Who Is Masood Azhar, Jaish-e-Mohammed Chief Who Was Let Off After IC-814 Hijacking?
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Masood Azhar, the founder of Jaish-e-Mohammed, was released by India in 1999 after the hijacking of Indian Airlines Flight 814. The JeM is responsible for several terror attacks.
Operation Sindoor: India carried out military strikes as part of 'Operation Sindoor' against terrorist camps in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir in retaliation for the Pahalgam terror attack on April 22, which killed 10 family members of Jaish-e-Mohammed Chief Masood Azhar.
Masood Azhar released a statement, admitting that 10 of his family members were killed in the Indian strikes. Their funeral will take place at Bahawalpur in Pakistan's Punjab.
Terrorist group Lashkar-e-Taiba's headquarters in Muridke and designated terrorist and Jaish-e-Mohammed chief Masood Azhar's madrassa were among the nine sites India struck on Wednesday as India retaliated to Pahalgam attacks by launching Operation Sindoor.
Who Is Masood Azhar?
Masood Azhar is a UN-proscribed terrorist who is the founder and leader of the Pakistan-based terrorist organisation Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM), which was responsible for the Pulwama terror attack where 40 Indian soldiers were killed, bringing the neighbours to the brink of war.
Azhar was born in Bahawalpur in 1968 and was sent to a madrasa in Karachi after completing his Standard 8 examination. The madrasa was affiliated with Pakistani jihadist groups, from where Azhar graduated in 1989. He joined the Soviet-Afghan war and also enlisted to fight for Harkat-ul-Mujahideen, but failed to complete his training due to 'poor physique".
As militancy grew in Jammu and Kashmir, Azhar was tasked with merging two jihadist groups – Harkat-ul-Jihad Islami and Harkat-ul-Mujahideen into the Harkat-ul-Ansar (HuA). He became the general secretary of the group and recruited followers from several countries, including the United Kingdom.
Azhar arrived in Srinagar, Jammu and Kashmir in 1994 under a fake identity to meet with the cadre, when Indian security forces arrested him. He was imprisoned in Tihar Jail in Delhi and was later taken to Kot Balwal Jail in Jammu. HuA commander Sajjad Afghani was killed in a failed attempt to help Azhar out of prison.
Four years later, in December 1999, an Indian Airlines Flight 814 (IC-814) carrying 179 passengers and 11 crew members was en route from Kathmandu to Delhi, when it was hijacked by five members of the Harkat-ul-Mujahideen and taken to Taliban-controlled Afghanistan.
The plane which was hijacked was then rerouted towards Pakistan, instead of Delhi. Since it did not have enough fuel, it landed at Amritsar. When there was delay in Amritsar, the hijackers stabbed two people with knives. One of them succumbed to his injuries inside the plane.
Though the hijackers were ready to release some women and children, the Pakistani authorities did not give permission. The plane was refueled at Lahore and then took off for Kabul. Since there was no facility to land at Kabul at night, the plane was again diverted towards Dubai. A total of 27 passengers, which included children and women, were released in exchange for fuel.
The Harkat-ul-Mujahideen demanded the then-Atal Bihari Vajpayee government to release Mazood Azhar, Ahmed Zargar, and Sheikh Ahmed Umar in exchange for the hostages. The then Foreign Minister, Jaswant Singh, escorted these terrorists to Kandahar, bringing an end to the eight-day hijack.
After his release, Azhar founded JeM, which was responsible for several attacks, including the Parliament bombing in 2001 and the Pathankot attack in 2016. JeM was officially banned in Pakistan after the 2001 attack, but it is still operating under the shadows. The group even attempted to assassinate then-Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf in 2003.
First Published:
May 07, 2025, 13:27 IST
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