India designates Mushtaq Ahmed Zargar, freed in IC-814 hijack, as 'terrorist'

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, April 14

Mushtaq Ahmed Zargar, alias Mushtaq Latram, has been designated as a terrorist under the stringent anti-terror law UAPA, a move which enables the security agencies to attach his or associates’ properties believed to be purchased from proceeds of crime.

Founder of Al-Umar-Mujahideen

• Mushtaq Ahmed Zargar, alias Mushtaq Latram, 52, belongs to Nowhatta in Srinagar and is the founder and chief commander of terror group Al-Umar-Mujahideen
• He is currently based in Pakistan, where he had gone in the late 1980s to receive arms training

With this, anyone staying in touch with him becomes an offender under the law.

He was one of the terrorists released in exchange for passengers of hijacked Indian Airlines plane IC-814 in 1999, besides Masood Azhar, the chief of banned terror group Jaish-e-Mohammed, and Sheikh Omar.

Considered to be ruthless in the early 1990s, Zargar had split JKLF and formed his own Al-Umar Mujahideen terror group.

Zargar is the fourth individual to have been designated as a terrorist by the Centre in the last one week and the 35th individual to have been declared a designated terrorist by the government.

The Home Ministry said Zargar had been running an incessant campaign from Pakistan to fuel terrorism in Jammu and Kashmir.

He has been involved in various terror crimes, including murder, attempt to murder, kidnapping, planning and execution of terrorist attacks and terror-funding, it noted.

The ministry said Zargar was a threat to peace, not only to India but the world, with his contacts and proximity to radical terrorist groups like the Al-Qaeda and Jaish-e-Mohammed.

On April 8, the government had designated Hafiz Talha Saeed, a key leader of the Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT) and the son of 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks mastermind Hafiz Saeed, a terrorist.

Three days later, on April 11, Pakistani national Mohiuddin Aurangzeb Alamgir, who was involved in the terror attack on a CRPF bus in Pulwama in Jammu and Kashmir in 2019, was designated as a terrorist.

On April 12, Ali Kashif Jan, the Pakistani handler of the 2016 terror attack on the Pathankot airbase, has been designated as a terrorist by the government.

About The Author

Tribune News Service

The Tribune News Service brings you the latest news, analysis and insights from the region, India and around the world. Follow the Tribune News Service for a wide-ranging coverage of events as they unfold, with perspective and clarity.

Join Whatsapp Channel of The Tribune for latest updates.

#Pakistan