NEW DELHI: The National Investigation Agency (NIA) will probe four cases relating to recent civilian killings by terrorists in J&K, the victims being Srinagar pharmacist M L Bindroo,
Sikh school principal Supinder Kaur and teacher Deepak Chand, Bihari vendor Virendra Paswan, and two Bihari labourers — Raja Reshi Dev and Joginder Reshi Dev — killed in Kulgam.
NIA has been roped in to probe the larger conspiracy behind the killings, purportedly at the behest of groups like LeT & its arm The Resistance Front that get Pakistan support.
Targeted hits seen as attack on ‘positive’ J&K narrative
The home ministry will hand over four relevant cases to NIA for probing the origins of the attacks, seen as a move by ISI-backed terrorist groups to attack a “positive” narrative in J&K which has lately focused on normalcy and development. The attacks on minorities and migrants are intended, feel security forces, to instil fear in the mind of “outsiders” that they are not safe in the Valley. The victims included workers who were catering to local labour needs as well as the influx of tourists.
According to the UT administration there were over million tourists visiting Jammu & Kashmir in July, 1.1 million in August and 1.3 million in September. The seeming peace and normalcy, along with measures to rehabilitate Kashmiri Pandits, ran contrary to the terror script and led to the provocative targeted killings.
The changed strategy of terrorist groups comprises roping in local Kashmiri youths who are not yet on police or intelligence radar to carry out one-off attacks in return for money or drugs, so as to project them as indigenous acts. The youths are suspected to have carried out the latest killings with pistols handed over by the terrorists. Sources said some overground workers involved in the civilian killings have been identified and are either already picked up or likely to be detained for questioning. The network, runs across Srinagar, Budgam, Pulwama, Shopian, Anantnag and Kulgam, a source disclosed to TOI.