The National Investigation Agency (NIA) has obtained a non-bailable warrant against Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) chief Hafiz Saeed in connection with its investigation into the April 22 Pahalgam terror attack, officials said.

The warrant was issued by a special NIA court on July 8 after the agency filed a supplementary chargesheet naming the 76-year-old terror mastermind as an accused in the case.

In the chargesheet submitted before the special NIA court in Jammu, Saeed has been named both in his individual capacity and as the chief of the banned Lashkar-e-Taiba and its proxy outfit, The Resistance Front (TRF). He has been booked under various provisions of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), 2023, and the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA), 1967.

According to the court order, the NIA informed the court that Saeed, a resident of Sargodha in Pakistan’s Punjab province, has been absconding and deliberately evading arrest. The agency sought an open-dated non-bailable warrant to facilitate further legal proceedings and enable action against him during the course of the investigation.

Allowing the request, the court observed that Saeed’s arrest and custodial interrogation were necessary for a fair, complete and effective investigation, and directed that the non-bailable warrant be forwarded to the Deputy Inspector General (DIG), NIA Jammu, for execution in accordance with law.

Hafiz Saeed has been designated a global terrorist by India and the United States and is also regarded as the mastermind of the 2008 Mumbai terror attacks.

The case pertains to the April 22 terrorist attack in Pahalgam in south Kashmir, in which 26 people, most of them tourists, were killed.

A fresh batch of more than 5,300 Shri Amarnath Yatra pilgrims on Tuesday left the Bhagwati Nagar Yatri Niwas base camp in Jammu for the twin base camps of the cave shrine in the South Kashmir Himalayas amid tight security arrangements.

Officials said that 5,335 pilgrims left the base camp early this morning in a fleet of 232 light and heavy motor vehicles.

The batch comprised 1,736 pilgrims bound for the Baltal base camp and 3,599 for the Pahalgam base camp. The pilgrims departed under a multi-layered security grid, with coordinated arrangements by the civil administration, police, security forces, and the Shri Amarnath Shrine Board to ensure the Yatra is conducted safely, securely, and smoothly.

Meanwhile, more than 2.5 lakh pilgrims from different parts of the country have visited the cave shrine during the first eight days of the Yatra.

The Jammu and Kashmir administration has appealed to pilgrims to undertake the pilgrimage only after obtaining confirmed registration and on their scheduled date of travel, as no unregistered pilgrim will be allowed to proceed to the base camps.

Jammu and Kashmir Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha flagged off the first batch of the Yatra from Jammu on June 2.

The lieutenant governor’s administration Monday imposed restrictions in several parts of Srinagar to prevent people from assembling at the martyrs’ graveyard in Naqshband Sahib area of the city.

While the area within a one-kilometre radius of the graveyard was sealed off on Sunday, barricades were set up in the old city and some parts of the civil lines area as a precautionary measure, officials said.

They further informed that police and paramilitary forces have been deployed in strength to meet any eventuality and maintain law and order.

Locals observe July 13 to commemorate protestors who fell to the bullets of Maharaja Hari Singh’s soldiers in 1931.

A siege of concertina wires, plastic barricades, GI sheets and poles has been laid near Nowhatta to prevent the leaders’ march to the graveyard today.

Education Minister Sakina Ittoo posted on social media a video of herself trying to reach the graveyard at 4.30 am to pay tributes to the fallen men, but claimed she was stopped by security forces.

“I tried to visit the Mazar-e-Shuhada at 4.30 am today to pay my humble tributes to our martyrs of 13th July. However, due to the heavy deployment of security forces and extensive barbed-wire barricading around the graves, I was prevented from entering. I was accompanied by the Provincial President of the JKNC Women’s Wing @sabiya_qadri Ji,” the minister said in a post on X.

Sources in the establishment said the restrictions have been imposed in the city to prevent a repeat of last year’s drama, when Chief Minister Omar Abdullah scaled a fence to offer tributes after police locked the gates.

The police in the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir report to the lieutenant governor.

Last year, ahead of the day, Omar Abdullah and many other leaders were put under house arrest.

Despite restrictions, National Conference president Farooq Abdullah took an autorickshaw from the Khanyar crossing to the memorial, while Education Minister Sakina Itoo surprised everyone by riding pillion on a scooter to join the veteran politician.

The chief minister climbed over the main gate of the graveyard to offer ‘fateha’. His security men and several other party leaders followed him, eventually forcing the police to open the gate.

On July 13, 1931, 22 people were gunned down by the Dogra army outside Srinagar’s central jail.

In 2020, the LG-led administration dropped the day from the list of gazetted holidays