Masood Azhar, an Architect Of Terror

Five-feet-seven-inch tall with a sallow complexion, stout built, a protruding belly and round face, Pakistani national Masood Azhar is one the most-wanted terrorists across the globe. Always wearing salwar, Azhar is a maulana (a Muslim man revered for his religious learning or piety) in Pakistan but in the eyes of law enforcement agencies across the world, he is a "dreaded terrorist". The founder of Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM), Azhar has executed killings of thousands of Indians, especially in J&K.

Trained in Afghanistan, he comes from Kauser Colony in Model Town at Bahawalpur in Pakistan. Well-versed in Urdu, Hindi, Saraiki and Arabic languages and with a broken English, he can understand and read the language only.

Azhar founded the Jaish-e-Mohammed after he was released from the Indian prison in 1999, in exchange of 155 hostages held on an Indian Airlines flight that was hijacked to Kandahar in Afghanistan. The JeM, which has carried out a number of attacks in India, comprises several camps across Pakistan.

Interestingly, very few people know that the 'maulana' now limps because, while in Afghanistan, he sustained a severe bullet injury in his leg. One night after he stepped out of the tent to respond to nature's call, Azhar forgot the password that he was supposed to share with the other jihadis guarding the camp. Assuming that he was a Russian spy, one of the gatekeepers opened fire on him. DNA has accessed his dossier and a detailed interrogation report of Azhar when he was in custody of Indian Law enforcement agencies way back in 1990s. Azhar — the Afghanistan trained militant of Harkat-ul-Ansar — was arrested on February 11, 1994 at Anantnag in Jammu and Kashmir.

Early education

Azhar had told his interrogators that he was born in Bahawalpur on July 10, 1968. His father was a government school head master there at that time. "I have five brothers and six sisters. My father had deobandi influence and was extremely religious," he had stated. After finishing Class VII from a school in Bahawalpur, he shifted to Rahimyar Khan where his maternal uncle was staying.

"One of my father's friend Mufti Sayeed was working as a teacher in Jamia Islami, Binori Town, Karachi. He prevailed upon my father to admit me in the aforesaid Jamia. Accordingly, after class VIII, I studied at Jamia Islamia and passed the 'Almia' examination in 1989 in grade A-I. Immediately after that, I was employed as a teacher in the same Jamia where I served till April, 1992," he has stated.

Harkat-uk-Mujahidden training

Unshaken, Azhar had fessed up that a number of students of Jamia Islamia in Karachi were under the influence of Harkat-ul-Mujahideen (HuM) leaders — fighting in Afghanistan — and he too was a student over there. "I was also influenced by the work of HUM in Afghanistan Jehad," he had stated.

He explained that Jamia Islamia had Arabs, Sudanese, Ban-gladeshis apart from Pakistanis and all of them subscribed to the ideology of Deobandis. As such, HuM was able to recruit these youth for Afghani Jehad. "I was sympathetic to the cause and when in June/July 1989, I met Maulana Fazal-ul-Rehman Khalil, Chief of HuM at Karachi, he invited me over to participate in 'Tarbiat' (training) at Yavar Afghanistan," he said during his interrogation by Indian Intelligence Bureau sleuths.

Azhar said that accordingly he went to Yavar and underwent a week's training on how to use arms. "I may state that due to my physique and also because I had better literary capacity I did not complete the obligatory training of 40 days to become the member of HuM and the balance training were waived," he said.

Maulana Fazal-ul-Rehman asked him to bring out a monthly magazine for HuM. There he met a HuM top militant Sajjad Afghani, before I returned to Karachi.

Sajjad Afghani, originally Muhammad Sajjad Khan, was a Kashmiri militant and was arrested along with Azhar on February 11, 1994, at Anantnag in J&K. He was a appointed as the commander-in-chief of Harkat-ul-Ansar due to his role in the Soviet-Afghan War. Afghani was killed during an escape attempt from the high security jail in 1999 in J&K.

Sada-i-mujahid

As per the direction of Maulana Fazal-ul-Rehman, he had approached his friend Maulana Jameel- a correspondent of Urdu daily 'Jung'. Jameel helped him to set up Urdu monthly magazine — Sada–e-Mujahid. Since August 1989, he remained editor of the paper.

Sadaa-I-Mujahid's office was at Lasbela Chowk in Near Bilal Masjid, Karachi. I used to get printed about two thousand copies and 80 per cent of these were distributed free in public meetings on Friday prayer speeches etc. This magazine published news about HuM activities in Afghanistan, functioning of HuM. By 1990 HuM had opened its offices in almost all cities prominent among them being Karachi, Hyderabad, Sindh, Lahore, Gujranwala, Islamabad and Lahore. Through the magazine, he laid out principals for their recruitment for HuM.

Zambia, a foreign link

He visited several foreign countries on the mission of HuM, mainly to spread word of our activities with a view to collect donations for the organisation. In 1990, he accompanied Maulana Fazal-ul-Rehman Khalil to Losaka and Chipata in Zambia. He used Jamia Islamia classmates to meet people in Zambia. He got in touch with Ibrahim Lambart, a fruit businessman of Zambia, who was deeply involved in religious activities. He is known to have got constructed a number of Madrasa's and Mosques.

Azhar delivered religious discourses in the three fourth of main mosques of Zambia and held Majlis in different houses. He collected Rs 20 to Rs 22 lakh for the Hum, during a month's stay. In June 1992, he visited Zambia again. This time, he was assisted by Lambart and collected another Rs 22 lakh for 'Jehad'.

In the UAE

In 1990, he visited the United Arab Emirates for seeking financial assistance for the organisation. Maulana Farooq, of HuM, accompanied him on this visit. He collected Rs 3 lakh since the system of donations in UAE was regulated.

A trip to Saudi Arabia

He also visited Saudi Arabia for fund collection. He came in contact with the two main agencies handling such activities. The first among them is Jamiat-ul-Islah. The organisation is ally of Jamat-e-Islami (JeI). Maulana Alfaddin Turrabi, chief of JeI, based in Pakistan occupied Kashmir gets a lot of aid from Jamiat-ul-Islah, to the tune of millions of dollars. Since HuM owed allegiance to JeI, they refused any aid. "I may state that parties like Tablig-ul-Jamat, Jamat-u-Islam are basically those organisations which believe in religious freedom and education to achieve a real Islamic rule in green countries," he had stated. Jamiat-ul-Islam formed out of Ikhwan-ul-Musalmeen. The Ikhwan-ul-Musalmeen first started its fight against the rule of Anwar Sadat in Egypt since he had turned Egypt into a European Country and the Islam had taken a back seat.

Ikhwan claimed to have lost almost 50 to 55 thousand Mujahids in Lebanon and Libya. About 10 years ago, they suffered major a setback with four of their eldest leaders like Syed Qutub, Hassan-ul-bana were hanged. Since then Ikhwan-ul-Musalmeen has changed its approach. After the change, some persons of Ikhwan-ul-Musalmeen formed JuI and decentralised it. Now, JuI is governed by Murshid-ul- Ikhwan in each country. They have gone in big way in construction of Mosques, Madrasas, Islamic Education Centers.

In Sharjah

Jamiat Amal Khairia is a body floated by Sheikh of Sharjah to thwart the designs of Jamiat-ul-Uslah (Ikhwan). When he sought help for the Jehad, Jamiat Amal Khairia refused point blank stating that they had good relations with India, they offered to provide assistance if they were doing something to help windows and orphans. The organisations like Jamiat Amal Khairia (Shajah), Rabtar-e-Islamia (Saudi Arabia) have been floated to counter the activities of Ikhwan. The Arab nations as such do not want to give aid for Kashmiri cause.

In the United Kingdom

In October 1992, Azhar visited the UK. The trip was facilitated by Mufti Simail who is originally a resident of Gujarat, and had studied at Darul-Ifta-Wal-Irshad, Nazimabad in Karachi. Mufti Abdul Rahman of the Madrasa helps the Harkat-ul-Mujahideen activities and had asked him to contact the aforesaid Mufti Ismail, who was working as Maulvi in a South Hall Mosque at Landon, UK.

He had procured visa to visit the UK through Khalid Suleman, who was a businessman of Saudi Arabi and had participated in Afghanistan Jehad. He stayed in there for nearly a month with Mufti Ismail, and visited mosques in Burminghom, Nottingham, Burligh, Sheffield, Dursburry and Lichester where he sought financial assistance. He collected Rs 15 lakh during his stay.

Procuring the Portugese passport

Maulana Ismail invited Azhar to visit Mangolia and Albania. He expressed his hesitation since people on Pakistani passport did not find it easy to get a visa. Ismail proposed that he should procure a passport of a country within European Economic Community. He knew some passport agents and help him to get a Portuguese Passport in the name of Vali Adam Issa. He contacted Hafiz Sahib in Landon over telephone and had requested him to procure visa to visit Bangladesh and India. He had accordingly got the passport stamped for visa to visit India and Bangladesh and also Pakistan.

Also Read: A 'designated terrorist' sparks debate at UNSC

Trips to Kenya to contact Ittehad-e-Islami in Somalia

When 400 UAE nationals and other militants were arrested by Pakistan government in 1992 in Peshawar because of international pressure, they were expelled from Pakistan. Some of the UAE governments did not want them back, majority of them went to Sudan from where they entered Somalia and joined ranks of Ittehad-e-Islami.

These people continued to get in touch with him from Somalia. Their letters addressed to Maulana Fazal-ul-Rehman and to him described the plight of Muslims in Somalia.

He said that they revealed to them that the Pakistani troops under UN forces have been placed at Central spots of trouble, while Indian troops and others are placed near borders where the population is most non-Muslims. This has placed the Pakistani troops in vulnerable position, guarding the life and property of Americans.

"If one American vehicle moves, armed guards ensuring its safety are Pakistanis. As such, they (Ittehad-e-Islami) were faced with a dilemma, as they wanted to engage Americans –who were the biggest enemies of Islam, they were faced with their brothers," he had stated.

These militants had invited him to visit Nairobi for a meeting with Ittehad-e-Islami leaders of Somalia. In December 1993, he visited Nairobi, Kenya and stayed at Ambassador Hotel Nairobi where five Ittehad-e-Islami leaders and two UAE militants visited Nairobi and asked me to build pressure on Pakistani government to seek withdrawal of Pak troops from Somalia. "We agreed that a discernible pressure can be mounted of a Team of Journalists from Pakistan carries the story," he stated.

Focus shifts to J&K

Now the focus of HuM shifted to Jammu and Kashmir following end of Afghanistan war. He had visited Bangladesh in January 1993 on the instruction of Maulana Farooq Amir HuM of Kashmir. He had informed him that he wanted to send Sajjad Afghani to Kashmir through Bangladesh. As such, he procured Bangladesh visa for himself and Sajjad on Pakistan passports. He had spoken to Maulvi Kalimullah, who had studied at Jamia Islamia Karachi, and informed him of our arrival. He along with Afghani travelled to Dhaka and were received by Maulvi Kalimullah. Afghani was handed over to known persons near Indo-Bangladesh border and from there he slipped into India and he returned to Karachi.

Background on Huji: Splits and mergers

After the formation of Harkat-ul-Ansar by the merger of HuJI and HuM, a number of messages were sent to the chief commanders of two outfits in Kashmir Valley to merge. However, Azhar did not get any confirmation till January 1994 when it was decided that he should visit valley.

Entering New Delhi on Potugese passport in January 1994

On the Portuguese Passport, Azhar visited Dhaka and thereafter travelled to New Delhi by Bangladesh Airlines and reached IGI Airport on January 29, 1994. "I stayed at Ashoka Hotel in Pancharipuri. During the night, I rang up Ashraf Dar at and informed him of the arrival," Azhar said.

Next morning Dar came to Ashoka Hotel along with Abu Mehmood, chief HuA of Jammu.

"I expressed my desired to visit Deoband to pay obeisance at the graves of the intellectuals. We stayed in Darul-uloom Deoband for the night. After offering our prayers at Deoband, next morning we went to Gungoh and then proceeded to Saharanpur," he said.

At Saharanpur, we stayed for the night at mosque of Maaur-uloom of Tabliq-ul-Jamat. On January 31, 1994, morning, he returned to Delhi and stayed at Hotel Janpath. Before proceeding to Kashmir, he visited Maulana Abu Hassan Nadvi at his Madrasa in Lucknow. As such on February 6, 1994, he went to Lucknow by bus.

However when he reached the Madrasa, he found that Ali Mian had gone to Rae Bareli. I however met Maulana Salman and had tea with him. He then returned to Delhi Delhi by bus and stayed at Hotel Sheesh Mahal in Karol Bagh. At New Delhi, on February 8, 1994, he visited Centre of Tablig-ul-Jamat at Nizamuddin.

Arrival at Srinagar

On February 9, 1994, he boarded the flight for Srinagar along with Ashraf Dar. Qasmian in Lal Bazar had arranged a room for me. He had told him that Sajjad Afghani would contact me in the Madrasa itself. 
Thereafter Ashraf Dar went away.

Later in the evening, Afghani came to the Madrasa along with his Deputy Chief Commander named Amjad Bilal (of HUJI) who was armed. I stayed for the night in the said Madrasa. During discussions with Afghani narrated to him the developments leading to merger of HUM and HUJI. "We decided that next morning I would be escorted to Kapran area to meet the Mujahids as my visit would act as a morale booster for them," he said.
Next morning, he was escorted to Matigund area. Same night, all active Pakistan/PoK nationals came to Matigund village and were happy about his visit and merger of HUM and HUJI.

Arrest

He, along with Sajjad Afghani, started from Matigund accompanied by Farooq, a Section Commander of Matigund area, who was armed and had a wireless set. However, on way to Anantnag, their car broke down. They stopped an auto rickshaw and decided to go to Anantnag. After traveling three kilometres, auto rickshaw was stopped by Indian Army. Farooq started running and opened fire which was returned by the Indian Army. However, Farooq managed to escape while he along with Sajjad Afghani were arrested.

Masood and Afghani were taken to the Khundroo Army camp. Nobody recognised them.

Intelligence agencies stated that Sajjad Afghani told interrogators that this Moulvi has nothing to do with him. Afghani informed that he had kidnapped Azhar. However, when Azhar was interrogated he broke down within 30 minutes and blurted out the truth.

Attempts to free Azhar

The first attempt came in early summer of 1994, when HuA district commander Sikandar kidnapped two British citizens Kim Housego and producer David Mackie, but had to release them after Housego's father, a former British journalist based in New Delhi, launched a public campaign.

In October 1994, British-Pakistani Omar Sheikh Sayeed held three British and one American backpacker hostage in a Ghaziabad village. Sayeed delivered a note at Delhi's BBC office, demanding the release of Azhar and his two associates, along with passport details of hostages. The BBC office shared with Ministry of External Affairs, who sought information from Ministry of Home Affairs and the Delhi Police.

Upon confirmation that foreigners had been kidnapped, intelligence and security officials went into a tizzy. Nobody had a clue about the kidnappers, but good luck came their way when two Uttar Pradesh police constables chased a petty thief, who had taken refuge in the same house where Sheikh in Ghaziabad was stationed and kept hostages. Sheikh took it as a police raid and started firing from an AK-47 rifle. Puzzled, the UP policemen called for reinforcements and found hostages. While other terrorists escaped, Omar Sheikh was arrested.

Another bid to release him was again in July 4, 1995, when a little known terrorist group, Al-Faran kidnapped six western tourists in the Pahalgam mountains.

Finally, in December 1999, the biggest plan to secure Azhar's release was sought in exchange of passengers of the hijacked IC814 flight. Along with Omar Sheikh Sayeed and Mushtaq Ahmed Zargar, Azhar was transported to Kandahar.

HORRIFIC HISTORY

• 1999: IC-814 hijacking
• 2001: Indian Parliament attack
• 2016: Pathankot attack
• 2019: Pulwama attack

(clockwise): Talibans approach the hijacked IC-814 aircraft at Kandahar airport; 2001-attack culprit Afzal Guru; A house riddled with bullets after Pathankot terror attack; and Indian soldiers inspect the site of suicide blast, in Pulwama

NAME

MOHAMMAD MASOOD AZHAR

• Alias: Vali Adam Issa

• Caste: Sunni
   
• Religion:  Islam (Deobandi)
   
• Nationality: Pakistani
   
• Date & Place of Birth:  10-07-1968, Bahawalpur, Pakistan
   
• Address: 1260/108, Block No.6-B, Kausar Colony, Model  Town-B, Bahawalpur, Punjab Province, Pakistan
   
• Alternate Address: Lahore City, Lahore District, Punjab Province,  Pakistan
   
• Languages known: Urdu, Hindi, Saraiki, Arabic
   
• Educational Qualifications: Class 8, Almia- religious education
   
• Passports: (1) Pakistani Passport in his original name (2) Portuguese Passport in the name of Wali Adam Issa
   
• Father:  Allah Baksh Sabir
   
• Mother: Rukaiyah Bibi

Brothers

• 1. Mohd. Tahir Anwar
• 2. Mohd. Ibrahim Akhta
• 3. Abdul Rauf
• 4. Mohd. Jehangir
• 5. Alamghir

Sisters

• 1. Zohri Bibi
• 2. Abid Bibi
• 3. Rabiya Bibi
• 4. Sadia Bibi
• 5. Safia Bibi
• 6. Sumira Bibi

ASSOCIATION

• Harkat-ul-Ansar
• Harkat-ul-Mujahideen
• Jaish-e-Mohammad
• Al Rehmat Trust

TERROR CLUBS

HARAKAT UL-ANSAR (HUA)

Pakistan-based Islamic militant terror outfit  

Formed: October, 1993
Origin: Muzaffarabad
Alliance: Formed when Harakat ul-Jihad al-Islami and Harakat ul-Mujahedin were merged 
Designated as a terrorist group by the USA in 1997 
Later, renamed as Harkat-ul-Mujahideen
Members: A majority are Pakistani and Kashmiri  youth

HARKAT-UL-MUJAHIDEEN

Separate group, after it branched out of Harkat-ul-Jihad al-Islami 

Formed: 1985
Kashmir link: After the end of Soviet-Afghan war, the group entered Kashmir in 1989
Leaders: Sajjad Afghani and Muzaffar Ahmad Baba
Alliance: In 1993, the group merged with Harkat-ul-Jehad-al-Islami to form Harkat-ul-Ansar

JAISH-E-MOHAMMED

Pakistan-based terrorist group

Designated in October 2001 by the USA
Banned in Pakistan in 2002
Formed: January 31, 2000, in Karachi 
Launched: A year after Masood Azhar was released from India in December 1999
Leaders: Azhar was the general secretary of the established Harkat-ul-Ansar (HUA) in 1994 

AL-REHMAT TRUST

A front for Jaish-e-Mohammad operations

Provided support for militant activities in Afghanistan and Pakistan, including financial and logistical support to foreign fighters operating in both countries
Recruitment: Students were recruited in Afghanistan in 2009 
Involved in fundraising activities, including militant training and indoctrination at its mosques and madrassas