Muslim cleric arrested in J&K for passing sensitive information about Indian Army to Pakistan

A Muslim cleric in Jammu and Kashmir's Kishtwar has been held for allegedly relaying sensitive information to Pakistan related to the deployment of security forces and the Army.

The police have arrested a Muslim cleric from Jammu and Kashmir's Kishtwar district for allegedly passing on sensitive information about the security forces to Pakistan. He was also allegedly assisting a Pakistan-based terror outfit called Kashmiri Janbaz Force.

Earlier, officials detected the involvement of a person in passing on information about the deployment and the movement of security forces to a Pakistan-based terrorist group.

The suspect was then identified as 22-year-old Abdul Wahid, who worked as a teacher in a Madrassa and as a 'maulvi' (cleric) at a mosque in Kishtwar.

Last Friday, the police called Wahid to appear for questioning in Kishtwar.

Wahid revealed that in December 2020, he got in touch with one Tayyab Farooqi, alias "Umar Khatab", on Facebook, who introduced himself as the ‘Aamir' (commander) of the Kashmir Janbaz Force (KJF).

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After that, Wahid was initially tasked with uploading photos and content related to the organisation on Facebook and then on WhatsApp, where the so-called commander of the KJF would communicate using a Pakistani phone number.Abdul Wahid became an active member of the Facebook and WhatsApp groups of KJF, supporting their anti-national activities online. He was even offered a role in KJF as a terrorist.