Maqbool Bhat Biography 
Maqbool Bhat was an Indian terrorist from Kashmir who worked for Kashmir Liberation. Co-founder of the separatist group Jammu Kashmir Liberation Front, he was involved with many cases including to hijack of an Indian plane Ganga from Srinagar to Lahore (1971 Indian Airlines hijacking) and militant movement for separation of the Muslim-majority state Jammu and Kashmir from India. JKLF militants shot dead Judge Neelkanth Ganjoo in 1989 for which Bhat was sentenced to death. He was hanged in Tihar Jail on February 11, 1984. He was only 45 then.
He was born on 18 February 1938 to a middle class peasant family of Kupwara. He lost his mother at the age of 11. He had four brothers. After graduation he worked as a teacher and journalist. All his brothers have been associated with Kashmiri Liberation movement and faced death/disappearance. In 1966 he was arrested in connection with the murder of Amar Chand, an Inspector of the local Crime Branch CID. In 1968, Bhat, along with two others escaped to Pakistan, by digging a tunnel. He became an aspiration for the younger generation in AJK who demanded a free Kashmir.
He was the mastermind behind the hijacking of an Indian Airlines Fokker F27 Friendship aircraft named Ganga in 1971, the operation carried by - Hashim Qureshi and Ashraf Butt. They hijacked the Indian Airlines with a toy pistol and as instructed landed it in Lahore. 30 people including crew members were safe, though one of the oldest planes, Ganga was was burnt on 1 February 1971 which triggered troop movement into erstwhile East Pakistan, now Bangladesh. He got released in 1974 and got captured when he tried to sneak to India.
For the murder of police inspector Amar Chand in 1966, Bhat and one other were sentenced to death. The decision was upheld by the Supreme Court in 1982. Ravindra Mhatre, an Indian diplomat was kidnapped in Birmingham with demand of the release of Bhat. But the militants killed the diplomat and Bhat's petition for clemency was rejected. He was executed in the Tihar Jail in New Delhi on February 11, 1984 and buried in the Jail premises itself. On November 4, 1989, Neelkanth Ganjoo who presided over the trial of murder of Amar Chand was shot dead near the High Court in Srinagar in the daylight. Ganjoo was among the early Kashmiri Pandits killed by terrorists in Kashmir.
Published: N/A
Updated: March 06, 2016
