J&K: JeM chief Masood Azhar's nephew Talha Rashid was sent to disrupt talks
New Delhi: Intelligence agencies have cautioned the Centre that terror groups in Kashmir Valley are making a concerted effort to disrupt its initiative for talks with different groups in a bid to find a solution to the region’s complex problems.
The Centre had recently appointed Dineshwar Sharma, former director of the Intelligence Bureau, as its interlocutor to initiate dialogue with a cross section of people in the State.
A top security official confirmed to this newspaper that Talha Rashid, nephew of Jaish-e-Mohammed chief Masood Azhar, who incidentally was killed in an encounter by security forces in Pulwama earlier this week was also sent with the purpose of ensuring that the dialogue process was disrupted.
“We have concrete information that terror groups would go all out to ensure that any kind of talks or initiative either by the State or Centre which helps bring peace to the Valley fails. These terror elements are also in touch with hardline separatist leaders from the Hurriyat which is perhaps the reason why they have refused to meet Centre’s interlocutor. Talha Rashid had crossed over into the Indian territory a few days ago with specific instructions to ensure that the peace dialogue was disrupted,’’ the official said.
Sources also confirmed that it was in background of these intelligence inputs that Mr Sharma was accorded ‘Z’ category security with a pilot and escort vehicle to secure his convoy. Mr Sharma would also be protected round the clock by six to eight CRPF commandos.
Intelligence inputs also suggest that in the days ahead, terror outfits could threaten other groups who want to hold talks with the interlocutor. Incidentally, during his visit to the state earlier this week Mr Sharma did hold talks with former Chief Minister Omar Abdullah, senior CPM leader M.Y. Tarigami, top PDP leader Sartaj Madni, representatives of Kashmiri Pandits.
It is possible that in the days ahead terror groups could issue threats to such groups to ensure that no further talks are held, sources added.
It is clear that terror handlers across the border don’t want any kind of peace initiative to succeed and are trying hard to ensure that the present talks also fail. This is an important factor why Hurriyat is staying away from the dialogue process,’’ an intelligence official remarked.
