Muhammad Ayyub Thakur (1948 – 10 March 2004) was a political activist and founder of London-based World Kashmir Freedom Movement (WKFM). He also founded a charity organization called 'Mercy Universal'. In 2011, according to a report by

The Telegraph ''The Telegraph'', ''Daily Telegraph'', ''Sunday Telegraph'' and other variant names are often names for newspapers. Newspapers with these titles include: Australia * The Telegraph (Adelaide), ''The Telegraph'' (Adelaide), a newspaper in Adelaid ...

, It was a front group for Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI). After investigatation by the British

Charity Commission The Charity Commission for England and Wales is a non-ministerial department of His Majesty's Government that regulates registered charities in England and Wales and maintains the Central Register of Charities. Its counterparts in Scotland and ...

Scotland Yard Scotland Yard (officially New Scotland Yard) is the headquarters of the Metropolitan Police, the territorial police force responsible for policing Greater London's London boroughs, 32 boroughs. Its name derives from the location of the original ...

and the FBI, it was stated that his organization had direct contacts with

Hizbul Mujahideen Hizbul Mujahideen, also spelled Hizb-ul-Mujahidin (, ), is a Pakistan-based Islamist separatist militant organisation that has been engaged in the Kashmir insurgency since 1989. It aims to separate Kashmir from India and merge it with Pakist ...

, an EU-Sanctioned insurgent organization. In 2001, Indian Government had booked him under

Terrorist and Disruptive Activities (Prevention) Act Terrorism, in its broadest sense, is the use of violence against non-combatants to achieve political or ideological aims. The term is used in this regard primarily to refer to intentional violence during peacetime or in the context of war aga ...

for providing financing & logistical support to terrorists. His son Muzammil Ayub Thakur is an active representative member of the UK based NGO

Early life

Thakur was born in 1948 in a farming family in Pudsoo village in district

Shopian Shopian (), known as Shupyan () in Kashmiri, is an administrative division of the Shopian district. It is located in southern part of Kashmir Valley, of Jammu and Kashmir, India. Shopian is called the ''Apple town of Kashmir'' as majority o ...

Jammu and Kashmir Jammu and Kashmir may refer to: * Jammu and Kashmir (union territory), a region administered by India as a union territory since 2019 * Jammu and Kashmir (state), a region administered by India as a state from 1952 to 2019 * Jammu and Kashmir (prin ...

. He was the eldest of four children. Thakur obtained his Doctorate (Phd.) in

Nuclear Physics Nuclear physics is the field of physics that studies atomic nuclei and their constituents and interactions, in addition to the study of other forms of nuclear matter. Nuclear physics should not be confused with atomic physics, which studies th ...

from the

University of Kashmir University of Kashmir (UoK), informally known as Kashmir University (KU), is a collegiate university, collegiate public university, public State university (India), state university located in the Hazratbal neighbourhood, on the western side of ...

Career

In 1978, after a brief stint at the Bhaba Atomic Research Centre (Zakoora, Srinagar), he became lecturer in the Department of

Physics Physics is the scientific study of matter, its Elementary particle, fundamental constituents, its motion and behavior through space and time, and the related entities of energy and force. "Physical science is that department of knowledge whi ...

in the University of Kashmir. He had a keen interest in the social and political issues of Jammu and Kashmir. After becoming lecturer at the

he intensified his subversive political activities. He began organising protests. In August 1980, he and many of his colleagues at university and students organisation, Islami Jamiat-i-Talaba, organised an international conference on the issue of right of

self-determination Self-determination refers to a people's right to form its own political entity, and internal self-determination is the right to representative government with full suffrage. Self-determination is a cardinal principle in modern international la ...

of Kashmiris. the government banned the conference, dismissed Thakur from his job as a university lecturer, and later imprisoned him along with his colleagues under Public Safety Act (PSA). In 1981, Thakur joined the Nuclear Engineering Department of

King Abdulaziz University King Abdulaziz University (KAU) () is a public research university in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. Established in 1967 as a private university by a group of businessmen led by Muhammad Bakhashab and including author Hamza Bogary, it was named after ...

Jeddah Jeddah ( ), alternatively transliterated as Jedda, Jiddah or Jidda ( ; , ), is a List of governorates of Saudi Arabia, governorate and the largest city in Mecca Province, Saudi Arabia, and the country's second largest city after Riyadh, located ...

Saudi Arabia Saudi Arabia, officially the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), is a country in West Asia. Located in the centre of the Middle East, it covers the bulk of the Arabian Peninsula and has a land area of about , making it the List of Asian countries ...

as a lecturer.

World Kashmir Freedom Movement

WKFM, along with other two organisations founded by Thakur were investigated by

, the

and

FBI The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is the domestic Intelligence agency, intelligence and Security agency, security service of the United States and Federal law enforcement in the United States, its principal federal law enforcement ag ...

for ties to the

Pakistan Military The Pakistan Armed Forces (; ) are the military forces of Pakistan. It is the world's sixth-largest military measured by active military personnel and consists of three uniformed services—the Army, Navy, and the Air Force, which are backed ...

and Militant groups active in Jammu and Kashmir. The outcome of these investigations were unable to implicate any ties to ISI for funding these organizations.

Impounding of Indian Passport and demand for extradition

Upon the revelation of his ties to militant groups, Indian government twice sought his extradition from the UK in 1992 and 1993. After its failure, they finally impounded his passport in 1993. Thakur subsequently obtained British travel papers which he used until his death in 2004. During the visit of British Home Secretary

Jack Straw John Whitaker Straw (born 3 August 1946) is a British politician who served in the Cabinet from 1997 to 2010 under the Labour governments of Tony Blair and Gordon Brown. He held two of the traditional Great Offices of State, as Home Secretar ...

to India in May 2002, Indian Deputy Prime Minister,

LK Advani Lal Krishna Advani (born 8 November 1927) is an Indian politician who served as the Deputy Prime Minister of India from 2002 to 2004. He is one of the co-founders of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and a member of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak San ...

again demanded extradition of thakur citing him being accused of providing funds to the terrorists in

. Advani also demanded the arrest of Thakur under the UK's New anti-terrorist laws.

Family Members Allegedly Harassed

Ayub regularly claimed that his family members, relatives and friends were subjected to house raids, torture and harassment by the Indian army itation needed He often claimed that his ancestral home in Kashmir was raided many a time and his parents threatened.

Death

Thakur died at the age of 55, in London on 10 March 2004 after an illness. He was suffering from pulmonary fibrosis. His funeral was held at the London Central Mosque, Regent Park, and he was laid to rest at the Garden of Peace, in Greenford, West London, close to where he had been living for many years. The Indian Government, having stripped him of his citizenship in 1993, dismissed a request by his family that he be buried in Jammu and Kashmir. He is survived by his wife, a son and two daughters.

Notes and references

External links

Mercy Universal - a relief agency working in some of the most deprived areas of the world.

The Justice Foundation – Kashmir Centre in London

Kashmiri - Canadian Council

Kashmir Centre.EU
{{DEFAULTSORT:Thakur, Ayub Kashmiri politicians University of Kashmir alumni Kashmir separatist movement Jammu and Kashmir politicians 1948 births 2004 deaths People from Shopian Kashmiri Islamists People charged with terrorism Fugitives wanted on terrorism charges Fugitives wanted by India People who lost Indian citizenship Naturalised citizens of the United Kingdom Kashmiri independence activists