J&K: Police bust LeT-linked OGW network, arrest 3 for aiding terrorists
Rajouri Police in the Pir Panjal region of Jammu and Kashmir busted an Over Ground Worker (OGW) network allegedly linked to the Pakistan-based terrorist outfit Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT).
Three men were arrested on charges of providing logistical support, safe transit, and ground-level assistance to terrorists operating in the region.
Investigators say the accused acted as guides, facilitating the movement of terrorist groups toward the Kashmir Valley.
During the probe, an Improvised Explosive Device (IED) was recovered based on a disclosure by one of the accused; police said the device had allegedly been handed to the accused by a terrorist group for safe custody, with a possible view to its use in a targeted attack.
Police stated that efforts to dismantle the full OGW support structure in the area, including identifying further associates, are continuing.
Over Ground Workers (OGWs): The Support Layer Behind Militancy
An Over Ground Worker is security-forces terminology for a civilian who provides non-combat support to armed militant or terrorist networks without directly participating in violence. OGWs are the critical link between underground armed cadres and the local population, and dismantling this support layer is treated as central to counter-insurgency strategy in Jammu and Kashmir, since militants cannot sustain operations without local logistics, shelter, and intelligence.
Key Details
- Typical OGW functions include supplying safe houses, transport, food, and local intelligence; acting as couriers for funds, weapons, and ammunition; enabling cross-border and inter-district movement of militants; conducting reconnaissance of security force movements; and recruiting or radicalising local youth.
- OGWs are prosecuted under provisions of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA), 1967, and the Arms Act, 1959, rather than under any OGW-specific statute — there is no separate legal category called "OGW" in Indian law; it is an investigative/operational classification.
- A prominent precedent is the 2019 Ministry of Home Affairs ban on Jamaat-e-Islami Jammu & Kashmir as an "unlawful association" under UAPA, citing its documented role in channelling funds and ideological support to OGW networks linked to groups such as LeT.
The Rajouri arrests are a textbook OGW case: the accused did not carry out an attack themselves but allegedly provided the guide services, shelter, and safekeeping of a weapon (the IED) that made an LeT-linked operation possible.
UAPA: India's Principal Anti-Terror Law
The Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, 1967, is India's primary substantive law for designating and prosecuting terrorism and "unlawful activities" (acts threatening India's sovereignty and territorial integrity). It was substantially strengthened after 2004 and again by the UAPA (Amendment) Act, 2019, which extended the law's reach from banning organisations to designating individuals as terrorists.
Any prosecution of the three arrested men, and of the wider OGW network Rajouri Police say they are still tracing, will proceed under UAPA provisions given the alleged LeT linkage.
Counter-Insurgency Architecture in J&K: AFSPA and the Security Grid
The Armed Forces (Jammu and Kashmir) Special Powers Act, 1990, grants the armed forces special powers — including the power to arrest without warrant and use force — in areas of J&K declared "disturbed" under the Act, to support counter-militancy operations by the police and central paramilitary forces (CRPF, BSF).
Key Details
- AFSPA has been in force in Jammu and Kashmir since it was extended there in 1990, distinct from the separate AFSPA, 1958, that applies to northeastern states.
- Declaring an area "disturbed" is a prerequisite for AFSPA's application and is periodically reviewed by the Union Home Ministry and the J&K administration.
- Local counter-terror operations such as the Rajouri bust are typically led by the Jammu & Kashmir Police (a state subject under the Seventh Schedule for "public order" and "police"), working alongside central forces, illustrating the layered civil-police/paramilitary/military structure of internal security in the region.
This operation was conducted by the state police rather than the army, reflecting the standard first-tier response to OGW networks — intelligence-led local policing — with AFSPA-backed forces reserved for direct counter-militant engagements.
- Lashkar-e-Taiba is a Pakistan-based terrorist organisation listed in the First Schedule of the UAPA and proscribed by the United Nations and the United States.
- The Armed Forces (Jammu and Kashmir) Special Powers Act has applied to J&K since 1990.
- The UAPA (Amendment) Act, 2019, introduced individual terrorist designation via the Fourth Schedule, in addition to organisational bans under the First Schedule.
- Jamaat-e-Islami Jammu & Kashmir was banned as an unlawful association in 2019 for its alleged role in sustaining OGW and terror-financing networks.