The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) on Wednesday designated Mushtaq Ahmed Zargar, founder and chief commander of Al Umar Mujahideen, as a terrorist under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, 1967.

Zargar, 52, was one of the terrorists released in Kandhar of Afghanistan in exchange for over 150 hostages of the Indian Airlines flight 814 which was hijacked in December 1999. The central government's step to designate Zargar as a terrorist comes amid reports that he had been affiliated with Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front, the outfit headed by Yasin Malik. It is believed that Zargar had gone to Pakistan for obtaining arms and ammunition training.

“Zargar is a threat to peace, not only to India, but across the world, with his contacts and proximity to radical terrorist groups like the Al-Qaeda and Jaish-e-Mohammed… The Central Government believes that Mushtaq Ahmed Zargar alias Latram is involved in terrorism and the said Mushtaq Ahmed Zargar is to be notified as a terrorist under the said Act,” said a gazette notification issued Wednesday by the Union Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA).

According to the notification, Zargar is the founder and chief commander of Al-Umar-Mujahideen, a proscribed organisation under the UAPA, and was affiliated with the Jammu-Kashmir Liberation Front earlier. He had gone to Pakistan for obtaining illegal arms and ammunition training. “Zargar has been running an incessant campaign from Pakistan to fuel terrorism in Jammu and Kashmir,” the notification has said.

The notification also said Zargar has been involved in various terror crimes including murder, attempt to murder, kidnapping, planning and execution of terrorist attacks, and terror funding.

In the past week, MHA has designated three top terror operatives as terrorists under UAPA. These include Hafiz Saeed’s son Talha, Masood Azhar’s brother and 2019 Pulwama attack planner Ammar Alvi, and Pathankot attack handler Ali Lashif Jan.

On December 24, 1999, Indian Airlines flight IC-814 was hijacked by five masked terrorists shortly after it entered the Indian airspace; the flight was on its way to New Delhi from Kathmandu. Instead, it was finally taken to Kandahar, Afghanistan, where, after hectic negotiations, the hostages were released in exchange for three terrorists- Zargar, Masood Azhar and Ahmed Omar Saeed Sheikh. One passenger was earlier fatally stabbed by the hijackers.

Image source: AFP