NIA court extends Bahadur Ali's custody till Aug. 17

New Delhi, Aug. 11 (ANI): A Special National Investigation Agency (NIA) Court on Thursday extended the custody of Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT) terrorist Bahadur Ali till August 17. The NIA yesterday disclosed that Ali has confessed to the involvement of LeT and Pakistan Army behind the unrest in Kashmir. Briefing the media here, NIA Inspector General Sanjeev Kumar said Ali was initially recruited by the Jamaat-ud-Dawa and trained by the LeT to infiltrate into Jammu and Kashmir and brew tension in the region. Kumar said Ali during his interrogation confessed that he was directed to take advantage of the unrest in Kashmir Valley. Kumar further said the articles seized during Ali's arrest explain that the LeT operative was trained by masters of the field. The NIA IG further said Ali also disclosed that there were around 30-50 trainees at the training camps of LeT from different parts of the countries, including Afghanistan and Pakistan. Kumar said Ali's investigation is underway and added that they would be exploring tangents relating to the role of LeT in the ongoing Kashmir unrest. The NIA also showed a video of Ali's confession. He was arrested on July 25 with weapons, including an AK-47 rifle, live rounds, grenades and grenade launcher. Earlier on Tuesday, India summoned Pakistani High Commissioner Abdul Basit and handed him a "strong demarche" over Islamabad's continued support to cross-border terrorism by pushing in trained terrorists to carry out attacks, particularly in Kashmir. Foreign Secretary S. Jaishankar called the Pakistani envoy to his South Block office and lodged a strong protest over the issue as he made a specific reference to Ali. (ANI)