Facing criticism from opposition parties for allegedly "appointing" a dreaded terrorist of the Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT) outfit as an office-bearer of the party, the 'defensive' BJP on Tuesday demanded a high-level probe by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) to arrest other members of the terror module.
Two dreaded terrorists of LeT were nabbed by valiant villagers of the Reasi district of J&K on Sunday. One of the arrested terrorists Talib Hussain later turned out to be a BJP leader, who was the former head of the IT cell of the Minority Morcha of Jammu province.
"Under the guise of a journalist, Talab Hussain gained his entry into party office and established link with some leaders of the Minority Morcha", president of the J&K unit of BJP, Ravinder Raina said.
When his attention was drawn to the appointment order issued in favour of the arrested LeT terrorist, Raina said that no order was issued from BJP headquarters.
"It appears that Talab Hussain was assigned the job from his mentors sitting across the border to observe the movement of our senior party leaders", Raina said and revealed that security agencies have informed him about the evil designs of Talib Hussain.
"As it is a serious matter, BJP is urging J&K Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha that probe into all aspects of this case should be conducted by NIA to uncover this new terror plan to target BJP and its leaders. They must uncover as to how many more terrorists are part of this conspiracy and linked with the terror outfit," Raina said.
He said that a probe should be held against the terrorist to know about wider terror conspiracy, people involved, and links with other such elements.
"LeT terrorist Talib Hussain Shah was briefly associated with a political party and also posed himself as a media person," Jammu and Kashmir Director General of Police (DGP) Dilbag Singh said Monday.
Show cause notice to BJP Minority Morcha president
Meanwhile, the disciplinary committee of the J&K BJP has issued a show-cause notice to Sheikh Bashir, president of Minority Morcha for appointing Talib Hussain as head of the IT cell of Jammu province.
Within minutes after Talib Hussain was apprehended by villagers on Sunday, a letter issued by Sheikh Bashir surfaced on social media regarding the appointment of Talib Hussain as head of the IT cell of Minority Morcha of BJP Jammu province.
"Disciplinary Committee of the party has issued a show-cause notice to me. I will reply to the notice within the stipulated time", he told media persons.
Sheikh Bashir has claimed that Talib Hussain had resigned from the party as well as from the post of IT cell in charge two months ago. "Talib Hussain was also running a news portal so he was appointed as IT cell in charge to utilize his services in the party", Sheikh Bashir said, adding, "We were not aware of his background".
Opposition steps up attack on BJP
After the arrest of Talib Hussain, opposition parties step up their attack on BJP for appointing a terrorist as an office-bearer.
Former minister and working president of J&K Congress Raman Bhalla flayed BJP for giving entry and prominent position to such terrorists by which he enjoyed privilege and facilitation to attending important meetings of the ruling party including with the Home Minister.
"It is the biggest breach of security of the state. How a militant got access in the meeting of Home Minister Amit Shah along with other leaders," Bhalla asked.
"It is all due to patronage of top BJP leaders that Talab Hussain managed to gain entry along with other top leaders of BJP to meet Union Home Minister Amit Shah", PDP general secretary Amreek Singh Reen said while addressing a protest organized by the party against the BJP-militants nexus.
