The Kashmir Pulse

SRINAGAR — National Investigation Agency (NIA) on Thursday attached the property of the founder and chief commander of Al-Umar Mujahideen, Mushtaq Ahmad Zargar alias Mushtaq Latram in Nowhatta area of Srinagar.

In a statement issued to the news agency KNO, a spokesperson said Zargar was released along with Masood Azhar in exchange for passengers of the hijacked Indian Airlines flight at Kandahar in 1999.

The statement reads that Zargar was also involved in the kidnapping of former Union Home Minister, Mufti Mohammad Sayeed’s daughter, Rubaiya Sayeed in 1989.

“Zargar’s two marlas house at Ganai Mohalla, Nowhatta, Srinagar, has been attached under the provisions of UA(P)A. The procedure was carried out today by a team of NIA along with the representative of district administration and local police,” it reads.

It added Zargar is a designated individual terrorist under the UA(P) Act and has been operating from Pakistan ever since his release.

“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,” it reads.

The statement reads that Zargar grew up in Nowhatta and joined JKLF. “In 1989, he was one of the members who kidnapped Rubaiya Sayeed and negotiated her release in exchange for five terrorists.”

It added that he was arrested on May 15, 1992 and was released from jail on December 31, 1999 as part of the Indian Airlines Flight hostage exchange deal.

SRINAGAR — A court in Jammu on Wednesday issued a production warrant against Jammu & Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF) chief Muhammad Yasin Malik, directing the Tihar jail authorities to produce him physically before it on the next date of hearing in the Rubaiya Sayeed abduction case.

Talking to the news agency KNO, advocate Monika Kohli, CBI counsel in the case, said the TADA court has issued a production warrant against Malik and directed the Tihar jail authorities to produce him before it on the next date of the hearing. “The next date of hearing is scheduled on October 20,” she said.

Malik had requested the court to allow him to appear physically to cross-examine witnesses in the case.

The CBI counsel said lawyers of other accused in the case cross-examined Rubaiya Sayeed today.

On July 15, Rubaiya identified Yasin Malik, who has been sentenced to life imprisonment in another case and is currently lodged in Tihar jail, as his abductor in 1989.

PDP chief and former CM Mehbooba Mufti had defended the identification of Yasin Malik by her sister, saying she did her duty as per the law.

Rubaiya was kidnapped on December 8, 1989, and was set free five days later in exchange for the release of five militants of JKLF.

SRINAGAR — Days after Rubaiya Sayeed, sister of Peoples Democratic Party president Mehbooba Mufti, identified Yasin Malik as her abductor in 1989, Peoples Conference chairman Sajad Gani Lone on Tuesday said that Malik deserves a fair trial.

Talking to reporters on the sidelines of a party function here, Lone said that Malik deserves a fair trial. “He should be given a fair trial. Justice cannot be a one-sided affair,” he told reporters, as per news agency KNO.

To a question about the identification of Malik and three others by Rubaiya Sayeed in the special CBI Court Jammu, Lone said it is their decision, “but those getting people identified and indicted don’t have the right to talk about reconciliation and dialogue”.

“They have every right to identify and indict those involved. But those identifying and indicting people have no moral right to talk about reconciliation and dialogue. Priyanka Gandhi even forgave the killers of her own father,” Lone said.

After Rubaiya Sayeed identified Malik and three others as her abductors, Mehbooba Mufti said she did her duty as per law.

Lone was speaking to reporters on the sidelines of a function organized by Peoples Conference to welcome former deputy director of Health Services Kashmir, Dr Bashir Chalkoo from Uri into the party fold.