The Intelligence agencies have informed the Special Protection Group and the Delhi Police that the Pakistan-based terror groups plan to target PM Narendra Modi at the Ramlila ground on December 22 where he will be addressing a mega rally organised by the BJP on the issue of the Centre’s move to regularise unauthorised colonies in Delhi.
According to reports, the central agencies have directed the security establishments to fully implement instruction contained in the Blue Book for the protection of the Prime Minister while making the security arrangements.
The intelligence agencies stated that they have fresh inputs that terror organisation Jaish-e-Mohammed operatives have been mobilised in India to assassinate Prime Minister Modi at Ramlila ground, where a huge gathering and presence of media persons in huge numbers are expected.
“The recent enactment of the Citizenship Amendment Act (December 12), the Ram Janmabhoomi verdict (November 9) and abrogation of Article 370 (August 5), besides pre-emptive air strikes on non-military targets inside Pakistan by Indian Air Force have added fresh dimensions to the threat scenario,” the intelligence report stated.
The Special Protection Group along with the Delhi Police will be responsible for the security at the Ramlila ground. PM Narendra Modi will be present at the rally along with various NDA Chief Ministers and cabinet ministers.
The agencies said in “the given situation reprisal action by Pakistan based terrorist groups cannot be ruled out”. The agencies stated that Pakistan’s Inter-Service Intelligence (ISI) continues to provide infrastructural and other financial/logistical assistance to terror groups.
“In October 2019, letter received by National Investigation Agency (NIA) purportedly published by Lashkar-e-Taiba, threatened to target Indian dignitaries, including the Prime Minister, to avenge the alleged excesses by the Indian Armed Forces in Jammu and Kashmir,” the agencies have flagged.
In September 2019, Shamshe Wani of the Jaish e Mohammad (JeM) had written a letter threatening to avenge PM Modi, Home Minister Amit Shah and NSA Ajit Doval following the abrogation of Article 370 in Jammu and Kashmir.
An input in July 2019, indicated that Ansar Ghazwat-ul-Hind (AguH), an al-Qaeda affiliate group in the Jammu and Kashmir warned India of terror attacks and had threatened PM Modi.
Similarly, according to input on May 28, 2019, a group of Pakistan based Lashkar e Taiba and JeM terrorists having Pakistan and Afghani passports aided and abetted by a Delhi-based individual planned to execute terrorist attacks in India and around Eid-ul-Fitr festival.
“According to another May 2019 input, the Indian Mujahideen has been instructed by Dawah Academy in Pakistan to target Old Delhi, Ghaziabad and Lucknow in a bid to instigate communal violence,” the agencies mentioned.
They also stated that an online article title “Lone Wolf – to carry Global Jihad” suspected to have been published in March 2019 by an operative Ansarullah Bangla Team (ABT), urged Bangladeshis to carry out lone-wolf attacks against the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) and other right-wing Hindu leaders.
In a message in February 2019 to his followers, JeM’s Masood Azhar issued threats to take revenge on the Indian Prime minister for alleged killing Kashmiri Muslims.
The agencies also flagged that past inputs also indicated a threat to the Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the Delhi region from these outfits. “It would be essential to put in place stringent access control measures, appropriate security law and order arrangements and crowd control mechanism at the venue and route of the Prime Minister,” the agencies said.
