14 yrs later, JKLF admits kidnapping Mufti daughter

Fourteen years after five terrorists were released in exchange of abducted daughter of then Union Home minister Mufti Sayeed, JKLF vice-chairman Javed Mir has admitted to have carried out the action along with two other top commanders Yasin Malik and Ashfaq Wani.

He disclosed details of how the three kidnapped doctor-intern Rubaiya Sayeed, younger daughter of the current CM, at gunpoint on December 8, 1989, from a mini-bus when she was returning home. ‘‘Rubaiya was an easy bait as she did not have security cover despite her father being Home minister in the V.P. Singh government, Mir, also known as Javed Nalqa, told the author of a book, Militant Monologues, released here recently.

‘‘We had all the background on Rubaiya’s movements,’’ he says. Rubaiya was taken to an already identified house in Sopore, about 40 kilometres from Srinagar, he adds.

Four JKLF activists were put on guard as leaders negotiated release of four terrorists, including commander Hamid Sheikh who had been arrested about a month earlier, he reveals. She was set free 15 days later after the government released all the five terrorists as demanded.