MLM: "Mushtaq Ahmed Zargar: Provocateur of Kashmirʼs Enduring Terrorist Movement"

Mushtaq Ahmed Zargar: Provocateur of Kashmir’s Enduring Terrorist Movement 

Animesh Roul 

On June 12, motorcycle-borne militants in Jammu and Kashmir’s Anantnag district killed five Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) personnel. Kashmir-based Al-Umar-Mujahideen (AuM), a largely inactive terrorist group, has claimed responsibility for the attack (Daily Excelsior, June 13). These fatal shootings and grenade attacks targeting Indian paramilitary forces occurred nearly four months after the Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) terrorist group’s audacious vehicle-borne suicide attack in Pulwama on February 14, which killed 40 CRPF personnel.

Evidently, JeM and AuM are operating jointly in the restive Indian state of Jammu and Kashmir in order to raise the level of violence by targeting Indian security forces. With the Anantnag shootout, there is obvious apprehension about the re-emergence of AuM and its fugitive leader, Mushtaq Zargar (a.k.a. Latram) on the Kashmiri militant landscape. Zargar’s ties with Pakistan-based JeM and his recruitment campaigns bring the focus back on him, especially in the aftermath of the recent attacks against Indian paramilitary forces.

For Complete Article, See, "Mushtaq Ahmed Zargar: Provocateur of Kashmirʼs Enduring Terrorist Movement" Militant Leadership Monitor, July 31, 2019.