Militants, Arms, Drugs – Qureshi Brothers Operate Pakistan’s Terror Tentacles in Kashmir
When we talk of Pakistan proxies fuelling terrorism in Kashmir, the focus is always on the big sharks. There are the usual suspects – Hafiz Sayeed, Maulana Azhar Mazood. The talk is largely about tracking and tracing these globally known terrorists. Their movements and acts are followed.
Hafiz Sayeed and his cabal have targeted and damaged India in multiple ways. They also serve as a useful smokescreen.
While the focus remains on them, there are other ISI proxies driving the anti-India agenda. These are the men off the radar. Their acts and movements largely go unobserved. These are the men who channelize the gravy train through which anti-India forces are funded and replenished. While the gaze remains on known actors like Hafiz Sayeed, Maulana Azhar Mazood, the dirty work is done by these kingpins. For Pakistan, this force is provided by the Qureshi brothers of Kashmiri origin. The principal actor among them is Farooq Qureshi.
Qureshi Operations for Terror in Kashmir
The Qureshi group is presently a top-level group in Pakistan to maximize militancy in Kashmir.
The Queshi brothers are ranked by the ISI among its most strategic terror assets for the proxy war against India. This is because the Qureshi brothers are the nucleus for the terror organizations pitted by Pakistan against India. The Qureshi brothers are the most vital link for the Pakistan army for its proxy war in Kashmir.
The Qureshi brothers are running independent and organized launching pads from where militants are pushed into Kashmir.
From the training camps for militants in Pakistan, the militants come to the launching pads. Internationally Farooq Qureshi has emerged as the face of this organized activity. The other three brothers are largely restricted to aiding militant movement into India.
Farooq Qureshi is also the ISI front for liaison with men and women of Kashmiri origin who are spewing hate against India for huge monetary gains. This is a highly-funded gravy train, lavishly financed by Pakistan.
The Qureshi brothers send money to be distributed among people who lose their houses in encounters and for the recruitment for jihad in Kashmir.
The four Qureshi brothers are also frequent visitors to the Gulf, especially Dubai, to meet the members of Kashmiri diaspora who are India baiters. Another part of their Gulf network is collecting zakat for jihad in Kashmir.
The huge zakat collected for the purpose is then channeled to account holders in Kashmir to reach the militant organizations and other players in this network.
The Qureshi group also collects money within Pakistan for jihad in Kashmir. The money is then routed to the Gulf countries. From there, it is channeled into Kashmir through the hawala network.
With the help of the Pakistan army, the Qureshi brothers oversee the teams that create new technology-based methods for use by the terrorist groups operating in Kashmir.
Sending arms, militants and drugs into India through the LOC is the sole responsibility of the Qureshi brothers. It is the Qureshi brothers who decide which militant is to be sent to the Valley, and which route is to be chosen for infiltration. The same is the case with the arms, ammunition and drugs pushed into India by Pakistan.
How It All Started
The six Qureshi brothers went to Pakistan in 1990 for arms training. The brothers were residents of Kachhama village in Kupwara district. The six brothers were Abdul Rashid Qureshi, Farooq Qureshi, Abdul Majeed Qureshi, Bashir Qureshi, Mustafa Qureshi and Hamid Qureshi.
Kachhama village is close to the LOC. The brothers were born and brought up in the village. They were highly familiar with the local topography. They exploited the geographical advantage of the village.
The brothers initially became guides to aid the movement of youth moving to Pakistan for arms training, and returning to India as trained militants. The infiltration of foreign terrorists for operations in Kashmir was also aided by the brothers.
During counter operations by the security forces, Mustafa Qureshi and Hamid Qureshi were killed. The rest of the brothers – Abdul Rashid Qureshi, Farooq Qureshi, Abdul Majeed Qureshi, Bashir Qureshi – moved to Pakistan with their families.
Bashir Ahmad Khan, Muneer Ahmad Khan of Kashmir
The pushing of militants into India is a highly organized activity which needs a strong network to flourish. The two key men in this network are Master Bashir Ahmad Khan and Muneer Ahmad Khan.
They help the Qureshi brothers to consolidate their business.
It is an irony that Master Bashir Ahmad Khan and Muneer Ahmad Khan are in the good books of the local security agencies and are looked upon favourably. The reason: both have maintained good relations with the security agencies to enable their business of double dealing.
Simultaneously, Master Bashir Ahmad Khan is in close contact with the Qureshi group in Pakistan. They manage the local tentacles of the network in Kashmir to receive ammunition and drugs from across the border.
Master Bashir Ahmad Khan is a government school teacher through the RET scheme. The question that needs to be considered is this: How has he amassed such huge wealth?
Creating Hizbul Mujahideen
The ideology of Jammu Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF) was that Jammu and Kashmir must be independent entity. Pakistan wanted that there should be a force in Kashmir to build terror and support the demand that Kashmir must go to Pakistan. It was also a Pakistan plan that this demand, supported by terror, must be given the name of a freedom movement. Pakistan Army handed this task to Farooq Qureshi.
In 1989, four men went to Pakistan under the guidance of Farooq Qureshi. These were Khalid Abdullah Bangroo, Master Ahsan Dar, Maqbool Ilahie and Ali Mohmmad Dar.
Ali Mohmmad Dar was a police officer and also Station House Officer Trehgam. Farooq Qureshi introduced them all to ISI in Pakistan. These four men were assigned the task of creating a new militant outfit in Kashmir, parallel to Jammu and Kashmir Libration Army, which was later renamed as Jammu Kahmir Liberation Front headed by the late Amanullah Khan.
The new outfit created by these men was called Hizbul Mujahideen. Even within the terrorist outfit, it is not commonly known that Farooq Qureshi masterminded the creation of Hizbul Mujahideen with ISI.
Farooq Qureshi’s Role In Re-Activating Militancy in Punjab
After his successful missions in Operation Terror in Kashmir, the ISI asked Farooq Qureshi to reactivate militancy in Punjab. For this purpose, Farooq Qureshi created his base in Canada too and got engaged in energizing militant activity in Punjab.
Farooq Qureshi is a household name among the Kashmiri diaspora in the Gulf countries. He took a stand against the siege of Lal Masjid in Pakistan and the subsequent state action there.
ISI Guests in Kashmir, Courtesy Farooq Qureshi
In 2013, Farooq Qureshi sent a man named Javeed Ahmad Khan to Kachhama on visa. Javeed stayed with Farooq’s relatives, and was in Kashmir for three months. Javeed was then a solider in Pakistan Army and was deployed in ISI. Javeed’s father Gulam Mohuddin Khan is an associate of Farooq Qureshi. He is of Kashmiri origin and hails from Kachhama, the same village as the Qureshi brothers. In 1990, he went to Pakistan with his wife, who hails from Marhama Zurhama village in Kupwara district. The couple did not come back. Gulam Mohuddin Khan works as Farooq Qureshi’s lieutenant. Javeed Ahmad Khan, the ISI operative, stayed at the residence of Master Bashir Khan at Kachhama, Kupwara, who is his uncle.
Farooq Qureshi’s Sister Was Part Of The Terror Game
Zulaikha, the sister of the Qureshi brothers, was part of Pakistan’s terror operations network. She was assigned the task of transporting weapons from the LOC to other parts of the Valley.
Zulaikha formed a network of Kashmiri women to help her in the task. In this way, she got involved in strengthening militancy in the Valley. Zulaikha rolled down a
mountain while she was transporting a huge cache of arms and ammunition. She died on the spot. The cache was taken into custody by the local Army unit. An FIR was registered in this regard at Police Station Kralpora, which was then a police chowki.
Zulaikha was married to Raja Maroof Khan of Kachhama village. Raja Maroof and the couple’s son Shabir have visited Pakistan many times on visa. They brought back gold every time and have amassed huge wealth.
Raja Maroof Khan was a labourer. His association with the Qureshi brothers made him prosperous. Raja Maroof Khan now owns big houses in Kachhama and also in Srinagar.
Kachhama is situated on the Actual Line of Control (ALC) near Keran sector. Kachhama has been used for multiple routes to aid the infiltration of militants, weapons and drugs. The Qureshi brothers enticed the youth of their village with the promise of big money and the glamour that has been attached with terrorism. Farooq took one person from every family of his village Kachhama to Pakistan for arms training. In this way, influenced by the Qureshi brothers, more than 35 people from Kachhama went to Pakistan.
The Man Who Worked With Farooq Qureshi
Farooq Qureshi invited two of his childhood friends to Pakistan and enjoy a good life. One of them was Barkatullah Khan. These two men met the Qureshi brothers at their residence in a posh area of Chakwal in POK. They were astonished to see the power that the Qureshi brothers enjoyed. They visited many countries with Farooq Qureshi on the Pakistani passport. The countries that they visited included Russia, Afganistan, Dubai and Saudi Arabia.
Barkatullah realized that he had all the advantages Farooq enjoyed, since he hailed from the same village. Barkatullah knew the topography adjoining the LOC equally well. He tried to emerge as a competitor to Farooq Qureshi.
Barkatullah tried to get close to the officers who visited the Qureshi household. He tried to build his own base in Pakistan and build a personal relationship with officers. The ISI officers encouraged a new potential operator who would enable them to deepen the terror networks in Kashmir. Barkatuallah was part of many such meetings with ISI officers, without the knowledge of the Qureshi brothers.
Soon, Farooq Qureshi came to know of Barkatullah’s ambitions. These ambitions for money and power proved to be fatal for him.
One day, Farooq Qureshi asked Barkatullah to accompany him to visit the border. He said that he wanted to send some boys across the LOC to Kashmir. I was with them too.
One morning we left for Keran village in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir. Near river Kishen Ganga, Farooq fired upon Barkatullah with an AK-47 and threw his body in the river. All this happened in front of my eyes. I froze in terror. This was in the mid-90s.
The incident stayed on my mind for months. It changed the course of my life. Even remotely, I did not want to be associated with this kind of life. I decided that I must come back home and spend a peaceful life with my children. I wanted to come back.
After six months, I got the information that a group of 32 militants was to be pushed into Kashmir through the Jummagand route. I was still in the residence of Farooq Qureshi in Chakwal. He lived in a highly posh residential area.
I volunteered to command the safe passage of this group to Kashmir. I traveled for four days to cross the border and safely reached my village. I was received by Zulaikha, the sister of the Qureshi brothers. I handed over the command of this group to her. She sent these youngsters to different parts of the Valley, as directed by the launching commander. I spent three months with militants. Thereafter, I surrendered my arms to the Indian Army.
