Pakistan was grooming J&K ex-DSP, says NIA in chargesheet

NEW DELHI: NIA, in its charge-sheet filed on Monday against suspended J&K deputy superintendent of police Devender Singh and two Hizbul Mujahideen terrorists allegedly helped by him, has stated that Singh was being “groomed” by Pakistani officials for obtaining “sensitive information”.
NIA investigation into the case relating to Singh, arrested along with two Hizbul men and an advocate in January after their car was intercepted along Srinagar-Jammu highway and weapons recovered, has also revealed he was in constant touch with certain officials of Pakistani high commission here through secure media platforms.
The NIA chargesheet — which names Syed Naveed Mushtaq, then Hizb district commander for Shopian and Ganderbal, HM terrorist Rafi Ahmad Rather, Irfan Shafi Mir or “Advocate” and Devender Singh (all four arrested in January), ex-LOC trader Tanveer Ahmad Wani and Syed Irfan Ahmad (brother of Naveed Babu) — states that “certain officials of the Pakistani high commission were in touch with Mir.
It is said that Mir was given funds to organise seminars in J&K to mobilise against India. Mir, currently in judicial custody along with six other accused, was receiving instructions and money from Pakistan high commission in New Delhi and also facilitated visa applications of many Kashmiris for visit to Pakistan. Mir, NIA said, had not only met Hizb-ul-Mujahideen leadership in Pakistan but also ISI officials or agents Umar Cheema, Ahshan Chaudhary, Sohail Abbas and others. Mir was tasked with identifying and activating the new hawala channels for transfer of money for sustaining terrorist activities in the Kashmir valley.
“The investigation has revealed that accused were part of a deep-rooted conspiracy hatched by the Pakistanbased terrorist organisation Hizbul Mujahideen and Pakistani state agencies to wage war against the Union of India,” states the chargesheet. Only recently, India had asked Pakistan high commission in Delhi to reduce its strength by half.
As TOI had reported, hobnobbing of Pakistan high commission officials with Indian terror accused in this NIA case was one of the factors behind the move. Sources said the name of one assistant in Pakistan mission —Shauqat —had cropped up in the probe. As per NIA, the chargesheeted accused were obtaining weapons and ammunition from across the border with the help of arms smugglers and Devender Singh. In February 2019, in order to shield Naveed Mushtaq from the surveillance following the Pulwama attack, Singh, along with Mir and Syed Irfan Ahmad, had arranged safe shelter for him and his associate in Jammu.