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'Pak trying to revive Punjab militancy'

Last Updated 28 July 2015, 20:09 IST
The security establishment is viewing the Gurdaspur attack as a “desperate bid” by the Pakistan spy agency ISI to revive Sikh militancy in Punjab though Khalistani terrorists had not shown much interest on their offer.

Official sources claimed that there were no takers in the Khalistani terror outfits for overtures from ISI and it forced them to sneak a group of Lashkar-e-Toiba terrorists through Bamiyal village in Pathankot.

The government is of the belief that the Khalistani outfits with whom ISI was in touch refused to take bait and even refused to provide logistics support.

“Our intelligence inputs suggest that after initial refusal, the ISI made an offer that they will provide the men while Khalistanis should give logistical support. This was also not accepted,” the sources said.

Last week, they said, the Centre had alerted Punjab about the possible attack in the state. The interrogation report of Jagtar Singh Tara, a Khalistani terrorist, had also shown that ISI was desperately trying to rope in Khalistani outfits.

Investigators believe that the GPS recovered from the three slain terrorists would provide new light into their plans. According to the initial probe, the terrorists appeared to have plans to target Civil Lines area in Gurdaspur besides Dinanagar police station.

Sources said the GPS was switched on after they crossed into India from Pakistan, probably through a canal on Ravi river. The tracking point on one of the devices showed Parmanand village and Dinanagar, while the other had Gurudaspur Civil Lines.

This made security officials believe that Civil Lines was also on the target. After they reached Gurdaspur on foot, first they planted IEDs on railway tracks. However, officials said those were “crude IEDs” and could not have resulted in heavy damages.

The militants were carrying three AK 47 rifles, Chinese-made grenades, besides 10 magazines with more than 200 rounds of ammunition.

Meanwhile, images of the three terrorists were captured on a CCTV camera outside a shop at Taragarh intersection just before they entered Dinanagar.  The militants sported army fatigues and were walking down the road at 4:55 am with AK-47 in their hands.
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(Published 28 July 2015, 20:08 IST)

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