Farhatullah Ghori, a Pakistan-based Islamic terrorist, has posted a video on Telegram encouraging his supporters to carry out large-scale train derailments in Delhi, Mumbai, and other Indian cities. Inciting the Jihadis to interrupt the railway lines and their transportation system, Ghori said that it would cause havoc in India. The terror recruiter on the intelligence establishment’s most wanted list stated, “The government is targeting our properties through ED and NIA, but we will remain steadfast and usurp power sooner or later.”
Notably, Farahtullah Ghori’s train derailment remarks in his speech have alarmed the Indian authorities. Reports say that they are currently reviewing train derailment incidents that transpired in the recent past. It is pertinent to recall that on the 23rd and 24th of August, cement blocks were laid in the same location to derail a Vande Bharat train. In a similar incident on 23rd August, the Farrukhabad Express running between Kasganj and Farrukhabad narrowly averted a major accident after coming in contact with a wooden log placed on the railway track.
In the three-minute video posted three weeks ago, Ghori urged the mujahideen to launch an “ishtishadi jung” or “fidayeen war” against Hindu leaders and police.
“Experiment with different tactics to ascertain what works… where they are most vulnerable,” he told them. Intelligence officers confirmed that the video had circulated for 1-2 weeks.
Notably, the Farhatullah Ghori who was designated a terrorist in 2020 has been involved in several terror attacks in India. Ghori was the mastermind of the 2001 Akshardham Temple attack which left 30 dead and 80 injured, the 2004 suicide attack on the Task Force office in Hyderabad and the 2023 Rameshwaram Café blast case. Terrorist Farhatullah Ghori is originally from Hyderabad, India. Intelligence officials opine that Pakistan’s ISI may have deliberately unveiled Ghori to incite terror attacks and communal unrest in India, while shrewdly evading responsibility by claiming that Ghori is an Indian fugitive alongside dismissing his presence in Pakistan.
Ghori has also been leading the online recruitment of Jihadis. Last year, the Delhi Police arrested 3 most-wanted terrorists from Delhi and Uttar Pradesh. It was found that Farhatullah Ghori was their handler.
A few months back, Delhi Police mentioned Farhatullah Ghori’s name when several terrorists from the Pune-ISIS module were arrested. The authorities had said that the ISI was operating sleeper cells in India and recruiting youths to carry out terror attacks.
Instances of train sabotages on the rise in India
Nevertheless, the Pakistani terrorist’s clarion call to his fellow jihadis across the border should ring alarm bells for the Indian intelligence agencies, especially in the wake of multiple train sabotages that have struck the railways after the Lok Sabha 2024 elections. On the night of 17th August, the engine of the Sabarmati Express train derailed near Govindpuri station in Kanpur. Soon after, Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw informed that the derailment took place because of an object placed on the railway track. It was later revealed by the investigative authorities that a broken piece of railway track was kept on the train line to cause an accident.
On Thursday, 22nd August, the Aligarh Railway Police charged one Afsan for deliberately placing an alloy wheel on the railway track to derail a moving train. The incident happened on Tuesday, 20th August when the accused made a deliberate attempt to recreate the Kanpur rail accident that happened on August 17th.
Recently, an investigation was launched into a suspected act of sabotage after the engine of the Nainpur Jabalpur train collided with an extraneous iron rod placed on the track near Kachhpura station.
Similar incidents have been reported in the recent past. In October last year, it was reported that multiple large rocks had been placed on the tracks on purpose and a major tragedy was averted by vigilant railway crew. On 2nd October, the driver of the Vande Bharat Express travelling from Udaipur to Jaipur avoided a catastrophic event by pressing the emergency brake to thwart an attempted derailing plot. The Vande Bharat Express crew found that there were stones and fish plates left on the railway track.
In February 2022, it was reported that a deliberate attempt to derail a train on the route of Ahmedabad-Bhavnagar track was averted saving the lives of the locomotive pilot and a guard. The incident came to light when an alert railway employee informed the rail officials that a large number of clips that fasten the rail tracks had been separated from the concrete sleepers.
In November 2022, an explosion took place at a bridge on the Udaipur-Ahmedabad railway line as an attempt was made to blow up a railway bridge. Following the explosion, the railway track was left with multiple cracks, and gunpowder was later found on the spot.
