Mukhtar Baba, a Pakistan-funded terror operative who had earlier worked as a journalist in Jammu and Kashmir is found to be the mastermind behind the plot to issue threats to local journalists, and then highlight their resignations to peddle an anti-India narrative.
As per a report by Times of India, Mukhtar Baba was in touch with 6 persons based in Jammu and Kashmir, two of whom are government employees. Together with his associates, and with funding from the ISI, Baba had tried to propagate fear in the valley with the threat messages, and subsequent resignations of the journalists that followed.
An FIR has been filed under UAPA and other relevant sections of the IPC and an investigation has been launched to probe the terror plot.
Failed Journalist turned terrorist Mukhtar Baba (TRF) currently in Ankara Turkey along with his ISI handler Jodha Fischer issued a threat list against Kashmir-based Journalists.
— Sajid Yousuf Shah (@TheSkandar) November 17, 2022
No outrage, No Hue and Cry!
Media organisations in India and Abroad have consumed fevicol. Shame!
It is notable here that several Kashmir-based journalists had resigned after a so-called ‘hitlist’ with their names was circulated on several social media channels. The threats had come from Pakistan-funded terror groups The Resistance Front (TRF) and Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT). 11 journalists were named as ‘collaborators’ and ‘traitors’ in the hit list.
A dossier accessed by CNN News 18 says that the Over Ground Workers (OGW)s associated with Mukhtar Baba have been identified. As per reports, Mukhtar Baba’s goal was to make Kashmir-based journalists spread Pakistan’s narrative of fear and unrest in the Kashmir region.
The dossier shows that Mukhar Baba and his associate Sajjad Gul had even discussed the murder of journalist Shujat Bukhari in the past.
#Exclusive | CNN-News18 has accessed a dossier that reveals terrorist Mukhtar Baba, believed to be hiding in Turkey & regularly visits #Pakistan, is architect of a plot to threaten & compel #Kashmiri journalists to propagate ISI propaganda | @AnchorAnandNhttps://t.co/b1w6spXANV pic.twitter.com/zhDiLe9hZz
— News18.com (@news18dotcom) November 17, 2022
Who is Mukhtar Baba
Mukhtar Baba used to be a journalist working in Kashmir. He is from Shaheed Gunj in Srinagar and has eventually worked from SK Bagh, BK Pora and Nowgam. Working with Pakistan’s ISI, and pretending to be a journalist, Mukhtar Baba had created a network of informers and pro-Pakistan operatives in the media.
Mukhtar Baba went to Pakistan from India and later was installed in Turkey by ISI’s deep penetration spy Carin Jodha Fischer, a German-American woman who had come to India under the guise of a tourist and had stayed and worked for ISI till 2016. In 2016, Fischer’s cover was blown and she was deported from India. She has since been working with Pakistan-hired lobby groups against India.
Mukhtar worked for Hizbul Mujahideen while he stayed in Kashmir. However, he was shunned by Hizbul after he sold 40 AK 47 guns to another terrorist outfit, in exchange for huge sums of money. He was arrested in 1990, but he managed to get released within a few months and started working with Masharat Alam’s Muslim League, the outfit that was behind violent stone peltings in Kashmir. As a journalist, Mukhtar Baba worked with major news outlets like Greater Kashmir, Kashmir Observer and CNS.
Baba, though based in Ankara, Turkey, visits Pakistan frequently and works with TRF and LeT to groom, recruit Kashmiri youth and use them against India.
Govt employees and media persons working with Mukhtar Baba
As per reports, the hitlist was made and propagated with the express intention of threatening journalists, and eventually creating an atmosphere of fear by killing some of them. TOI has stated quoting govt sources that it does not matter which terror outfit would have eventually been used to pull the trigger, but the intention was to create an atmosphere of fear and make local journalists toe Pakistan’s line.
4 of the 6 persons identified so far in the investigations are media persons working with Mukhtar Baba, and 2 of them are government employees, as per reports. Investigators are now probing the extent of their links and operation by mapping their digital communications and associations.
The probe agencies say that apart from Baba and his direct associates, there are a number of media outlets that have tried to aid the terror plot by openly discussing the names mentioned in the hitlist and fanning the narrative of fear in the valley. The Srinagar Police have requested media organisations to not fall for sensationalism and behave in a responsible manner.
