Explained: Who is Mushtaq Ahmed Zargar, declared a terrorist under UAPA?

Kashmiri militant Mushtaq Ahmed Zargar, who was released from jail in exchange for hostages in the IC-814 airplane hijack, has now been designated as a terrorist by the Union government under the severe anti-terror law Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA).

Earlier the Centre had designated relatives of Lashkar-i-Taiba (LeT) chief Hafiz Saeed and Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) chief Masood Azhar as terrorists under the UAPA.

The UAPA enables the security agencies to attach his or associates’ properties believed to be purchased from proceeds of crime. With this, anyone staying in touch with him becomes an offender under the law.

He is the fourth individual to have been designated as a terrorist by the Centre in the last one week.

In a notification, the Union Home Ministry said, Zargar alias Latram, 52, belongs to Nowhatta in Srinagar and is the founder and chief commander of terror group Al-Umar-Mujahideen and had been affiliated with Jammu-Kashmir Liberation Front.

He is currently based in Pakistan.

Who is Mushtaq Ahmed Zargar?

In 1988, Zargar joined one of the first batches of young Kashmiris to join the Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF). A close aide of then-JLKF chief Ashfaq Majeed Wani, Zargar crossed over to Pakistan in August 1988.

He received illegal arms training at a camp organised by the JKLF before returning to Kashmir in 1989.

As part of the JKLF, Zargar was involved in various terrorist activities across the Valley. His name came to light in December 1989 with the kidnapping of Dr Rubaiya Sayeed, the daughter of then-Home Minister of India, Mufti Mohammed Sayeed.

The government was then forced agree to the JKLF’s demand to release several terrorists in exchange for Rubaiya’s release.

In 1991, Zargar floated his own militant outfit, the Al Umar Mujahideen (AuM) after falling out with JKLF’s new chief Yasin Malik, who had taken over after Wani’s death.

According to a report by the Indian Express, which cites South Asia Terrorism Portal (SATP), Zargar was involved in several attacks on security personnel and high ranking Kashmir officials. He also reportedly carried out a series of murders of Kashmiri Pandits.

As a result of operations by security forces, several of his associates were killed while Zargar was arrested in 1992.

Release from jail post-IC 814 hijack

The Atal Bihari Vajpayee government had agreed to release three terrorists, including Zargar, in December 1999 in exchange for the hostages on-board IC 814 airplane that was hijacked by five Pakistan-based terrorists.

The government had also released Masood Azhar, who soon afterward founded the Jaish-e-Mohammed, and Ahmed Omar Saeed Sheikh, who was later convicted of the kidnapping and murder of The Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl in Pakistan

After his return to Pakistan through the Taliban, Zargar is believed to have set up his base in Muzaffarabad in Pakistan Occupied Kashmir.

What has he been doing lately?

After the killing of Hizbul Mujahideen commander Burhan Wani in 2016, AuM has started appearing on the radar of security agencies. According to the Indian Express report, his outfit has claimed responsibility for many terrorist attacks on security forces since then.

The Ministry of Home Affairs Notification designating him as a terrorist said, “Zargar has been running an incessant campaign from Pakistan to fuel terrorism in Jammu and Kashmir … Zargar is a threat to peace, not only to India, but across the world, with his contacts and proximity to radical terrorist groups like the Al- Qaeda and Jaish-e-Mohammed.”

With inputs from agencies

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