Fearing serious repercussions of the controversial arrest of suspected Hizbul Mujahideen militant Liyaqat Shah by the Delhi Police, Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah on Saturday requested Union Home Minister Sushilkumar Shinde to hand over the case to NIA for a “time-bound and speedy probe” to “establish facts”.
The Delhi Police’s special cell claimed it had picked Shah from Gorakhpur on the charge of plotting a conspiracy to carryout fidayeen attack in the national capital. A bag containing an AK-47 rifle, which, the police said, was linked to the larger plot, was found in a hotel.
"I have spoken to him (Shinde) and asked for a speedy and time-bound probe by the NIA to establish the facts in this case,” Omar Abdullah told a news agency. Shinde is in his native state of Maharastra.
Government sources said Omar’s father Farooq Abdullah, who is Union Minister for Renewable Energy, also spoke to the home ministry top brass expressing his anger over Delhi Police picking up Shah, who was coming from Pakistan-Occupied-Kashmir (PoK) via Nepal to Kashmir to surrender along with his family. He is said to be a part of an eight-member group that was coming back to the Valley. The whereabouts of others are not known.
Both Farooq and Omar fear that the latest fiasco has the potential of flaring up tension in the Valley.
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