NEW DELHI: The National Investigating Agency (NIA) probing recent unsolved bomb-blast cases have discovered a Kerala terror nexus in Kashmir. Two Pakistan terror outfits—HUJI (Harkat-ul-Jehadi) and Lashkar-ae-Toiba (LeT)—ISI (Inter Service Intelligence) help have created a well-oiled network of operatives, stretching from Kashmir to Kerala, dubbed the KK Network.
The first concrete information on the KK network emerged after the killing of four Kerala's youths by security forces at Kupwara in Kashmir in October 2008. The NIA filed a charge-sheet in the Kerela's court in February 2011, giving details of recruitment and training the men killed in Kupawara. According to the chargesheet, way back in 2006 the banned SIMI (Students Islamic Movement of India), on LeT’s behalf, had held a clandestine camp at Kannaur, Kerala to recruit youth, mostly in their early 20's. This was done in the garb of religious classes organised by Noorisha Tareeqat, which has SIMI links. The police are looking for 185 young men who participated in the camp, suspected to be potential mischief makers.
On September 10, 2008, five youngsters—Fayaz, Raheem, Fayeez, Yasin and Abdul Jabbar—from these camps were selected and taken from Kannur by train to Jamia Nooria, the headquarter of Noorisha Tareeqat in Hyderabad. Three days later, they were taken to Delhi by train and were put up at a lodge near Nizamuddin Railway Station. On September 14, all five took a night bus to Srinagar, where they were handed over to Urnair, a Kashmiri. On the 16th, they were taken to Kupwara by a woman called Parveen, where they joined an LeT training camp.
During interrogation of two Malayalee terrorists of the KK network Thadiyanatavide Nazir and Sarfaraz Nawaz—who were captured after the Bangalore blasts in July 2008—disclosed their plans to recruit cadres from Kerala for operations in Kashmir.
The Pakistan's ISI (Inter-Services Intelligence) has put together the KK network to exploit Kerala's close connections with Gulf countries, where they already have an extensive presence. Initially the ISI only used the state to run terror money through hawala channels for further distribution among militants in the Kashmir Valley. However now it has also started recruitment of youth from the state to escalate terror throughout India.
According to a senior NIA's official estimate, the ISI has strategically chosen Kerala as a base to push terror activities in Kashmir and other parts of country, mainly due to two reasons. The first: state is one of the biggest hubs of hawala traders. It is easy to camouflage terror money. Second: the sharp increase in fundamentalists activities in Kerala.