The India Army on Wednesday, 29 September, released a video of a Pakistani terrorist, Ali Babar Patra, who was captured alive by the army during a live encounter in Jammu and Kashmir’s Uri sector on 26 September.
In the video, 19-year-old Patra, who seems to be interacting with the media, can be heard saying that he was trained by the Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) and the Pakistani Army. He had surrendered to the Indian Army during the counter-infiltration operation and asked for his life to be spared.
“I appeal to the LeT area commander, the ISI and the Pakistan Army to take me back to my mother just like they sent me here (India)," Patra says in the video released by the army.
He, thereafter, tells reporters that he was paid 20,000 rupees (presumably Pakistani) by his handlers to cross over and take arms and supplies to Pattan in Baramulla district. He was also promised another 30,000 rupees later.
Patra further said the Pakistani Army, ISI and LeT were spreading lies about India to entice recruits like himself.
“We were told that the Indian Army is carrying out a bloodbath, but everything is peaceful here. I want to tell my mother that the Indian Army has taken good care of me," he said.
“I can hear the azaan (call for prayers) on the loudspeakers five times a day. The behaviour of the Indian Army is completely opposite to that of the Pakistan Army. This makes me feel that there is peace in Kashmir. On the contrary, they (Pakistani Army) take advantage of our helplessness in Pakistani Kashmir to send us here," he added.
He also revealed that he was trained in a LeT camp in Muzaffarabad in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK) and infiltrated India with a group of six terrorists on 18 September.
Speaking about his initiation into the world of terror, the 19-year-old said that he lost his father at the age of seven, after which his family fell into a financial crisis.
“I took a job in a garment factory in Sialkot where I met Anas who used to recruit people for the LeT. Due to my situation, I went with him", he said.
He also shared details of weapons training he underwent with the Pakistan Army and the ISI at Camp Khyber Deli Habibullah.
On 18 September, the Indian Army launched a counter-infiltration operation in the Uri sector which spanned over nine days. One Pakistani infiltrator was killed during the operation.
(With inputs from PTI and ANI)
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