New Delhi: The Jaish-e-Mohammed is on overdrive mode where its women’s wing is concerned. The outfit has been recruiting young women, who in turn will be deployed in nightclubs, bars, and pubs that are owned by Indians in different parts of the world, the agencies have learnt.
These women are being trained to carry out attacks in these places that are owned by Indians. While bars, pubs and nightclubs in India are being identified, Jaish-e-Mohammed is in the process of zeroing in on these places in other countries as well. The idea is to recruit young and pretty women and get them jobs in these places. Their job would be to work there and understand the place. This is basically a reconnaissance mission, an official said.
Once the process is completed, the plan will be set in motion to carry out an attack. The attack would be carried out by the same women who are working in these places, the official also added.
Currently, with the help of the ISI, the Jaish-e-Mohammed has been looking for targets in the United States, United Kingdom, Thailand, Indonesia, Philippines and Dubai. The number of women from Pakistan to undertake this operation would be minimal. The bulk of the recruits would be from Uzbekistan, Indonesia and the Philippines.
The idea to recruit more foreign nationals is to make sure that the Pakistani link does not crop up. Once recruited, they would be given a new identification, following which they would commence work at these places, an Intelligence Bureau official said.
The Jaish-e-Mohammed is planning to make this operation a spectacular one. It has directed its handlers to plan the operation in such a manner that attacks at all the identified places take place simultaneously. It wants to execute the attacks in one shot rather than spacing them out. The chance of scrutiny is higher if attacks are carried out in a phased manner, the official also added.
In addition to this, the Jaish-e-Mohammed is also planning on targeting Indian nationals and those of Indian origin living abroad. The idea is to send India a message by targeting its nationals living both inside the country as well as outside, officials say.
The Indian agencies are aware of this massive plot that the Jaish-e-Mohammed plans to carry out across the world to hurt Indians and Indian interests. The funds are being collected on a large scale, and this is an indication of the magnitude of the operation that is being planned.
Pakistan has set up centres to collect donations in the name of Gaza relief. Campaigns have been ongoing for the last four months in Gulf nations and Pakistan as well. The Jaish-e-Mohammed is aware that this is a touchy subject and hence is exploiting the Gaza issue to raise money for this international operation that it is planning.
An operation of such a large scale would require a lot of funds. Hence, the outfit is using everything at its disposal to gather a large sum of money to execute this operation. Even the women recruits that the Jaish-e-Mohammed is bringing in are paid large sums of money. The outfit is looking for women who have undergone personal losses or faced abuse. Some of the women who feel wronged by the system, too, are being roped in.
The Jaish-e-Mohammed is basically looking for women whose vulnerability can be exploited. Counterterrorism experts say that such women make better suicide bombers. The chances of them getting detected are low, and they get the job done better. The LTTE’s recruitment of women as suicide bombers is a classic example of this, the experts also say.
(IANS)
