Declaring suspects as terrorists premature: Mehbooba Mufti on NIA raid

Criticising the recent arrest of 10 terror suspects by the NIA, former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister and PDP chief Mehbooba Mufti on Friday said that "declaring suspects as terrorists is premature".

"National security is supreme. But declaring suspects as terrorists on the basis of Sutli bombs, associating with the dreaded IS is premature. It has already devastated their lives and families. NIA must learn from earlier episodes in which the accused were acquitted after decades," Mehbooba tweeted.

On December 26, the NIA busted an ISIS-inspired module Harkat-ul-Harb-e-Islam and arrested 10 people following multi-city raids. The module was allegedly planning to carry out major terror attacks ahead of the Republic Day

The NIA sleuths carried out coordinated raids at 17 places including six in Delhi and 11 in Uttar Pradesh, and recovered a large quantity of arms, ammunition and explosives, including 12 pistols along with 150 rounds, a country- made rocket launcher, according to a top official of the agency.

Important personalities, including politicians, vital installations and crowded places were on the hit list of the terror module which was planning to strike very soon, the official had added.

Earlier, Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh congratulated the NIA for busting the terror module calling it a "big success".

Minister of State for Home Affairs Kiren Rijiju also lauded the investigating agency, terming the crackdown on the terrorist module a "huge success". "NIA has done a good job. They're a professional organisation. NIA has been doing a wonderful job since it was constituted. Catching hold of the plot before any untoward incident, is a huge success," said Rijiju.