NIA attaches property of Pak-based terrorist Zargar

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, March 2

Claiming it to be a major offensive against terrorists operating from Pakistan’s soil, the NIA on Thursday said it had attached the Srinagar-based property of Mushtaq Zargar, alias Latram, the founder and chief commander of Al-Umar Mujahideen.

In 1999, Zargar was released along with Masood Azhar, the notorious terrorist and Jaish-e-Mohammed chief, in exchange of passengers of the hijacked Indian Airlines flight 814 (IC-814) at Kandahar, Afghanistan. He was also reportedly involved in the kidnapping of Rubaiya Sayeed, daughter of former Union Home Minister Mufti Mohammad Sayeed, in 1989.

Involvement in several crimes

• He was reportedly involved in the kidnapping of Rubaiya Sayeed, daughter of former Union Home Minister Mufti Mohammad Sayeed, in 1989.
• Earlier associated with JKLF, he later founded Al-Umar Mujahideen and also has links with Al-Qaeda and JeM. He has been involved in murders.
• Besides Zargar, the government was forced to release Masood Azhar, head of Jaish-e-Mohammed, as well after hijackers took Indian Airlines flight 814 to Kandahar.

“Zargar’s 544 square feet house at Ganai Mohalla in Nowhatta area of Srinagar has been attached under the provisions of the UAPA,” the NIA mentioned in an official statement. It further said the procedure was carried out today by a team of the NIA along with representatives of the district administration and the local police.

The NIA team pasted the notice of attachment on his house in presence of the sisters of the absconding terrorist. After the NIA and police teams departed, the sisters unsuccessfully attempted to create a commotion but returned to their houses after no one joined them.

Zargar is a designated terrorist under the UAPA and has been operating from Pakistan ever since his release from the jail and has been funding terror activities in the Valley, the NIA said. He was earlier associated with J&K Liberation Front (JKLF) and was responsible for several terror attacks in Jammu and Kashmir. He has also been allegedly involved in other heinous crimes, including murders, and has “close association with other terror outfits, like Al-Qaeda and JeM”. He was designated a terrorist by the Union Government under the Fourth Schedule of the UAPA. “He was arrested on May 15, 1992 and was released on December 31, 1999 as part of the Indian Airlines Flight 814 hostage exchange deal,” the agency stated.

Besides Zargar, whose name according to security experts was included by perpetrators in Pakistan only to project the hijacking as an indigenous act of Kashmiri terrorists, the others released included Masood Azhar, head of Jaish-e-Mohammed, and Sheikh Omar, presently on death row in Pakistan for killing American journalist Daniel Pearl. (With PTI inputs)

Sisters protest

After the NIA and the police teams departed, Zargar’s sisters unsuccessfully attempted to create a commotion but returned to their houses after no one joined them. The Union Home Ministry has already designated Zargar a terrorist under the UAPA.

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