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 released along with Masood Azhar, the Bahawalpur-based Jaish-e-Mohammed chief, in exchange for passengers of the hijacked Indian Airlines flight 814 (IC 814) at Kandahar in 1999. Zargar was also involved in the 1989 kidnapping of Mufti Mohammad Sayeed’s daughter, Rubaiya Sayeed, sister of former chief minister Mehbooba Mufti.
According to an NIA spokesperson, Zargar’s two Marlas house (Khasra No. 182) at Ganai Mohalla, Jamia Masjid, Nowhatta, Srinagar, has been attached under the provisions of UA(P)A. Zargar is a ‘Designated Individual Terrorist’ under the UA(P) Act and has been operating from Pakistan ever since his release and has been funding terror activities in the valley.
Zargar was previously associated with the Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front. He was responsible for several terror attacks in the state. Zargar has also been involved in other heinous crimes, including murders. He has ties to other terrorist organisations such as Al-Qaeda and JeM.
The spokesperson said Zargar was designated a terrorist by the union government under the Fourth Schedule of UAPA. He grew up in Srinagar’s Nowhatta district and joined the JKLF. Zargar was one of the members who kidnapped Rubaiya Sayeed in 1989. Zargar negotiated her release in exchange for the release of five terrorists.
He was arrested on May 15, 1992 and and was released from jail on December 31, 1999. He was a part of the Indian Airlines Flight 814 hostage exchange deal along with Harkat-ul-Ansar terrorist Omar Sayeed Sheikh, who was later arrested in Pakistan in 2002 for brutal murder Daniel Pearl.
Both Masood Azhar and Omar Sayeed were hardcore terrorists of then Harkat-ul-Ansar group. The hijackers for Mushtaq Zargar released to show support for the Kashmir issue. Today, Zargar is active again. Sheikh is in Pakistani jail and Masood Azhar is in JeM main seminary in Bahawalpur, Pakistan.