‘J&K leaders on LeT, JeM hitlist’

Taking advantage of the prevailing fluid security situation in Kashmir Valley, militant groups — particularly the Lashkar-e-Tayyaba and Jaish-e-Mo-hammed — are planning to target top ministers of the Jammu and Kashmir government, including chief minister Mehbooba Mufti, and then project the attack as the handiwork of local Kashmiri youth in an attempt to show it as an act of protest by the locals against India.

The first indication of this plan came to light after intelligence inputs gathered by security agencies, including the Army, revealed that as many as 100 militants had managed to cross over from Pakistan following the killing of Hizbul Mujahideen commander Burhan Wani in July.

The intelligence leads, sources said, revealed that sharp shooters were also part of the terror modules that managed to sneak into the Valley during the latest period of unrest. Security experts suspect that the sharp shooters from the two terror outfits may have been roped in specifically to target senior political leaders from the ruling PDP-BJP dispensation in the state.

The intelligence inputs were shared with both the ministries of home affairs and defence, following which Army Chief Dalbir Singh Suhag met home minister Rajnath Singh to discuss the new deployment pattern for security forces in the Valley. Sources said during this meeting, the two also discussed this sudden increase in infiltration from across the border. In addition, it was also decided that the security given to key government functionaries in Jammu and Kashmir would be made more foolproof.

“Pakistan’s role in the ongoing agitation is now confirmed beyond doubt. They will go to any extent to ensure that the agitation does not fizzle out any time soon, and would try every strategy. The sinister plan by Pakistan-sponsored terror groups is to execute a top political leader and project it as being the result of the anger prevailing among the general public in the Valley. They wanted to carryout a major attack to this effect around Id, but we have foiled their attempts and take preventive measures,” a home ministry official said.

Security agencies have already confirmed that militants had mingled with stone pelting mobs at most places in the Valley and were responsible for lobbing grenades on security personnel during the demonstration. The intelligence inputs also suggest that most of the militants suspected to have sneaked in over the past two months are presently hiding in parts of South Kashmir where the protesters still continue to remain in a dominant position.