An army soldiers looks on during a cordon and search operation for suspected militants in Shuhama on the outskirts of Srinagar on November 5, 2018

JAMMU: An agent of Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) was arrested from Kishtwar on Friday in a joint operation by Jammu and Kashmir police and Indian Army. Security forces said the arrest may have foiled a major terror bid in Kashmir Valley.

“Based on intelligence inputs, security forces arrested Sehran Sheikh alias Abu Zubair, a resident of Kishtwar’s Malipeth area, who was spying for the Pakistani intelligence agency. Sheikh, who is in his early 20s, was gathering information about police and Army establishments and deployment of armed forces in the region, and passing it on to ISI,” said an official source.

During interrogation, Sheikh confessed to working for ISI and said he was also involved with Harkat-ul-Mujahideen, another Pakistan-based terror organisation. The information he provided was being used to plan terror attacks in the region, sources said. Police found that Sheikh had shared sensitive data, including videos of paramilitary establishments, with Pakistani phone numbers.

“Sheikh was on our radar for suspected espionage for the last three months. He was arrested on Friday after specific intelligence inputs confirmed his involvement in subversive activities,” added the official.