ISI revives Afzal Guru Squad for attack on Indian forces
Sunday, 12 January 2020 | Rakesh K Singh | New Delhi
Amid tight security footprint along the Line of Control (LoC) and in the hinterland in J&K and improving situation on the ground, Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) has shifted terror tactics and revived the Afzal Guru Squad in their bid to execute attacks against the Forces.
As part of the new strategy, ISI's key terror affiliate Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) has constituted assault teams of the Afzal Guru Squad which included both Pakistani (foreign) terrorists and local Kashmiri militants in order to achieve an improved "success" against the forces.
The Squad had last hit forces at the Indian army camp at Sunjuwan where the terrorists had killed six soldiers even as three terrorists and a civilian lost their lives and 20 others (14 soldiers) were injured on February 10, 2018.
After the Sunjuwan attack, the security forces eliminated all the members of the Squad including mastermind of the Sunjuwan attack Mufti Waqas. The attack coincided with the death anniversary of Afzal Guru's hanging for the 2001 Parliament terror attack.
The reorganisation of the terrorist ranks comes as the security situation on the ground has begun improving months after the erstwhile State of J&K was reconstituted into two Union Territories-J&K and Ladakh and Article 370 of the Constitution that granted special status to the State was nullified, officials said.
They said Shia Muslims in Kargil and Budgam protested against the killing of Iranian General Qasem Soleimani in a drone strike by the US in Baghdad last week.
The Kashmir Valley is currently dominated by Wahabism and Salafism and the Shias holding protest march especially in Budgam indicates other sects are now raising their voice.
The protests by Shias could also signal a desire amongst a section of the community to return to their roots that was essentially Sufi Islam, a senior security official said.
The official said markets in Srinagar are now open even after 6.30 PM which is also indicative of the people's realization of the changed security environment in the Valley.
"Besides the elimination of the terrorist leadership, an improved security situation on the ground can wean away the local youth from joining the ranks of the jehadis. The foreign terrorists also mistrusted the local militants. To offset this, the ISI is seeking to put in place a matrix hit groups under the Afzal Guru Squad to stay relevant. The Forces, however, will have to continuously remain vigilant to further bolster the improvement in the security situation," another official said.
The JeM has also released a hit-list which includes an SSP, a doctor with a paramilitary, one professor and a journalist.
The JeM has confirmed that the three terrorists killed by the security forces this month during their infiltration bid belonged to the revived Afzal Guru Squad.