Lagatar24 desk
Srinagar, March 2: The National Investigation Agency (NIA) has attached the Srinagar-based property of Mushtaq Zargar aka Latram, the founder and chief commander of Al-Umar Mujahideen, who was exchanged for passengers of the hijacked Indian Airlines flight 814 (IC 814) at Kandahar in 1999 along with Masood Azhar, the head of Jaish-e-Mohammed with headquarters in Bahawalpur.
In a major offensive against terrorists operating from Pak, NIA attaches Srinagar-based property of Mushtaq Zargar,founder-chief commander of Al-Umar Mujahideen, who was released with JeM chief Masood Azhar in exchange of pax of hijacked Indian Airlines flight at Kandahar in 1999 pic.twitter.com/xXsAeNnPfb
— ANI (@ANI) March 2, 2023
Rubaiya Sayeed, the sister of former chief minister Mehbooba Mufti and the daughter of Mufti Mohammad Sayeed, a former union home minister, was taken in 1989 by Zargar.
Zargar’s two Marlas home (Khasra No. 182) at Ganai Mohalla, Jamia Masjid, Nowhatta, Srinagar has reportedly been attached in accordance with the UA(P)A, according to an NIA spokeswoman. Since his release, Zargar, who is classified as a “Designated Person Terrorist” under the UA(P) Act, has operated out of Pakistan and supported terrorism in the valley.
Zargar was earlier associated with Jammu & Kashmir Liberation Front and was responsible for several terror attacks in Jammu & Kashmir. He has also been involved in other heinous crimes, including murders, & has close association with other terror outfits such, as Al-Qaeda and JeM
— ANI (@ANI) March 2, 2023
Former Jammu & Kashmir Liberation Front member Zargar was behind a number of terrorist assaults in Jammu and Kashmir. He has also committed other horrible crimes, such as murders, and is closely connected to terrorist groups like Al-Qaeda and the JeM.
According to the spokesperson, Zargar was classified as a terrorist under the Fourth Schedule of the UAPA by the union government. He joined the JKLF and was raised in Srinagar’s Nowhatta neighbourhood. He was one of the group that kidnapped Rubaiya Sayeed in 1989 and arranged for her release in exchange for the release of five terrorists.
Together with Harkat-ul-Ansar terrorist Omar Sayeed Sheikh, who was eventually apprehended in Pakistan in 2002 for the savage murder of Daniel Pearl, he was exchanged for hostages on Indian Airlines Flight 814 between May 15, 1992, and December 31, 1999.
Masood Azhar and Omar Sayeed were both avowed members of the Harkat-ul-Ansar terrorist organisation at the time, but they were freed as Mushtaq Zargar’s hijackers in support of the Kashmir conflict. At present, Zargar is active again, Sheikh is in Pakistani jail and Masood Azhar is in JeM main seminary in Bahawalpur, Pakistan.
