NIA files chargesheet against alleged aide of Jaish chief Masood Azhar, other persons in terror conspiracy case

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The National Investigation Agency (NIA) has filed charges against two persons, including a close associate of Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) Chief Masood Azhar, for their alleged involvement in plans to disrupt peace and communal harmony in Jammu and Kashmir by targeting security forces, officials revealed on Wednesday.

The charged individual, Muhammad Dilawar Iqbal, hailing from Abbaspur in Pakistan-administered Kashmir, goes by various aliases, including Maaz Khan Kashmiri and Azad Kashmiri. Described as a right-hand man of Masood Azhar, Iqbal is accused of delivering inflammatory speeches to incite youth in the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir to engage in terrorist activities, according to a statement from the National Investigation Agency.

The NIA alleges that Dilawar Iqbal indoctrinated and motivated Mohammed Ubaid Malik, a resident of Kupwara, to join JeM. The agency contends that Iqbal played a role in motivating Kashmiri youths as part of a broader conspiracy devised by proscribed terrorist organizations and their affiliates to carry out terrorist acts in the region.

"Dilwar would incite youth with a militant background to pursue Jihad by sharing inflammatory audio clips, videos, and images of Maulana Masood Azhar Alvi, depicting the latter preaching radical Islam. He would also distribute videos related to encounters in the Kashmir valley and provoke the youth to take up arms," explained an NIA spokesperson.

The agency has been investigating the terror conspiracy case since June 21, 2022, which it initiated on its own accord. The case revolves around a conspiracy by Pakistan-based terrorist organizations to carry out violent attacks in J&K using sticky bombs, IEDs, small arms, etc., with the aim of inciting terrorism and violence in the Union Territory.

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"It involves the radicalization of local youth and mobilization of overground workers of newly formed terrorist groups, such as The Resistance Front (TRF), United Liberation Front Jammu & Kashmir (ULFJ&K), Mujahideen Gazwat-ul-Hind (MGH), Jammu & Kashmir Freedom Fighters (JKFF), Kashmir Tigers, PAAF, and others. These outfits are affiliated with proscribed terrorist organizations like Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT), Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM), Hizb-ul-Mujahideen (HM), Al-Badr, Al-Qaeda, etc.," alleged the agency. (With inputs from PTI)