The terror module involving doctors linked to the Red Fort blast last year, which drew members from the upper echelons of white-collar Kashmiri society, seems to have been driven by ambitions that went far beyond appearances.
Rather than choosing to act as mere proxies for Pakistan, they pursued a broader pan-Islamist vision — seeking to build an ideologically driven and intellectually sound network aligned with al Qaida.
Jammu and Kashmir police's State Investigation Agency (SIA) on Thursday filed a chargesheet in the "doctor terror module" case against 10 accused persons in connection with an FIR filed at Nowgam police station. The NIA is also investigating the case. An SIA statement said there was a "significant terrorist conspiracy case" which involved a "covert module" of mainly doctors.
"The case originates from an incident dated 19-10-2025, wherein provocative and threatening posters were pasted in the Nowgam area in the name of the proscribed terrorist outfit Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM)," the agency said in a statement. Jaish is a Pakistan-based militant group believed to be closely aligned with the establishment there.
The SIA said its "meticulous and sustained investigation" had revealed that the poster campaign was not an isolated act, but "part of a larger, well-orchestrated terrorist conspiracy aimed at reviving the banned terrorist outfit Ansar Ghazwat-ul-Hind".
In 2017, the Global Islamic Media Front, an al Qaida-affiliated information network, had announced the formation of "Ansar Ghazwat-ul-Hind (helpers of Jihad in India)", apparently as a Kashmir chapter of al Qaida. The group was headed by Tral resident Zakir Musa, who was killed in a gunfight in Kashmir in May 2019. The Islamic State, too, had tried in the past to make its presence felt in Kashmir through its local franchise Wilayat e Hind but neither group was able to gain much of a foothold here.
The SIA statement said: "Significantly, the module included highly educated individuals, including medical professionals, who misused their knowledge, access, and institutional spaces for unlawful activities. The accused were actively disseminating extremist propaganda through digital platforms and had undertaken procurement of materials and experimental activities related to explosive fabrication, including within residential premises and facilities linked to Al Falah Medical College/University."
The agency said it had dismantled the militant network "through a comprehensive, evidence-driven investigation".