NEW DELHI: The origins of the ‘Faridabad’ module – with tentacles extending to UP and beyond – lay in Jaish-e-Muhammed and Pakistan’s ISI’s larger plan, hatched almost four years ago, to raise and nurture a “homegrown” outfit in India on the lines of Ansar Ghazwat-ul-Hind. The aim was to carry out attacks on the instructions of Pakistani handlers while allowing them deniability before the international community.Sources in security agencies told TOI that after AGUH – an al-Qaida offshoot – became almost defunct following neutralisation of its chief Zakir Musa in 2019, ISI turned to Jaish chief Maulana Masood Azhar to help build a similar outfit with radicalised youths not just from Kashmir, where local terror recruitments have dropped to single digits, but also from other parts of India.
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The plan was to have Kashmiris in leadership roles, who would then use encrypted platforms like Telegram to identify, radicalise and recruit members.The first link in the ISI-Jaish plan was established by Pak-based operative Umar bin Khattab, alias Hanjullah, who connected with Maulvi Irfan Waghay, a cleric from Shopian. Irfan, who had radicalised several youths over the years, offered to help create the pan-India outfit. He roped in Dr Muzammil Ahmad Ganaie, bringing him into the JeM mission, and used his Deoband connections to spread the network further.Dr Muzammil expanded the chain by recruiting his colleagues at Al Falah University. Both Dr Adeel and his brother Muzaffar were contacted; while Adeel joined the plan, Muzaffar switched allegiance to al-Qaida and is believed to be in Afghanistan. Muzammil also brought in Dr Shaheen Shahid and her brother Dr ParvezAnsari.”Muzammil, Adeel and Umer were constantly in touch on Telegram with three Pakistani handlers, Faisal, Hashim and Ukasha, who sent them instructions, radicalisation material and bomb-making videos,” an officer said.The radicalisation and recruitment drive aimed to build a strong, educated cadre capable of operating discreetly across India. “Zakir Musa himself was a BTech dropout. Al Falah provided the perfect platform to tap students and faculty for recruitment,” an officer said, adding that separatist elements like Dr Nisar-ul-Hassan, sacked from a Srinagar college over terror links, were embedded there.Members of the homegrown Jaish-backed network were encouraged to generate funds through their salaries or religious donations such as zakat, while Jaish supplemented them via hawala.Over the past two years, after gaining organisational strength, operatives began sourcing explosives and bomb components. Around 2,900 kg of IED-making material was amassed by Dr Muzammil, Dr Adeel, and Dr Umar Un Nabi, and stored with the help of Mewat cleric Hafiz Mohd Ishtiak. Agencies suspect more such dumps exist.”It is possible that Dr Umer hurriedly assembled the car bomb using the instructional videos sent by Pakistan-based handlers. The device was crudely made, which limited its impact. But Jaish had already identified targets for pan-India attacks – the crackdown on the Faridabad module stopped them just in time,” said an officer. Go to Source
