NIA attaches property of IC-814 hijacking accomplice Mushtaq ‘Latram’
In a major offensive against terrorists operating from Pakistan soil, 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 of passengers of the hijacked Indian Airlines flight 814 (IC 814) at Kandahar in1999.
Zargar was also involved in the kidnapping of former union Home Minister, Mufti Mohammad Sayeed’s daughter, Rubaiya Sayeed, sister of former chief minister Mehbooba Mufti, in 1989.
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 earlier associated with Jammu & Kashmir Liberation Front and was responsible for several terror attacks in Jammu and Kashmir. He has also been involved in other heinous crimes, including murders, and has a close association with other terror outfits 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 the Nowhatta area of Srinagar and joined JKLF. In 1989 he was one of the members who kidnapped Rubaiya Sayeed, and negotiated her release in exchange for five terrorists.
He was arrested on May 15, 1992 and and was released from jail on December 31, 1999, as 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.
While 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.