Jaleel – NDF’s contribution to their ‘Holy Jihad’ against Kafirs

Pioneer News Service | Kannur

People of Edakkad, Kannur are in anxiety after the police arrested NDF activist Abdul Jaleel (38) of Kadachira, Edakkad in the district on Saturday night for his suspected links with extremists operating in Kashmir. The police suspected that Jaleel could have had connections with the two Indian Mujahiddeen militants who were killed by the Army in Kupwara sector, Kashmir earlier this month.

Jaleel was arrested by a team of personnel headed by Superintendent of Police S Sreejith after a long surveillance on him that had lasted several weeks. Sreejith said that records of calls into Jaleel’s cellphone were the prime basis of the arrest. The official said that the police had sufficient evidences to believe that Jaleel had extremist links.

Jaleel, a known activist of Islamist organisation National Development Front, which was said to be the major fallback position for the operatives of SIMI after the ban on it, could have had links with extremist groups, people in the locality said. But Jaleel’s relatives said the police had arrested him without any evidences.

Home Minister Kodiyeri Balakrishnan claimed that the arrest was the result of specialised operations of a special cell formed in Kerala Police to deal with cases related extremist activities. Kodiyeri said instructions had been given to mount intense surveillance at the State’s airports to prevent infiltration of terror elements into Kerala.

The people in Edakkad locality were a worried lot after Jaleel’s arrest as there were several NDF activists in the area. They said they were not yet sure whether Jaleel had the links that the police had attributed to him but the incident could lead to further police actions.

SP Sreejith said that phone calls from Kasmir had come into the cellphone of Jaleel between October 1 and 5. Jaleel had change the phone SIM after October 5.

This had heightened the suspicions of the police, he said. Sreejith also said that Jaleel had probably been contacted by the two militants who were killed in the Kupwara sector on October 7 and 10 by the Indian Army. The police were also looking into the financial dealings of Jaleel.

According to Military and Intelligence claims, these two persons were Malayalees though the Kerala police had denied these reports. Jaleel, a painting worker, had been under the close watch of police for the past several weeks following seizure of crude bombs and explosive materials from the nearby areas.

The State police and Intelligence agencies had stepped up efforts to ascertain the links of outfits like banned SIMI and Indian Mujahideen with Kerala in the wake of killing of four suspected Keralites in recent encounters in border areas in Jammu and Kashmir.

Jaleel was learnt to have changed his mobile phone connection recently and the calls were received in the old number. “We have solid evidence to prove that Jaleel was in constant touch with a few militants who were killed in recent encounters,” Sreejith told newsmen.

Jammu and Kashmir Police had sent to the State police the voter ID cards showing Kerala addresses recovered from two militants killed in Lolab valley, Kupwara sector erlier this month. Investigations, however, had revealed that the ID cards were possibly forged as both the persons whose names were on the cards were still in the State.

Jaleel’s relatives said that he had no connections with any extremist groups anywhere in the country and that the police had arrested him slapping some charges on their own on him.

They said the police had raided Jaleel’s residences and had found nothing to prove his alleged extremist connections. They said there was no possibility that any militant had called on his phone.

But several local residents said that Jaleel could have nefarious connections as he was an active worker of NDF, without any regular job.