NEW DELHI: The arrest of three suspected Lashkar-e-Toiba militants in the capital had its echo in the Lok Sabha with opposition BJP contending that the ease with which these terrorists entered Delhi showed Center's "soft approach" in tackling the scourge.
"Delhi is sitting on a dynamite," BJP deputy leader V K Malhotra contended while noting that 50 terrorists had been nabbed in the last six months. Raising the issue during the Zero Hour, Malhotra said that the revelations made by the militants, one of whom is a Pakistani, showed that anti-national elements were at work in a big way in the national capital.
This, he alleged, was due to the "soft approach of the Government towards terrorists", triggering vehement protests from the treasury benches. Earlier, Joint Commissioner of Police (Special Cell) Karnal Singh had said they had arrested Abu Qasim, a Pakistani, and Shafaqat and Shabeer, both from Doda district of Jammu and Kashmir -- outside Dilli Haat in South Delhi, The three militants, in their twenties, were being interrogated about their plans, he said.
Two kg of RDX, three detonators, two hand grenades, a timer, gelatin sticks, all the explosives being ready-to-use, and Rs 25,000 cash were recovered from them, Singh said. Police had received information from the intelligence agencies that some LeT militants could assemble at Dilli Haat and had deployed a special team to intercept them at the shopping complex, a favorite destination of Delhiites for buying handicrafts from different states.
At around 7 pm, two of the militants arrived and after some time the third came, who handed over a consignment to them. "As the material was changing hands, the policemen deployed there swooped on the militants and nabbed them," Singh said.
"The arrests led to a lot of commotion in Dilli Haat and the visitors as well as the stall-owners panicked and ran to safety," said Narendra Singh, an eyewitness.-The three militant-- one Pakistani and two from Jammu and Kashmir-- were arrested from the popular shopping arcade Dilli Haat by a team of the Special Cell of Delhi Police.
The seizures made from the ultras included two kg RDX, a detonator and some hand grenades.
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