Amritsar, January 14
Pakistani teenager Namun Arshad, apprehended by the Border Security Force(BSF) for trying to infiltrate into the Indian territory on Tuesday afternoon, has turned out to be the Tehriq-e-Islam’s potential fidayeen and was armed with expertise in the use of weapons like a pistol, revolver and even a missile.
Interestingly, Ajmal Kasab, the lone surviving terrorist behind the Mumbai terror attack, hails from Okada district where Namun had received his training in disruptive activities for some time. But no link between the two has been established so far.
“Sponsored” by the Tehriq-e-Islam, Namun is claimed to have been on a recce mission, aimed at infilteration of as many as seven suicide bombers, including three Pakistani women, into the Indian territory. He is claimed to have been trained in the handling of lethal weapons for at least four days at a madrasa in Peshawar.
According to the BSF’s Deputy Inspector- General, Mohammed Aquil, the interrogation of Namun has led to several startling revelations. He was taken to the madrasa on June 13 last year by one of his friends, Navid, and was trained in handling weapons. He was later taken to participate in yet another round of extensive training at Okada along with other jehadis.
During interrogation, Namun, a resident of Singhpura in Lahore, revealed that he could not pinpoint the exact location of training camps since he was blind-folded by the Tehrik activists before being pushed into these camps.
DIG Mohammed Aquil said Ranjan Tahira, the mother of Namun, was a teacher at the Manawa Cantonment-based Girls’ Middle School while Namun was a student of Comprehence School based in Gujjarpura in Lahore, where his elder brother was also studying.
Aquil revealed that the Tehriq terrorists had pushed Namun into India through the Indo-Pak international border fencing’s gate no. 101 with instructions that he should crawl beneath the fence and return to Pakistan in the evening the same day. The exhaustive drill was carried out to test the waters whether the seven suicide bombers could be sent to India via the same route. The alert BSF officials, however, arrested him along with a chemistry book, some dry fruits and a Pakistani Rs 10 currency note.
Namun confessed to the media that he did not like the jehadis’ ideology, but was forced to obey their orders under the threat to eliminate him and his family.
The “terrorist” was later handed over by the BSF authorities to the Punjab police at Kahangarh police post and SSP PK Rai said he would be produced in a court on Friday.
