JeM militant’s plan to abduct a politician foiled

Nov 17: The mission of three militant from Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) to abduct a high profile politician has been foiled by the Special Task Force of the Uttar Pradesh police on Friday.

Based on the inputs from intelligence agencies the STF arrested three militants after an encounter near Vishal hospital on Delhi–Lucknow High way at 5 am on Friday morning.

Those arrested have been identified as Mohammad Abid alias Fatte (26), Yusuf alias Faisal (21) and Mirja Rashid Beg alias Raza Qazzafi (26). The trio hailed from the town of Lahore, Multan and Gujranwala.

It is reported that there plan was to abduct a politician from UP and then to pressurise to release 42 militants of JeM lodged in different jails in the country including Afzal Guru, the main accused in December 2001 Parliament attack.

Vikram Singh, Director General of Police said that they were travelling to Lucknow in a grey coloured Santro car and police discovered two AK-47 rifles and four magazines, 16 China made hand grenades, three Chinese .30 bore Star pistol, 129 cartridges, 4kg RDX and four detonators from the vehicle.

However police officials have declined to name the politician the militants were eyeing at.

The three militants on a mission are said to have undergone training in different training camp in Pakistan and Afghanistan and have entered India through Pakistan Occupied Kashmir.

Though no police officer has named the politician the trio’s were after but speculation are high that it could be Rahul Gandhi, who was on the capital on November 12 to attend the inaugural meeting of the Uttar Pradesh Congress Coordination Committee.

Special Home Secretary Mohammad Idris told that the investigation agency has not revealed the name of politicians as the investigation is still going on, he is clueless about how and who has taken Rahul’s name.

It is completely unbelievable that the target was Rahul Gandhi as the security for the high profile leader is completely cordoned. Also looking at the activities of JeM, it is an indication that there might be several groups active in other parts of the country.

Meanwhile, the Union Home Ministry has asked for detailed reports from the Uttar Pradesh government.