HYDERABAD, NOV 1: Andhra Pradesh is fast turning out to be a safe haven for the activists of Pakistan's Inter-Service Intelligence (ISI) if the series of incidents involving them are any indication.In the last five months alone, as many as 16 ISI agents were apprehended from different places in Hyderabad and about 25 kg of plastic explosive, along with two dozen Chinese-made weapons, were seized from them.According to one estimate, more than 400 Pakistani nationals are currently staying in the city but the police have absolutely no knowledge about their activities. Several of them are overstaying even after the expiry of their visas.As the police remain non-serious in dealing with the threat in the capital, the ISI activists are slowly spreading their tentacles to other places in the State. There were reports of an ISI flag being hoisted on Tirumala hills and authorities subsequently beefing up the security arrangements at one of the most popular temples in the country.Another evidence of thespread of ISI tentacles was the arrest of seven senior functionaries of Al-Umma from a hideout at Rajahmundry recently. The arrested militants confessed during the course of interrogation that they intended creating disturbances in the State.According to a senior intelligence official, ISI agents recruited scores of local youth and sent them across the borders for armed training. ``Though we have no record of the number of youth from the city who have crossed the borders, we expect them to be around 50,'' he said.Police has failed in checking infiltration. So much so that things are too easy for the ISI agents. Mohd Saleem Junaid, an ISI resident agent, came to the city three years ago, married a local woman, obtained a passport and even cast his vote during the last Parliament elections.It was sheer coincidence that the Intelligence Bureau sleuths in Delhi came to know about Junaid while questioning an arrested ISI agent. A thorough investigation spread over a month by a joint team of IB, Delhipolice and the city police led to the arrest of Junaid and two of his associates, Abu Kafa and Abu Farooq on July 1.During the course of interrogation, Junaid confessed to having conspired to make an attempt to plant plastic explosives at important places during the annual Ganesh immersion festival.Police said that Azam Ghori, a top ranking leader of Pakistani-based terrorist outfit Lashkar-e-Toiba, helped Junaid settle in the city and provided the necessary financial support. Ghori was a frequent visitor to the city and introduced Junaid to the leaders of different fundamentalist organisations.Besides being directly involved in subversive activities, the ISI agents are also supporting several fundamentalist outfits in the city.The first of such activities could be traced back to 1992 when JKLF militants gunned down additional SP Krishna Prasad when he tried to arrest them from a hideout. Soon after, the city police busted a racket involving another ISI agent Nisar Ahmed Bhat, who sent severalcity youth for armed training in Pakistan via Calcutta.
