BSF arrest Pak national staying with Gujjars for over 2 yrs

, Dec 30: A Pakistani national, who claimed to be staying with a Gujjar family for over two years in Kathua district's Hiranagar sector, has been arrested by BSF near the border and is being quizzed in connection with the twin militant attacks on October 26.

The Pakistani, who identified himself as Mohmmad Imran, son of Gaffar - a resident of village Jalochak in Pakistan, was arrested "under suspicious circumstances, when he was moving towards the International Border (IB) to cross over to Pakistan from Hariya Chak border belt of Hiranagar sector on midnight of December 28-29", a senior BSF official said today.

During questioning, Imran said that he had been residing in village Hariya Chak, where the three militants involved the October 26 attacks were suspected to have taken shelter with some Gujjars after their infiltration from Rajouri.

The twin attacks on Hiranagar police station and Samba army camp had left 10 people including an army officer dead. The youth said he had infiltrated into Indian territory two-and-a-half years ago and was staying with a Gujjar, the officer said.

Hassan Din alias Noon, the Gujjar who had given shelter to the Pakistani national, was absconding. He was also living in the area for the past three years.

"His father has been picked up for questioning," the official said. The Pakistani national was handed over to police for further investigation. Police took him to different parts of the IB to verify from where he had infiltrated into Jammu and Kashmir.

Police are likely to send him to Joint Interrogation Centre (JIC) in Jammu. After October 26 twin attacks in the border districts of Samba and Kathua, BSF had asked the state government and police to conduct survey and check antecedents of Gujjars, who had come to border areas during the past few years and were staying there.

PTI