KASHMIR TERROR TRAIL: Tihar for Bitta Karate, exit for JKAS wife; justice elusive for KPs’
VIVEK SHARMA
JAMMU: The long arc of Kashmir terrorism has not only consumed armed terrorists but has also drawn educated women into separatist ecosystems, leaving behind shattered careers, broken families and enduring security concerns.
A stark illustration is the case of notorious Jihadi Farooq Ahmed Dar, notorious as Bitta Karate, and his wife Assabah Arzoomand Khan, a former Jammu and Kashmir Administrative Service (JKAS) officer, whose dismissal from service marked one of the rare instances of direct State action against a middle rung bureaucrat for alleged links to separatist networks.
Bitta Karate, once a feared operative of the Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF), is currently lodged in Tihar Jail, Delhi, in connection with a terror-funding case being probed by the National Investigation Agency (NIA). Despite persistent rumours, officials have repeatedly clarified that he remains alive and in judicial custody.
Born in Srinagar’s Guru Bazar area in 1973, Dar crossed over to Pakistan-occupied Kashmir in 1988, after being indoctrinated by the self styled JKLF Commander Ashfaq Majeed Wani. Across the LoC, he underwent arms training before returning to the Valley as an active terrorist. During the peak of insurgency in 1990, he gained notoriety for targeted killings of Kashmiri Pandits, a period that culminated in the mass exodus of over four lakh minority community.
Karate’s recorded confessional interview, in which he boasted of killing several civilians, earned him the tag “Butcher of Pandits”. One of the most cited cases linked to him is the killing of Satish Kumar Tickoo in February 1990. While multiple cases were registered, legal proceedings failed to reach closure for years.
Arrested by the BSF in June 1990, Dar spent over 16 years in various prisons across India under the Public Safety Act and other laws. In 2006, a TADA court granted him bail, citing lack of prosecutorial follow-up, triggering widespread protests among Kashmiri Pandit groups. After his release, he joined the JKLF (R) faction and gradually rose to become its chairman. He lived in Srinagar for several years, participating in separatist and terror activities, until his re-arrest in 2019 by the NIA on charges of terror funding, accusing him, Hizbul Mujahideen chief Syed Salahuddin, and others of conspiring to wage war against the Government of India and of funding and fomenting unrest in the Kashmir Valley. This was the time when political landscape of Jammu and Kashmir changed with the abrogation of Article 370 and 35A. Since then, Dar has remained in judicial custody. Parallel to this, there have been renewed calls to reopen old murder cases, including the killing of Satish Tickoo. Although hearings have taken place, no final conviction has yet been recorded, leaving many families without closure.
Parallel to Karate’s trajectory ran that of his wife, Assabah Arzoomand Khan. A postgraduate in Mass Communication and a former Editor at Sher-e-Kashmir University of Agricultural Sciences and Technology, she entered the JKAS in 2011. Reportedly she met Dar after his release from jail and married him, despite knowledge of his terror background. In August 2022, the Jammu and Kashmir administration dismissed Assabah from service under Article 311(2)(c) of the Constitution, citing activities prejudicial to the security of the State. Authorities flagged alleged links with separatist elements, questionable foreign travel, and potential misuse of official position, raising concerns over radicalisation penetrating institutional spaces.
Security analysts say the case underscores a broader pattern in which ideological indoctrination has drawn some educated women into separatist and jihad-inspired networks-often at the cost of professional careers and legal consequences.
For victims of terrorism and displaced Kashmiri Pandits, Karate’s continued incarceration without final conviction and the delayed judicial outcomes remain reminders of unresolved accountability, while the dismissal of a serving officer signals a tougher stance against radical influence within governance structures.
