NIA to probe arrest of Hizb militant Liyaqat Shah

The home ministry on Thursday issued a notification facilitating the National Investigation Agency to take over the case related to the arrest of suspected Hizbul Mujahideen terrorist Liyaqat Shah amid conflicting versions by Delhi and Jammu and Kashmir police.

With the formal issuance of the notification, the NIA will now conduct a probe into the circumstances leading to the arrest of Shah, who was arrested near Indo-Nepal border by the Delhi police, which claimed that it had foiled a 'fidayeen' attack in the capital with his arrest.

Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah had said that Shah was returning from Pakistan occupied Kashmir to surrender as part of a militant rehabilitation policy and demanded a probe by the NIA.

While the Delhi police claimed that he was a Hizbul Mujahideen terrorist, its Jammu and Kashmir counterpart insisted that he was one of those who had exfiltrated in 1990s and had returned to India to surrender under the state's rehabilitation policy.

The special cell of the Delhi police claimed it had foiled a 'fidayeen' strike in the capital ahead of Holi with the arrest of Liyaqat. It claimed he was a Hizbul Mujahideen terrorist who planned attacks to avenge the hanging of Parliament attack convict Afzal Guru.

The Jammu and Kashmir police, however, supported the claims of Liyaqat's family that he was a former militant who had surrendered before SSB at the Sanauli check-post on the Nepal border and was in a group returning from PoK under the rehabilitation policy. He was arrested on March 20 from Indo-Nepal border.

Meanwhile, the government has decided to deploy representatives of the J&K police in designated entry points along the Indo-Nepal border to avoid such incidents in future.

Image: Hizbul Mujahideen terrorist Liyaqat Shah