Clearly unimpressed by the Gujarat police’s ‘evidence’ supporting the Pakistani identity of two alleged Lashkar-e-Toiba terrorists shot last Tuesday, the Centre has asked the state police to furnish a more detailed report with sufficient evidence before the matter can be taken up with Pakistan. The report was sought after the Gujarat police approached the Ministry of External Affairs to ask the Pakistan High Commission to claim the bodies of Jishan Johar and Amjadali Akbarali Rana, the two alleged Pakistani terrorists from the Lashkar-e-Toiba. The two men were among the four persons shot dead by the Gujarat police on a deserted stretch of the Himmatnagar highway. Ishrat Jahan, a 19-year-old college student from Mumbra in Thane, and Javed Ghulam Mohammed Sheikh of Pune were the other two killed. The Gujarat police, which claimed that the four alleged terrorists were part of a plot to assassinate Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi, had identified Jishan as a resident of Kalerbadi in Gujranwala and Rana from Haveli Diwan in Sargoda. The claim, however, has failed to convince officials at the Centre. At a time when India and Pakistan are trying to accelerate the dialogue process through a series of meetings scheduled over the next few weeks, sources said, New Delhi would have to be doubly sure of the Pakistani identity of the two alleged terrorists before officially taking up the issue with Islamabad. South Block officials indicated that if not supported by sufficient evidence, any attempt to raise the matter would not augur well for ties, especially when there has been a positive exchange between the two countries in recent months. The Ministry of External Affairs first sought the advice of the Home Ministry in the matter. Subsequently, it was decided that the Gujarat police be asked to strengthen its claim on the identity by way of a more detailed report through the Home Ministry. As of now, sources said, the state police seem to have couched its claim on the basis of some ‘‘concrete information’’ which it has not elaborated or supported through documents. Official sources emphaised that the Centre has sought a report only on the evidence regarding the identity of the two alleged terrorists and not on the police encounter. They, however, maintained that the Central intelligence agencies had not passed any official information on the four alleged LeT terrorists to the Gujarat police. The Gujarat police had earlier claimed that it had intercepted the Tata Indica used by the four alleged terrorists on the basis of a specific tip-off from Central intelligence agencies.
