Lahore (TDI): Punjab’s Counter Terrorism Department (CTD) announced on Monday that it has detained a dozen suspected terrorists allegedly linked to Indian intelligence agency, Research and Analysis Wing (RAW), in a series of operations across Lahore, Faisalabad, and Bahawalpur.
According to a CTD spokesperson, the raids were carried out over the past few days after investigators received intelligence suggesting that several individuals were collecting information on sensitive locations. Officials say they also seized weapons, explosives, detonators, and digital material containing photographs and videos of a seminary, a local festival, and other restricted sites.
The suspects held in Lahore were named as Sukh Deep Singh, Azmat, Faizan, Nabeel, Abrar, Usman, and Sarfaraz. Another suspect, Danish, was taken into custody in Faisalabad, while the Bahawalpur arrests included Rajab, Hashim, Saqib, and Arif. The CTD said the group had been operating under the banner of a network it refers to as “Fitna al-Hindustan.”
Officials said that the suspects had been in contact with an individual in India running a Facebook account under the name Adil, through which they reportedly received instructions. One of the arrested men, Singh, was said to have converted from Christianity some time ago, though authorities did not clarify the relevance of this detail to the investigation.
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The CTD further maintains that the group was being financially supported by RAW to plan attacks within Pakistan. Cases have been registered and further questioning is under way.
The arrests come roughly a month after federal ministers disclosed the detention of a Pakistani fisherman who, they alleged, had been coerced by Indian agencies into gathering information for them.
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At a press briefing on November 1, Information Minister Ataullah Tarar and Minister of State for Interior Talal Chaudhry said that the fisherman, Ijaz Mallah, had been picked up by Indian authorities in September and pressured to carry out specific tasks before being sent back to Pakistan.
According to the ministers, he was told to procure uniforms of Pakistan’s security forces as well as local SIM cards for espionage purposes.
