Terror group LeT backs Ghulam Nabi Azad's statement on J&K, BJP slams Congress for 'peddling fake narrative'

In a statement that’s unlikely to please the Congress leadership, Pak-based terrorist outfit LeT backed Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad’s statement on Kashmir.

In an emailed statement, LeT spokesman Dr Abdullah Ghaznavi quoted chief Mahmood Shah saying that they agreed with Azad and others.

They wrote: “We have been of the same opinion as of the expressions of Ghulam Nabi Azad and others since the beginning. India is up to bringing back the era of Jagmohan by imposing the Governor law so as to sabotage the infrastructure and commit massacre of innocents. It is a move to further intensify the mass killings.”

The outfit chief dubbed the recent Ramzan ceasefire ‘drama’.

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The statement also criticised Mehbooba Mufti and said: “Mehbooba Mufti has strived to her excellence in establishing the agenda of RSS in the Valley and Jammu. 8 lakh Indian forces are committing atrocities in Jammu Kashmir. The people are being suppressed down into slavery by excessive force. But the immense sacrifices by the people of Jammu Kashmir have rendered the likes of Operation All-Out as complete failures. The cease-fire was merely drama. It was intended for covert targets, not for the peacekeeping developments.”

The statement alleged that ‘India was committing gross human rights violations in Jammu and Kashmir for 7 decades’.

Speaking to Zee News, Subramanian Swamy compared the incident to the 2005 Wikileaks cable when Rahul Gandhi reportedly told the American embassy that Hindu terror is more dangerous than LeT.

He further said: “This is their old belief."

He also mentioned that Mani Shankar Aiyar had gone to Pakistan but he still hadn't been fired.”

BJP social media in-charge Amit Malviya tweeted: “Shame on Ghulam Nabi Azad and Congress for peddling a false narrative on JnK, which has been endorsed by none other than LeT Chief, who in a statement released y’day said ‘we have been of the same opinion as of the expressions of Ghulam Nabi Azad and others since the beginning’.”

Azad told News 18: “They take action against four terrorists and kill 20 civilians along. Their action is more against civilians than terrorists. For instance, they killed 13 civilians in Pulwama and just one terrorist. Saying that it will be an all-out operation, clearly shows that they plan to do a massacre. They did not say that they want to resolve the issue through talks. Even America and North Korea solved their difference through dialogue.”

Reacting, Union Minister Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore had said he hoped that senior Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad would retract his reported statement that government actions killed 20 civilians for every four terrorists in Kashmir.

"I would have understood, if these were the words from some terrorist sympathiser but coming from the leader of opposition in RS is sad; Sir, it's the terrorists that kill civilians, Our Army & Police are laying their lives to protect Kashmir. I hope you'll retract your statement," Rathore, the information and broadcasting minister, said in a tweet.

Earlier, Congress president Rahul Gandhi had attacked PDP-BJP. Congress chief Rahul Gandhi on Tuesday said that the ‘opportunistic BJP-PDP alliance set fire to Jammu and Kashmir.’

The Congress president was reacting to the BJP-PDP breakup in restive J&K that may translate into Governor’s Rule in the state. 

‘The opportunistic BJP-PDP alliance set fire to J&K, killing many innocent people including our brave soldiers. It cost India strategically & destroyed years of UPA’s hard work. The damage will continue under President’s rule. Incompetence, arrogance & hatred always fails (sic).”

Senior Cong leader backs Musharraf over Kashmir

Senior Congress leader and former Union Minister Saifuddin Soz on Friday backed former Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf's statement on Kashmiris’ independence.

Earlier, Musharraf had said if given a chance Kashmiris would want to stay independent.

Speaking to ANI, Soz said, "Musharraf said Kashmiris don't want to merge with Pakistan, their first choice is independence. The statement was true then and remains true now also. I say the same but I know that it is not possible."

In his forthcoming book, ‘Kashmir: Glimpses of History and the Story of Struggle’, which will be launched next week, Soz said, ‘Musharraf had explained that if Kashmiris were given a chance to exercise their free will, they would prefer to be independent. In fact, this assessment of Musharraf seems to be correct even today!’

This is is not the first time Soz had said something controversial. Last year, he courted controversy by saying that he would have kept Hizbul Mujahideen terrorist Burhan Wani alive if it was in his power. The Congress leader further said that he would have held a dialogue with Wani if he was not killed by security forces in 2016.

Also, once Soz blamed India for the unrest in Valley and said the problem in Kashmir is created by India not by Pakistan.

NSG to be deployed in Kashmir soon

The elite National Security Guards, popularly known as 'Black Cats', are likely to be deployed soon in counter-militancy operations in Jammu and Kashmir which was placed under governor's rule on Wednesday, officials said.

They said a team of NSG has been stationed in the Kashmir Valley for quite sometime and is undergoing rigorous training in the outskirts of the city.
 

The state was yesterday placed under governor's rule for the fourth time in the last one decade after the BJP withdrew support to its alliance partner, the PDP, prompting Mehbooba Mufti to resign as the chief minister.

The decision for their deployment in counter-terror operations was taken by the Home Ministry recently and they will be put to use soon after their acclimatisation programme is over, the officials said.

The teams will be kept at the disposal of the Jammu and Kashmir Police, which is the nodal agency for all anti-militancy operations, they added.

While the Union Home Ministry is upbeat about deploying the NSG in the valley, counter-terror experts feel that the black cats would be helpful in a situation where room-to-room intervention is required.

Such situations rarely come during a counter-militancy operation as it is virtually a do-or-die battle for the forces, mainly led by the state police and ably assisted by the Army and paramilitary forces, the experts said. 

The move to deploy NSG commandos in Kashmir comes in the wake of increasing incidents of encounters where security forces have lost many soldiers during high-risk house intervention operations in densely populated localities.

The NSG commandos, when allowed, will get opportunities to test their skills and it will be a force-multiplier for anti-militancy forces deployed in Jammu and Kashmir, they said.

The commandos use sophisticated Heckler and Koch MP5 sub-machine guns, snipper rifles, through-the-wall radar and C-4 explosives to eliminate holed up terrorists without causing much damage to the structure.

The NSG was raised in 1984 in the aftermath of Operation Blue Star, which was carried out to flush out terrorists hiding in the Golden Temple in Punjab's Amritsar city.

The Black Cat commandos were deployed to tackle terrorists who carried out the 26/11 Mumbai terror attack, the January 2016 attack at the Pathankot air base as well as the terrorists who attacked the Akshardham temple in Gujarat. 
There are around 7,500 personnel currently working with the NSG. 

With inputs from PTI