JAMMU — A madrasa teacher was arrested in the Kishtwar district of Jammu and Kashmir for allegedly giving information related to security installations to Pakistan-based handlers involved in militant activities, officials said on Saturday.
Police said the man was working as an “enemy agent” and was booked under section 3 of the Enemy Agents Ordinance Act.
“On a joint input, police along with 11 Rashtriya Rifles arrested one person namely Abdul Wahid Gujjar of Chergi-Dool, working as an agent for Pakistan based intelligence agency.
“He used to provide secret information of various police establishments and security forces to a Pakistan-based handler through various social media platforms,” police said in a statement.
The police claimed that he had confessed his involvement and some more arrests are expected in the case in the near future.
Earlier, officials identified the arrested person as Qari Abdul Wahid (25), who was also performing the duties of a maulvi (prayer leader).
Wahid was staying at the madrasa at Dadpeth village along with his wife and a seven-month-old son. He was working as a teacher there, the officials said.
Terming his arrest a “major breakthrough”, the officials said initially military intelligence gathered information about the presence of a suspect who was passing information across the border.
Wahid came on the radar of different security agencies that worked together to identify and arrest the accused. He was called for questioning last week, they said.
During interrogation by police, military intelligence and State Investigation Agency (SIA), Wahid admitted to having been working for lesser-known militant group Kashmir Janbaz Force (KJF) since December 2020 and passing on videos and photos of security installations, the officials said.
Wahid was “inclined towards militancy” and came in contact with self-styled KJF commander Tayyab Farooqi alias Umar Khatab on social media. He became an active member of the group online, besides offering to be an active militant, they said.
He was in regular contact with some unidentified people, possibly Pakistani intelligence operatives, who offered him money and new phones for motivating local youth to join militancy, the officials said. — (PTI)