Yatish Yadav By

NEW DELHI:A group of 12 Pakistani terrorists are actively involved in the recruitment of local people to strike at will, with annual Amarnath Yatra starting July 2, being their prime target, according to a confidential dossier on the LeT activities in Kupwara prepared by the Central intelligence agencies last week.

The alert was triggered by a telephone intercept that put the Central intelligence agencies on Code Red.

The dossier suggested that since the March 20 fidayeen attacks in Kathua and later in Samba, 24 ISI-trained heavily armed terrorists belonging to the LeT, Hizbul-Mujahideen (HM) and Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) had sneaked into Jammu and Kashmir.

The recent unrest seen in the Valley after separatist Masarat Alam’s release and re-arrest and pro-Pakistan sloganeering during the public rally of hardliner Syed Ali Shah Geelani exposed the separatists’ and Pakistan’s desperate Kashmir plans.

The ISI’s sinister plot to foment trouble in the Valley and the militants’ penetration have shocked the state police.

One of its personnel, Nasir Pandit, had even deserted his unit to join the HM. Nasir, official sources said, is suspected to be involved in the killing of three policemen on April 6 at Amshipora in Shopian.

While tracking the footprints of suspected terrorists in sensitive areas, officials in the security establishment had recently came across incidents related to recruitment of local youths by dreaded JeM commander Gazali and LeT Commander Huzaifa, both said to be Pakistani nationals trained by the ISI for anti-India operations.

Huzaifa, sources said, is also planning terror strikes with LeT terrorists Abu Umar, Naveed and Talha, to disrupt peace in the Valley.

“These terrorists are targeting remote villages like Ponzu, approximately 55-60 km from Srinagar, to recruit gullible youths. There are inputs regarding another Pakistani terrorist commander Musa scouting for new recruits in remote villages of Pulwama district,” sources in security establishment said.

The intelligence dossier, based on a series of inputs received since March, suggests that if the terrorists operating in the Valley are not neutralised by security forces, they are likely to carry out strikes during the Amarnath Yatra. More than 3.7 lakh pilgrims had paid obeisance at the holy cave shrine of Lord Shiva during last year’s Yatra and the government was expecting over four lakh visitors this year via Baltal and Pahalgam route.

Citing recent infiltration of 33 HM terrorists into the Valley, the intelligence input warned that the level of violence against the security forces was likely to increase during the summer.