Delhi riots: In an 18 day old probe, Pakistan’s role features multiple times

New Delhi, Mar 17: The probe into the Delhi riots is now increasingly pointing towards the role of Pakistan.

The role of Pakistan in the Delhi riots has cropped up at least twice during the probe conducted by the various agencies. It was a mix of both internal and external elements that led to the Delhi riots, an Intelligence Bureau official tells OneIndia.

The first time the Pakistan role cropped up was when the Intelligence Bureau picked up chatter of a Pakistani handler speaking to a contact in India. He is heard reprimanding the Indian contact for failing to bring in more crowds. The money has reached you, but the crowds are low, the handler is heard saying.

When the protests against the newly amended citizenship law began, there was a sustained effort on the part of Pakistan to rake up violence, the IB has also learnt. The contacts in India were paid off to spread a misinformation campaign both on the ground as well as on the social media. Pakistan made every effort to incite communal tension and in Delhi, it finally worked.

Groups such as the Students Islamic Movement of India too pitched in to ensure that the violence spread. There was a clear attempt to defame India and tell the world that the Indian police is unfairly targeting Muslims. Moreover if one looks at the pattern, the riots broke at a time when US President, Donald Trump was visiting India.

Specific hashtags were created and radical as well paid elements in India were asked to use this and spread a misinformation campaign. At any given time there were several handles that were tweeting about the riots. The intention was to ensure that the riots spread to different parts of the country.

The IB officer cited above said that Pakistan and its Indian contacts have been in the forefront when the riots broke out in UP and Mangaluru as well. The idea is to ensure that the violence takes place in every part of the country. Pakistan was planning on taking up these issues on the international platforms to put India in bad light. This became extremely crucial for Pakistan as it has failed to attract any traction on Article 370. Most countries have maintained that Kashmir and Article 370 are India's internal matters.

The IB which is coordinating with the Delhi Police has managed to identify most of the handles. Arrests would take place and each one would be brought to book. It is extremely important to identify the insiders, whom we consider to be more dangerous, a Delhi Police official associated with the probe said.

The police officer also said that they would be questioning suspended Aam Admi Party councillor, Tahir Hussain. He has been arrested for the murder of IB staffer Ankit Sharma.

The police would go belong the Sharma case and try to find out of Hussain was involved in the larger conspiracy during the Delhi riots. The police had found petrol bombs, stones and sticks on his roof top. Hussain has denied all allegations and said that he will cooperate with the probe agencies.