BIG CATCH Wani had close links with Dawood Ibrahim and Pakistan-based terror organisations, ran shop in Nepal
In what was described by the Jammu and Kashmir Police as a big catch, top terrorist Mehrajuddin Wani — suspected of being involved in the hijacking of an Indian Airlines plane to Kandahar in Afghanistan in December 1999 — was arrested in Kishtwar district, 350 km from Jammu city, on Thursday. Wani alias Javed Dand, who the police said belonged to Sopore in north Kashmir and runs a shop in Nepal, was closely associated with underworld don Dawood Ibrahim and Syed Salahuddin, chief of the United Jihad Council, an umbrella organisation of several terror outfits. The council is located in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir. The police said Wani provided fake travel documents to the five Pakistani nationals who hijacked IA flight IC-814 when it was headed for Delhi from Kathmandu. The plane with 176 passengers on board was diverted and forced to land in Amritsar, Lahore and Dubai before finally reaching Kandahar. The hijackers negotiated with the NDA government for the release of three terrorists from Indian jails in exchange for the plane’s safe return. The released terrorists included Maulana Masood Azhar, founder of the Jaish-e-Mohammad terror outfit. Passenger Rupin Katyal was killed by the hijackers during the seven-day standoff between the Indian government and the hijackers. Wani was also allegedly involved in the 1996 blast in Delhi’s Lajpat Nagar market in which 13 people were killed. During questioning, Wani said a diplomat at the Pakistani embassy in Nepal was “deeply involved” in the 1999 hijacking, the police said. “Mehrajuddin Wani, a resident of Sopore in Kashmir, was actively involved in terrorist activities since 1989. He has been arrested by the Kishtwar police. He had close links with a foreign diplomat based in Nepal,” Jammu inspector general of police Dilbagh Singh said.
Hindustan Times 14-9-2012 pej-7 आतंकवाद
