J&K government sanctions to prosecute Naved

Srinagar: Pakistan foreign office spokesperson Syed Qazi Khalilullah took objection to India making accusations against his country quickly. “We have said many times that making immediate accusations on Pakistan is not correct. These things should be based on facts,” he said. Mr Khalilullah also said that the Indian claim was baseless. “We have repeatedly asked India to refrain from accusations.”

Headed by IG Sanjeev Kumar Singh, an NIA team on Thursday visited Samruli-Narsu Nallah area in Udhampur-Kathua districts of Jammu and Kashmir, where the attack took place. The NIA team later interrogated Naved in two sittings at a joint interrogation centre in Jammu, official sources said. A case under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, Arms Act, the Foreigners Act and various sections of the Ranbir Penal Code, particularly Section 121 (waging war against the country), has been registered against him.

The J&K government on Thursday gave sanction to prosecute Naved for waging war against the country. A formal prosecution order issued by the Udhampur district magistrate, Dr Shahid Iqbal Choudhary, said, “It has been established beyond reasonable doubt that an offence of criminal conspiracy has been committed by the terrorist which attracts the provisions of Sections 121 and 121-A RPC.”

Sources said Naved seems to be an “extremely hardened and highly indoctrinated terrorist”. He has constantly changed his statements, including his name during interrogation. The only detail consistent in his statements, so far, has been that he is from Ghulam Muhammadabad in Faisalabad, the third-largest city in Pakistan after Karachi and Lahore, and that he was imparted arms training by Lashkar-e-Tayyaba, the sources said.

He has reportedly told his interrogators that he had undergone two training modules — “Daur-e-Aam (general period)” and “Daur-e-Khas (special or exclusive period)” — of the LeT. He also said that his group had orders to attack a military target on a tactically chosen stretch near Udhampur. In fact, they let two convoys of the Army and CRPF pass before the final attack.