Amjad Farooqi
Amjad Farooqi (1972 – September 26, 2004) (Urdu: امجد فاروقی), known by the alias Amjad Hussain (Urdu: امجد حسین), was an Islamic militant.[1][2][3][4][4][5][6][7] He was born in Punjab, Pakistan, and participated in the fighting against India in Kashmir.
Amjad Farooqi | |
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Born | 1972 |
Died | (age 31-32) Nawab Shah, Pakistan | September 26, 2004
Nationality | Pakistan |
Other names |
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Occupation | Islamic militant leader |
Known for | Believed to have planned to assassinate the President of Pakistan |
Amjad was believed to be involved in the 1995 kidnapping of Western tourists in Kashmir and under the alias Mansur Hasnain was said to be one of the hijackers of Indian Airlines flight 814 in 1999.[8]
Farooqi allegedly was involved in the murder of Daniel Pearl in 2002, as well as conspiring with Abu Faraj al-Libbi to kill General Pervez Musharraf during the assassination attempts in Rawalpindi on December 14 and December 25, 2003. Farooqi might have been an associate of Khalid Shaikh Mohammed.
Pakistani forces launched a massive manhunt in May 2004, which ended with Farooqi's death in a two-hour gun battle at a house in southern Sindh province.
Farooqi was a member of the Pakistani-based jihadi group Jaish-e-Mohammed (now banned), which was founded by Masood Azhar after he was released by India because of a deal with hijackers who hijacked an Indian plane in December 1999.
References
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Zulfiqar Memon (2004-09-26). "Security forces kill Amjad Farooqi". Dawn (Pakistan). Archived from the original on 2011-07-25.
An alleged terrorist, who was later identified as an Al Qaeda kingpin Amjad Farooqi, was killed and seven other people, including two women and three children, were arrested after security forces raided a house in Ghulam Hyder Shah Colony here on Sunday.
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Syed Saleem Shahzad (2004-09-28). "In Pakistan, dead men tell no tales". Asia Times. Archived from the original on 2010-11-22.
Asia Times Online contacts, however, are adamant that Farooqi was in fact arrested some months ago, and that the "incident" resulting in his death in the southern Pakistani city of Nawabshah was in fact stage-managed by Pakistani security forces.
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Syed Saleem Shahzad (2004-09-29). "Pakistan gets its man ... sort of". Asia Times. Archived from the original on 2010-11-22.
However, extensive Asia Times Online research throws up a different picture. Before the "war on terror" was launched after September 11, 2001 - when Musharraf threw in his lot with the US - Farooqi was an impoverished foot soldier in a jihadi organization. It is only in the past six months that he has suddenly emerged as a "kingpin" and super villain, with the source invariably being from the official side.
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B. Raman (2004-09-30). "Why Amjad Farooqi had to die". Asia Times. Archived from the original on 2010-11-22.
All accounts from Nawabshah indicate that if the Pakistani authorities had wanted they could have caught him alive and questioned him about the role of Pakistani civilian and military officials in various terrorist incidents of the past three years, including the kidnapping and murder of US journalist Daniel Pearl, the attempts to kill Musharraf himself and Shaukat Aziz, the prime minister, and the attacks directed against US and French targets in Pakistan. But they did not want him alive.
- "Profile: Amjad Farooqi". BBC News. 2004-09-27. Retrieved 2010-12-15.
- "Musharraf hails blow to al-Qaeda". BBC News. 2004-09-27. Retrieved 2010-12-15.
- B. Raman (2009). "Who Was Amjad Farooqi in Whose Name Pak GHQ Has Been Raided?". South Asia Analysis Group. Archived from the original on 2010-06-13. Retrieved 2010-12-15.
- http://www.terrorismanalysts.com/pt/index.php/pot/article/view/655/html