Pak’s ISI, terror outfits radicalising state’s youth: Uttarakhand Police

The Uttarakhand Police have stated that the state’s youth are being influenced by Pakistan’s ISI and other terrorist organisations across the border. The police said that this was revealed following the recent arrests of some anti-social elements by the Special Task Force (STF) in Dehradun.

STF officials said that the interrogation of the arrested youth revealed that Pakistan-based terrorist organisations and the ISI are trying hard to build a terror network in Uttarakhand through social media. On condition of anonymity, they said that four suspected terrorists arrested in Uttarakhand and Uttar Pradesh in the past two months have confessed to being in touch with their handlers in Pakistan. These handlers were working for the ISI and other terrorist organisations in Pakistan, they added.

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Following disclosures made by the arrested persons, the Uttarakhand STF has deployed cyber experts to monitor the activities of other suspects.

The STF investigation revealed that apart from being in touch with Pakistan-backed terrorist organisations, the suspects were actively working to radicalise local youth and establish a strong network through social media platforms. STF SSP Ajai Singh said that following disclosures made by the arrested men, security agencies across the state have been placed on high alert. According to Singh, the arrested suspects maintained contact with cross-border terrorists and ISI agents through Instagram, video calls and other social media applications, with agencies successfully recovering digital evidence confirming these links.

STF SSP Ajay Singh said that social media-based anti-national activities have surged recently, with terrorists misleading and alluring local youth towards different forms of jihad. “The investigation has uncovered an ISI module that was recruiting youth through social media. In several places, the arrested persons were made to install CCTV cameras at locations from where Pakistan-based handlers could easily monitor activities. Keeping this in view, cyber commandos have been deployed for continuous surveillance in certain places in the state capital,” he added.

According to the STF, names of cross-border handlers like Shahzad Bhatti and Abid Jatt surfaced during the interrogation of the arrested persons. A senior STF official said that one arrested suspect, named Vikrant, was involved in influencing youth and painting graffiti reading “Tehreek-e-Taliban Hindustan (TTH)” on walls in the state capital. Ajai Singh said that state agencies are now working to unearth other individuals who were in contact with him. Central security agencies are assisting the ongoing STF probe in monitoring suspicious activities on social media.