NEW DELHI, FEBRUARY 20: Pakistan-backed militants, who recently carried out a series of "suicide" attacks on security installations in Jammu and Kashmir, have been directed by ISI to target prisons to set free ultras lodged there, according to official sources here.The targets include high security Kot Balwal jail in Jammu and prisons in Poonch and Rajouri, where hundreds of militants are lodged, the sources said.Harkat-ul-Mujahideen militant leader Maulana Masood Azhar, freed recently in exchange for hostages of the hijacked Indian Airlines plane, was lodged in Kot Balwal jail.To intensify the attacks in the State, about 200 more fidayen (suicide militants) have been deputed from Pakistan, the sources said.They are expected to enter India via Nepal and Bangladesh borders, they said.The sources said the month preceding the India visit by US President Bill Clinton could be very crucial for security forces as militants have been instructed to carry out "a lot of activity" to draw Washington's attention.For this purpose, militants have been given a free hand to do whatever they want and have been equipped with additional arms and funds, they added.ISI has also directed Azhar and Al Umar Mujahideen chief Mushtaq Ahmed Zargar, who also was freed in exchange for hostages of the hijacked plane, to go to Kashmir to "boost the morale of local militants" there.Zargar, also known as Mushtaq Latram, has been directed to consolidate local militants particularly in Ganderbal and Kangam areas of Kashmir, they said.Hizb-ul-Mujahideen's self-styled supreme commander Syed Salahudin has also directed his militants to step up their activities in major Indian cities, particularly Delhi, in the run up to Clinton's visit.Salahudin has warned his cadres of a reshuffle as he was unhappy over their failure to do anything sensational during the Republic Day, the sources said.The two recent bomb blasts in Jammu is believed to have been carried out by Hizb militants, though the outfit has not claimed responsibility, the sources said.Militants have also reportedly asked Kashmiris working as special police officers and in central forces to desert or face consequences. Posters in this regard have been sighted in Baramulla, the sources said.
