Following a Central intelligence agency’s interception of his e-mails sent to "contacts" in Pakistan, a 30-year-old youth from Sarnal locality of Anantnag town has been picked up by Army and police for "sustained interrogation".
From highly placed Government sources, EXCELSIOR learned that police and security forces have not lifted and detained Abid Ibrahim Najar of Anantnag simply for an Internet chat with his ladylove in Rawalpindi, Pakistan. According to these sources Najar has been picked up when New Delhi headquarters of a Central intelligence agency alerted Northern Command as well as Commander of 15 Corps in Srinagar with the message that "classified military information" had been e-mailed from a particular BSNL landline from Anantnag to somewhere in Pakistan. It was following several intercepts of the e-mail by the agency that troops of Rashtriya Rifles 01 Bn identified the computer connected to BSNL Broadband with the help of Anantnag police, swooped on Najar’s house and lifted him for detailed investigation on Saturday.
Even as a local news agency circulated through SMS that Abid Najar had been picked up for chatting with his fiance in Pakistan, both Army as well as police maintained complete silence. None of the officials in Army and J&K Police agreed to comment on Abid Najar’s arrest when this newspaper attempted to know whether the youth had been really detained for an Internet activity not prohibited by law.
Claiming to be quoting details of the alert from New Delhi, sources said that the agency had purportedly intercepted many of Najar’s e-mails sent to his "contacts in Pakistan. Najar is said to have downloaded Google map of South Kashmir, encircled most of the military and paramilitary formations and sent the same by e-mail to his "contacts" in Pakistan. After several rounds of his interrogation, Army and police are now trying to acquire User Name and Password of two more of Najar’s e-mail IDs, which are also suspected to have been used for wrongful communication of the classified military information. Investigators are also probing whether Najar had gathered location of the encampments of his own or he had also cultivated sources in security agencies. None of the e-mails, however, has been found encrypted as usually done by agents of different agencies all over the world.
Officials have learned during the preliminary round of investigation that Najar had indeed visited his relatives in Pakistan and tied nuptial knot to a female relative in Rawalpindi. However, that settlement is said to have broken off. Police and Army investigators suspect Najar to have developed contact with security or intelligence agencies of the neighbouring country who may have appointed him as an agent for collecting and passing on vital information regarding location of different military and paramilitary formations.
Residents insisted that Abid Najar was anonymous for most of his neighbours as the family has reportedly set up residence in Sarnal locality only recently.
Meanwhile, informed sources in North Kashmir said that militants in ambush fired upon a joint patrol party of RR 18 Bn and SOG in the uphill Saiwan forest in Lalpora belt of Lolab valley at 1030 hours today. Militants killed one of the soldiers, who was later identified as Rifleman Kamaljit Singh of Punjab. Troops retaliated but the militants managed to escape. Search operation was reportedly underway when reports last came in late tonight