror: teenaged recruits of the dreaded Lashkar-e-Toiba.
“Both these persons have an association with Lashkar. And a Lashkar commander called Ayubi had sent both of them with a plan to target Amarnath yatris,” Jammu SSP Mukesh Singh told a TV channel. In a chilling new dimension of the LeT, the pan-Islamic outfit is luring the youth of Kashmir to a deadly calling. Raees Hyat Khan aged 17, from Medhar tehsil in Jammu's Poonch district, and 19-year-old Mohammad Taj, also from Medhar tehsil – are students in the Bachelor of Computer Applications course at Jammu's KAWA Institute.
The youngsters are believed to have undertaken a long and treacherous journey from Medhar tehsil to Jammu city, crossing numerous police and Army check posts. Police say they were carrying a cache of grenades concealed inside the Tata Sumo they were travelling in. Raees Hyat Khan and Mohammad Taj were arrested on Saturday night (June 16) after they spotted a police patrol and began running.
“We caught them on the basis of specific information that some people had come in to Jammu with a purpose and they had been sent by Lashkar from Medhar,” said Singh.
The roster of terror
▪ July 2006: 16-year-old Tipu, head of an LeT module, arrested for grenade blasts at the Jammu Bus Stand
▪ July 2006: Abu Hamza, a 14-year-old LeT militant, was arrested for planning attacks in Jammu city
▪ May 2000: The first group of 13 child terror recruits was arrested in Poonch district. They were later returned to their parents
▪ April 19, 2000: 16-year-old Afaq Ahmad Shah, a Class XII student, blew himself up outside Srinagar's Badami Bagh Cantonment area, killing several people
Evidently the ‘catch them young’ mantra’ being adopted by militant outfits operating in Jammu and Kashmir has resulted in simple, ordinary teenagers falling prey to the LeT's brainwashing. Several other young men are among students being kept under surveillance in Doda, Poonch and Rajouri districts.
Source: Times Now