Pak has formed new terror outfits with LeT, JeM cadres: J-K DGP

Pakistan has launched new terror outfits staffed by cadres of the dreaded Lashkar-e-Tayiba and Jaish-e-Mohammed under 'local names' to mislead the world that it has nothing to do with the terrorism prevalent in Jammu and Kashmir, Director General of Police (DGP) of the union territory Dilbag Singh said.

The DGP also hit out at the neighbouring country and its agencies for creating social media platforms to flare up 'street trouble' in the Kashmir valley.

Pakistan recently launched three new terror outfits under local names -- Tehreek Resistance Front (TRF), Tehreek Militi Islamia (TMI) and Ghazwa-e-Hind (GeH) -- to falsely justify that there is indigenous militancy in Kashmir, the officer said.

"They (Pakistan) came up with a new terror outfit called the Resistance Front. It is actually a terror revival front, because they saw that terrorism is dying down and the terrorist ranks are falling down. They came up with the concept of a local name for the continuance of ongoing terrorism in the region," Singh told PTI in an interview here.

He said the TRF was fully backed and staffed by JeM and LeT, which are Pakistani terror outfits.

"They have tried to replenish the numbers (of terrorists) by pushing more members and cadres of LeT and JeM to the Resistance Front," he said.

The Police chief said that "to fool the world", TRF claimed responsibility for several terrorist attacks which were actually engineered by the cadres of LeT, JeM and Hizbul Mujahideen (HM).

"In the past we have seen many incidents carried out either by LeT, HM or JeM, the responsibility for which was taken by the TRF," he said.

The officer described this as an operation of camouflage to mislead the world that Pakistan has nothing to do with terrorism in Kashmir, while the fact is that everything is being managed, maneuvered and done on behalf of Pakistan, its army and intelligence agency.

"They are continuing with terrorist activities in J&K. This is a cause of concern," he added.

The TRF had claimed responsibility for the April 5 incident along the Line of Control (LoC) in the Kupwara sector where five army personnel were killed.

Three terrorists killed in Kulgam's Qazigund on April 27 — an attack that was claimed by the TRF -- were associated with the HM for many years.

"In most terrorist encounters we have seen that even if the terrorists belonged to an organisation other than TRF, they were trying to claim that the one who was killed is from TRF. That is another strategy of Pakistan," the DGP said.

He said Pakistani agencies have also started using other local-sounding names for terror groups like Tehreek Militi Islamia (TMI) and Ghazwa-e-Hind (GeH).

"They are promoting these outfits now. These notorious activities are being carried out by Pakistan," the officer said.

Singh said it has been proved by the Indian security agencies that Pakistan is using social media to launch new terror outfits and mobilize the new recruits.

"They (Pakistan) used TRF as a social media entity actually, which later turned into a physical entity," he said.

Singh said the TRF was launched here in April.

"Before they could launch this terrorist outfit fully, we were able to seize 22 weapons which were meant for the TRF. This affected the launch of 12 cadres who were scheduled to be inducted into the TRF," he said.

Pakistan has started attempts to ignite fresh 'street turbulence' in Kashmir after the police and security forces eliminated 22 commanders of all terror outfits including chiefs of four organisations in recent encounters, he said.

Around 70 terrorists have been killed in nearly 30 encounters this year including 22 top commanders, he said.

In April alone, as many as 30 terrorists were killed in 12 different encounters.

Those killed in these encounters included the Kashmir chiefs of Hizbul Mujahideen, Lashkar-e-Tayiba, Ansar Ghazwatul Hind and Jaish-e-Mohammed outfits.

The officer described the killing of the Hizbul Mujahideen chief Riyaz Naikoo as a 'remarkable achievement' for police and security forces and a major setback to Pakistan-sponsored terrorism in Jammu and Kashmir.

"They are trying to mobilise stone pelting attacks and violent demonstrations which could invoke retaliatory action from police and security forces in which some people would get killed and injured," he said.

"This is their strategy and we are aware of it. We have already denied them a single civilian casualty in any action from police and security forces in the last about one year.

"There has been peace in Kashmir and the people have been cooperating with the government. This has left Pakistan, terror groups and their support structure totally frustrated," the DGP said.

Pakistan-sponsored propaganda to instigate law and order problems and to mislead the youth in Jammu and Kashmir regions is going on with full intensity, he added.

"They have created social media platforms to foment trouble in this part of Kashmir. They came up with a number of nefarious designs over the past couple of months," he added.