On Saturday (July 16) night, a Pakistani national was apprehended by the Border Security Force (BSF) from the Hindumalkot border outpost in Sri Ganga Nagar district of Rajasthan. The Pakistani national reportedly crossed the international border to assassinate suspended BJP national spokesperson Nupur Sharma. The 24-year-old Pakistani national was identified as Rizwan Ashraf who is a resident of Mandi Bahauddin of Punjab province in Pakistan.
Pak national, who crossed over to India via IB to kill Nupur Sharma, held in Rajasthan
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According to a senior Border Security Force (BSF) official, the individual was apprehended at the Hindumalkot border outpost on July 16 at around 11 PM. A patrolling squad discovered him in suspicious condition and he was subsequently nabbed and frisked right away. A joint team of IB, RAW and Military Intelligence is currently interrogating him.
According to the security agencies, they recovered an 11-inch long knife, religious texts, clothing, food, and sand in his belongings. The arrested accused further said during the preliminary inquiry that he crossed the border to assassinate Nupur Sharma because of her remarks about Prophet Muhammad. He intended to visit Ajmer Dargah first before assassinating Nupur Sharma.
“We have handed him over to local police for further investigation. He was produced before a magistrate from where he was sent to eight days of police custody. We have informed the concerned intelligence agencies about him,” the BSF official said.
The controversy over Nupur Sharma’s comments during a TV debate has taken a horrible turn, with Sharma getting countless death threats and numerous others being attacked by Islamists simply for supporting her on social media. Islamists have already assassinated two people for their support for Nupur Sharma. Several other people have been threatened with death.
Further, the terrorist organisation Islamic State Khorasan Province (ISKP) threatened Hindus and Sikhs in June of this year in response to Nupur Sharma’s remarks on Prophet Muhammad. On June 6, this year, Al Qaeda issued a letter threatening suicide bombings in Delhi, Mumbai, Uttar Pradesh, and Gujarat in order to “fight for the honour of the Prophet.”
