PWG links with Kashmir ultras bared

Supply of arms and other explosive materials to the militant naxalite group figured in the meeting, sources said. Incidentally, Ghouri was a former functionary of the PWG.

Though the PWG leadership was initially opposed to any link with pan-Islamic terrorist outfits, it is now preferring to establish contacts in an attempt to obtain latest lethal weapons from the foreign mercenaries.

Ghouri, a native of Hanmajipet in Warangal district, left the PWG a decade ago after his hand was damaged in a grenade attack. Soon after, he moved to Mumbai and later crossed the border to join the fundamental outfit. He reportedly obtained trainingin use of explosives from Taliban militia in Afghanistan.

Terrorist outfits fighting security forces in the Kashmir valley have in their arsenal all the latest equipment, including rocket launchers and plastic explosive devices being smuggled from across the border.

The PWG intends to intensify guerrilla warfare in the northern Telangana region and hence badly needs such weaponry, an intelligence official said.

Special teams were despatched to Warangal and Nizamabad districts to gather more information about the meetings Ghouri had with naxalites.

Ghouri was arrested along with an associate, Abu Talha, while crossing the border at Surankot in Poonch district of Jammu and Kashmir on September 23 and a huge quantity of arms, ammunition and explosive material was recovered from their possession. Wasim Akram, chief of Lashkar-e-Toiba’s operations in the country, was killed in the same encounter.

The special task force personnel of J&K Police, who were involved in the operation, reportedly gathered vitalinformation about Ghouri’s activities in Andhra Pradesh.

The Intelligence Bureau (IB) last month sounded an alert in the South about Ghouri’s clandestine operations, especially in Andra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu. The records at the State intelligence office here have details of the subversive activities perpetuated by Ghouri in the state.

He was reportedly involved in as many as 60 major crimes, including blasting of Humayun Nagar police station a couple of years ago. He was in regular touch with the arrested ISI resident agent for Hyderabad, Junaid, and provided him details about different organisations, sources said.

“With Ghouri being nabbed in Kashmir, we are hopeful of getting vital clues about his operations in the state,” a senior official said. Confirming that the arrested terrorist did spend a few days in Warangal and Nizamabad, the official declined to divulge more details.