NIA registers ‘open FIR’ against JeM, Masood Azhar’s brother and others

NEW DELHI: A month after the Pulwama attack, the National Investigation Agency has registered an

“open FIR”

against Jaish-e-Mohammed and its leaders in India and Pakistan — including Masood Azhar’s brother

Mufti Abdul Rauf Asghar

,

Muddasir Khan

and

six others

— to investigate the outfit’s plans to carry out more attacks across India.


Azhar, who is admitted in a Pakistani hospital, has not been named in the FIR.

Sources said the purpose of the open FIR was to nab its underground cadres, sleeper cells, sympathisers and those who help the outfit financially and logistically in different cities across India. It will also help stop future attacks and make a strong case detailing the outfit's terror plans, which are carried out with the help of the Pakistani government and its spy agency ISI.

The agency on Friday took custody of Sajjad Khan, a close aide of Muddasir Khan. Sources said Sajjad was sent by JeM to Delhi to carry out reconnaissance of important targets, set up a hideout in the city, radicalise and recruit Muslim youth of Uttar Pradesh and other states, provide them training in weapons, explosives and field craft, besides raising funds. Sajjad was operating under the guise of a shawl vendor.

Sources said the open FIR also means the NIA can investigate the role of J&K separatists and other outfits like Lashkar-e-Taiba and Hizbul Mujahideen in collaborating with JeM for terror activities in India.

It will help India prepare a detailed dossier on JeM’s activities, further strengthening its quest to get the outfit’s leaders banned by UN Security Council.

NIA had registered a similar open FIR against Islamic State in 2016, following which a massive crackdown began against the outfit’s activities in India and those trying to join it.

Recently, in a dossier submitted to Pakistan, India had provided details on JeM’s rallies, meetings and training camps run from POK and territories like Manshera, Bahawalpur and other areas.

NIA and intelligence sources said the outfit was funded by business interests and so-called Islamic charitable foundations. It received funding from Gulf countries and the Pakistani government and ISI. The group is provided with sophisticated weapons, explosives, technical equipment and military training by the Pakistan Army.

The JeM runs a charity called Al-Rehmat Trust, which collects donations in the garb of helping families of mujahideen (terrorists).