LeT behind attack on pilgrims, say police

Police said yesterday a militant group blamed for the 2008 Mumbai attacks was responsible for last month’s killing of eight Hindu pilgrims in Jammu and Kashmir.Police said an investigation had concluded that Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) and Kashmiri accomplices were behind the July 10 attack that saw militants open fire on a bus carrying Hindus on the annual Amarnath pilgrimage.“Lashkar was involved and the accused have been identified,” Inspector General of Police Muneer Ahmed Khan told reporters in Anantnag district.“Once the investigation was started it was revealed that a Pakistani militant of Lashkar along with two other militants and one local Kashmiri Lashkar militant carried out the attack.”Three others who provided logistical support to the militants, including hiding places and vehicles, had been arrested.The July shooting was the worst such attack in the state since 2000, when gunmen fired on a group of Hindu pilgrims and killed 32 people including two police officers.Khan said the militants had carefully plotted to attack any police or tourist vehicle that crossed their path on the evening of the assault.“They had kept separate code words for tourist and CRPF (Central Reserve Police Force) vehicles. It was purely an act of terrorism carried out with an aim to spread fear,” he said.LeT has been blamed for a string of deadly attacks inside India, most notably the Mumbai carnage in November 2008 when heavily armed gunmen battled commandos on the streets of the financial capital.It took the authorities three days to regain full control of the city and New Delhi has long said there is evidence that “official agencies” in Pakistan were involved in plotting the attack.Islamabad denies the charge.In other developments, the Enforcement Directorate yesterday arrested Mohamed Aslam Wani, an aide to senior separatist leader Shabir Shah, on charges of funding terrorist activities in the Kashmir Valley.“He is being flown to Delhi,” a source said.Shah himself was arrested last month in Srinagar and shifted to New Delhi in connection with a terror funding racket being probed by the ED.The directorate and the National Investigation Agency have arrested many Kashmiri separatist leaders in the past one month.l Security forces in Kashmir, particularly in its volatile south, are allegedly prying into cellphones of residents during roadside searches, raising privacy issues in a state where militants use social media to propagate their agenda and garner mass support.Even as officials denied it was routine policing practice, dozens of incidents have been reported in recent weeks in which security forces have checked photos, videos and WhatsApp messages of civilians on their smartphones.And if anything “incriminating” related to militancy is found in the gallery of smartphones, a beating might follow, as happened with Mohamed Nadeem of Kulgam, who was on his way to Srinagar on his motorbike on July 2 when he was stopped by security forces near Awantipora.Nadeem said the security personnel went through the photo and video gallery of his phone and checked his WhatsApp messages.“Suddenly, one of the security personnel noticed a photograph of a militant-funeral. Infuriated, he asked me to stand by the roadside and take off my shirt,” Nadeem, 30, said.He said he had participated in the LeT commander Bashir Lashkari’s funeral a day before where he had taken a few photographs that showed the slain militant’s body and a few Pakistani flags in the backdrop.“They hit me with sticks and gun-butts, and kicked me,” Nadeem alleged.Deputy Inspector General of Police S P Pani denied knowing of any such incident and said if such things happened, complainants should contact the police who will take the cognisance of the matter.