Srinagar: National Investigation Agency (NIA) in the chargesheet has said that Jaish-e-Mohammad Chief Masood Azhar’s nephew Mohammad Umar Farooq, who executed the February 14, 2019 Pulwama attack, wanted to target a team of journalists working for BBC who had gone to the residence of suicide bomber Adil Ahmad Dar to interview his father Ghulam Hassan Dar.
According to a report by Hindustan Times the investigation agency has referred to a 21 February 2019 conversation between Umar Farooq and his Pakistan based uncle Ammar Alvi, in which he sought permission to target the BBC journalists who were in the valley. He believed that the attack would give JeM more international exposure.
“It is unclear whether foreign journalists were present at the valley at that time,” the HT report says.
Adding that Alvi had however, denied the permission to attack the journalists asking Farooq to “cherish the success of Pulwama attack for now”, according to charge sheet.
The charge sheet doesn’t mention the names of the BBC journalists.
Alvi (46) has been named as a key handler of the Pulwama attack in the charge sheet, along with Farooq, Azhar, Abdul Rouf Asghar, and 15 others. NIA has found pictures of Alvi dating back to 2016 , where he is seen with Farooq at a training camp in Sangin, Helmand province of Afghanistan.
