Days after the Ramadan ceasefire came to an end in the north Indian state of Jammu and Kashmir, Pakistan-based militant outfit Lashkar-e-Taiba has warned the Indian Army and other forces in the state of a "tough 2018." In the first issue of its online magazine "Wyeth," the outfit has said that it intended to help the common man in the state.
The Kashmir-specific magazine also carried an interview of LeT spokesperson Abdullah Ghaznawi and a detailed list of all the attacks the group carried out in the year 2017. The spokesperson also spoke about LeT not being a "proxy" of the Pakistan army and said: "LeT is the common man's struggle. It represents true aspirations of J&K people," reported Hindustan Times.
Ghaznawi also spoke in favour of Pakistan and said that the word proxy was "obsolete" as the nation doesn't need a proxy. He said there are many countries in the world that have "less divine faith" and "high military numbers" and use proxies, but Pakistan is not one of them as the nation is capable of handling any situation.
The spokesperson also discussed Jammu and Kashmir and said that Pakistan has "moral and legal" obligation to support the state and the "struggle" of its people, calling it an "unfinished" agenda of the partition, reported HT.
Ghaznawi also spoke about other fringe groups and said they do not have a clear agenda and often misled into helping India and its cause. He added that LeT intended to inform them on a lot of things and was distributing Quran and Hadith to guide them.
What does the army say about this warning?
After the first issue of Wyeth was released, the army said it was extremely important to deal with such elements and "a counter-narrative is necessary to bring normalcy in the Valley," said HT.
LeT had announced the magazine in February and told the Kashmir Monitor in an e-mailed statement: "By the grace of Almighty ALLAH, for the first time ever! Lashkar e Toiba J&K bringing out its first Official Online MAGAZINE."
This comes amid reports of a Gorakhpur man being arrested from Pune for running a terror funding network. The man, identified as Ramesh Shah, was taken into custody from Pune and will be brought to Lucknow in Uttar Pradesh for interrogation.
The UP ATS officials revealed that Shah had travelled to Pune to hire men for the funding network, reported IANS. The officials also said that several people from his gang were arrested in March, of which Mukesh Prasad of Bihar and Musharaf Ansari of Kushinagar worked closely with Shah.
The police also seized a few audio tapes and a diary from the duo in which they found some important clues on Shah and how the gang worked.
After nabbing the 30-year-old, the ATS officials seized his phone and found crucial WhatsApp chats which proved his involvement in the terror network.
