SRINAGAR, JANUARY 24: Belive it or not. A top Lashkar-e-Toiba militant and a Pakistan national managed to procure an Indian passport within a record minimum period of time that too for just Rs 35,000. Abu Talha, the Lashkar militant belongs to Karachi and had been involved in two major Fidayeen strikes including the suicide attack on the Army's 15 Corps headquarters recently.A case has been registered at Rainawari Police Station and four persons, including an employee of Passport office, Srinagar and a police official, have already been arrested. ``We have requested our seniors to allow us to arrest at least two police officials, who are directly involved in managing the fake verification report of this militant. One amongst them has to be brought here from Jammu,'' a senior police officer told The Indian Express.According to sources, this Indian passport (No B-0335252) was issued to Abu Talha in a fake name Irfan Ahmad Dar of Nowgam, Srinagar on December 17, 1999 in Srinagar in a minimum period of 55 days. Two more similar passports had also been in process, one among them in the last stages of its issuance as the verification report had already reached the Passport office.It is worth mentioning here that procuring a passport in Kashmir is the most difficult process in the entire country as the passport is issued only after three different wings of the State Police conduct separate and thorough investigations. The seven week deadline for the police to complete the verification report of anybody seeking an Indian passport is also not applicable here.The Passport officer, Srinagar, Bashir Ahmad Zargar said that his office is in no way involved in the issuance of a passport to a Pakistani militant: ``I am just an issuing authority. I issue passports only after recieving a complete and consolidated verification report from the Additional Director General of Police. I depend on police verification entirely and if anybody has this verification complete and clear, I will have no hesitation to issue the passport. And I have not issued a single passport even that of a kid without getting a proper verification report from the State Police,'' he said. ``The Border Security Force took the cashier of my office for some investigation related to the same case but I was not intimated in writing by anybody till now. In fact, our office has not issued any passport in the name of Irfan recently.''The whole affair got uncovered recently when the police and security forces recieved an information that Abu Talha is hiding in a house in Jogi Lankar, Rainawari in downtown Srinagar. The house was immediately raided but Abu Talha managed to give the troops a slip and escaped from the roof tops.However, his accomplice Ishfaq Ahmad Rah was arrested along with three Indian passports, one among them belonging to Abu Talha. Sources in the police claimed that Abu Talha had been planning to leave the country very soon.The security forces have another interesting story to tell as to why Abu Talha was so ``desperate to get a genuine passport and leave the country not by crossing the border but by air that too via Nepal''. Sources revealed that Abu Talha, who had sneaked into the Valley at least a year ago had fallen in love with a local girl and wanted to get married. This, according to the police sources, had of late even created bitterness between him and his outfit, who were asking him to return back immediately.Police revealed that the girl also has gone underground, however, they have arrested an old lady claiming that she was to accompany Abu Talha. Sources in the security forces claim that one among the two under-process passports was that of this girl, which was also to be issued on a fake name. ``If our operation had been delayed just by two days, this passport would have also been issued,'' said a senior police officer.
