STATE TIMES NEWS
Srinagar: The National Investigation Agency (NIA) on Thursday attached property of terrorist Mushtaq Ahmad Zargar, who along with two other terrorists was released in exchange of passengers of the hijacked Indian Airlines plane in 1999, officials said here.
An NIA spokesperson said that Zargar alias ‘Latram’ was wanted in several terror related cases, including kidnapping of daughter of the then Union Home Minister Mufti Mohammed Sayeed in 1989.
Special NIA Court issues non-bailable warrants against 13 terrorists from Kishtwar hiding in Pakistan
Jammu: A special NIA court here issued non-bailable warrants against 13 terrorists, hailing from Jammu and Kashmir’s Kishtwar district, who are presently operating from across the border, police said on Thursday.
Senior Superintendent of Police, Kishtwar, Khalil Poswal said the warrants have been issued in a terror-related case registered last year under various sections of the Indian Penal Code and the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act at police station Kishtwar.
The chief investigation officer of Kishtwar Police approached the special NIA court for issuance of non-bailable warrants against the accused for their active involvement in terror activities and creating unrest in the Chenab valley and other parts of Jammu and Kashmir, he said.
“After the eruption of terrorism in 1990, many terrorists were killed but one group comprising 36 members affiliated with Hizbul Mujahideen and Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), all residents of Kishtwar, were settled in different parts of Pakistan and Pakistan occupied Kashmir and engaged in disruptive activities,” the officer said.
He said two cases were registered against them and in one of the cases, non-bailable open-ended warrants have been issued by the special NIA court Jammu, while similar action is being taken against others as well in the coming days.
“We are forwarding a red corner notice to Interpol and a process has also been initiated to identify their properties to get them sealed. Based on electronic and other evidence, we will pursue these two cases in the court of law and with the help of Interpol will arrest the terrorists and bring them back to face the law,” Poswal said.
Besides luring the youth into militancy, the officer said, the Pakistan-based terrorists mobilised sleeper cells and pushed them into J-K in connivance with secessionist and separatist leaders for waging war against the government of India with the nefarious design of seceding Jammu and Kashmir.
In nearby Doda, police said a total of 118 terrorists belonging to different parts of the district have exfiltrated into Pakistan and 10 among them are most active and making continuous attempts to recruit youth into militancy and disturb peace in J-K.
Senior Superintendent of Police, Doda, Abdul Qayoom said while property of one of the terrorists was recently seized, appropriate action is being taken against the rest of the others.
“Two of the terrorists have already been declared as individual terrorists’ and two others as proclaimed offenders,” he said, adding dossiers are being prepared against active terrorists and the details of their properties are also being collected.
Terming it as a “major offensive” against terrorists operating from the Pakistani soil, the spokesperson said that Zargar’s two marlas (544 sq feet) house (Khasra No. 182) at Ganai Mohalla, Jamia Masjid, Nowhatta, Srinagar, has been attached under the provisions of stringent Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA).
“The procedure was carried out today by a team of the NIA along with the representative of district administration and local police. Zargar is a ‘Designated Individual Terrorist’ under the UAPA and has been operating from Pakistan ever since his release and funding terror activities in the valley,” the spokesperson said.
The NIA team pasted the notice of attachment on his house in presence of the sisters of the absconding terrorist. After the NIA and police teams departed, the sisters unsuccessfully attempted to create a commotion but returned to their houses after no one joined them.
Zargar, after breaking ranks with banned JKLF terror group in late 1990, had formed Al-Umar Mujahideen terror group that was responsible for several barbaric killings in downtown Srinagar.
Hailing from the downtown city and a coppersmith by profession before joining terror ranks, Zargar was arrested in 1992. His name was found in the list of terrorists to be exchanged for passengers of 1999 IC-814 hijacking of Indian Airlines plane and he was subsequently released and taken by the then External Affairs Minister of BJP-led government Jaswant Singh to Kandahar in Afghanistan on December 31, 1999.
Besides Zargar, whose name, according to security experts, was included by perpetrators sitting in Pakistan only to project the hijacking as an indigenous act of Kashmiri terrorists.
The others released included Masood Azhar, one of the founders of Harkat-ul-Ansar terror group and now heading banned Jaish-e-Mohammed terror group, and Sheikh Omar, a highly radicalised terrorist who is at present on a death row in Pakistan for killing American journalist Daniel Pearl.
Zargar, after being exchanged at Kandahar airport, shifted his base to Pakistan occupied Kashmir’s Muzaffarabad town from where he attempted to revive Al-Umar Mujahideen.
He has also been involved in other heinous crimes, including murders, and has close association with other terror outfits such as Al-Qaeda and Jaish-e-Mohammed.
Zargar was designated as a terrorist under the UAPA in April last year, a move which enabled the security agencies to attach his property.
The home ministry notification last year said Zargar is a threat to peace, not only to India but around the world, with his contacts and proximity to radical terrorist groups like the Al-Qaeda and Jaish-e-Mohammed and the Central government believes that he is involved in terrorism.
