Two south Kashmir residents arrested in UP

Lucknow, Feb 22: Uttar Pradesh Police on Friday claimed to have arrested two alleged Jaish-e-Muhammad (JeM) militants from Deoband in Saharanpur district.
Uttar Pradesh Director General of Police O P Singh claimed the duo posed as students and were involved in recruiting for the group, reported news agency PTI.
Shahnawaz Ahmad Teli from Kulgam and Aquib Ahmad Malik from Pulwama were arrested from the seminary town on Thursday night and .32 bore pistols along with cartridges recovered from them, Singh told reporters.
Teli and Malik, aged between 20-25 years, were living in Deoband and posing as students without taking admission anywhere, Singh said.
They were on their job to recruit for the JeM, which has claimed responsibility for the February 14 attack in Pulwama in which 49 CRPF personnel were killed, he said.
Singh said the ATS got a tip-off about the two from an alert student after which a probe was started. The two men were arrested following surveillance.
“ATS recovered a .32 bore pistol from each of them with cartridges. Jehadi chats, videos and photos were also recovered. These are being investigated,” the DGP said, adding that they will be brought to Lucknow on transit remand.
“Both are being interrogated on when they arrived from Kashmir… How many other members are involved, have they succeeded in recruiting anyone in JeM, from where did they get funding and how much, what was their target after recruitment,” the DGP said.
He said Jammu and Kashmir police supported the entire operation and the two forces will coordinate with each other in the future too.
Meanwhile, it was virtually mourning in the family of Shahnawaz on Friday after they learnt that their son had been picked up by UP Police.
The family of Shahnawaz contested police’s claim saying he is innocent.
Shahnawaz Ahmed who hails from Nunmai Kulgam according to family has taken admission in Deoband Darul Aloom in 2016-17 for Mufti Course.
“My son completed his graduation in 2010 and after that he took admission at a Darul Aloom in Sopore. He is very religious and was keen to complete Mufti Course. Accordingly he got an admission at Deoband UP,” Mubeena, the mother of Shahnawaz told news agency CNS.
Ghulam Hasan Teli, a carpenter by profession virtually fainted after he heard about the arrest of his son. “You can visit every police station in Kashmir, you will not find the name of my son figuring anywhere. He is religious and that is his crime,” he said.
“UP Police really gave us a shock. We urge upon administration to look into the matter and ensure that innocents are trapped in fabricated cases,” he said.
The family of another youth Aquib Ahmad Malik son of Muhammad Akbar from Pulwama also contested UP Police’s claim stating he is innocent and has nothing to do with militancy or stone-pelting incidents. “We are shocked to learn Aquib has been arrested. We request UP police to investigate the matter before giving a militant tag to innocent youth,” the family said. (Inputs from PTI and CNS)