How ISI-Khalsitan terror groups use local gangsters for the deniability factor

Even if one were to take the case of the Ludhiana Court blast, it was found that it was the handiwork of gangsters involved in smuggling.

New Delhi, May 24: An Intelligence Bureau report has sounded an alert about the possibility of Pakistan backed terrorists sabotaging railway tracks to cause major accidents.

The alert said that the ISI backed elements are likely to target tracks in Punjab. A huge conspiracy in this regard has been hatched the Intelligence also said.

The Intelligence says that the ISI has directed the Khalistan groups to undertake this operation and in particular target the goods trains.

This Intelligence once again signals the attempts being made by the Khalistan groups to carry out terror attacks and revive its movement. In this backdrop the probe agencies have also found that the Khalistan elements had outsourced the Rocket Propelled Grenade attack on the Punjab Police's intelligence headquarters in Mohali to gangsters.

An Indian Express report said that the ones who carried out the attack are from Jhajjar in Haryana and Faizabad in UP. They have a criminal record and were paid to carry out the attack.

Even if one were to take the case of the Ludhiana Court blast, it was found that it was the handiwork of gangsters involved in smuggling. They would smuggle drugs and IEDs at the behest of the ISI and then strike in Punjab, the probe also learnt.

An official tells OneIndia that this modus operandi has been going on for long and the Khalistan groups have been outsourcing terror strikes to gangsters in a bid to avoid the heat. The fact that they use a gangster to carry out the attack gives the agencies the impression that the same is done by a local criminal group and not the ISI backed Khalistan forces.

Since 2021 the K2 desk of the ISI has been active. The Delhi Police which investigated the ISI psy-ops racket learnt that it was being carried out by the K2 desk. In December 2020, the Delhi Police had bust the K2 module, which was being controlled in Dubai. "It has emerged that Pak''s ISI along with Pakistan-based Khalistan radicals Harmeet Singh (Chief of Khalistan Liberation Force) and Lakhbir Singh (Chief of KZF-Khalistan Zindabad Force; based in Pakistan) in furtherance of their conspiracy to revive militancy in Punjab, have been using gangster Sukh Bhikhariwal for targeted killings," he said. "It has also come to notice that ISI through its K2 desk (Kashmir-Khalistan) has been funding the targeted killings of right-wing leaders and the Pro-Khalistani radicals are employing the services of gangsters for executing the killings of right wing leaders to revive the militancy," the police had said.

In 2019, the Intelligence Bureau had warned that Pakistan is activating its K2 operation or desk. In Kashmir, it has roped in the Jaish-e-Mohammad, while in Punjab it is the Khalistan Zindabad Force (KZF).

It was with the intention of furthering this agenda that the KZF had managed to get in a lot of ammunition with the help of drones in Pakistan. The ISI wants to create trouble in both Punjab and Kashmir and in this regard, it is not only trying to infiltrate its terrorists but also spruce up the Khalistan movement in Punjab.

The Intelligence has on several occasions spoken about this dual plan by Pakistan. What is worrisome is that it would activate these plans simultaneously so that the Indian security forces are kept busy in both the states.