Pulwama mastermind’s father says son ‘got what he deserved’

The father of slain Pulwama attack mastermind Arjumand Gulzar (alias Burhan Hamza), who was killed by unidentified gunmen in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir, said his son “got what he deserved” for choosing terrorism but appealed that his other sons should not be punished for his deeds.

Srinagar: Father of Pulwama attack mastermind Burhan Hamza — who was shot dead by unknown assailants in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK) — on Friday said his son got what he deserved for treading the wrong path, but the family should not be persecuted.

Arjumand Gulzar, alias Burhan Hamza, alias Doctor, a designated terrorist and the mastermind behind the 2019 terror attack on a CRPF convoy in Jammu and Kashmir’s Pulwama, was shot dead by unidentified gunmen in PoK on Thursday.

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Arjumand’s father, Gulzar Ahmed Dar, a resident of south Kashmir’s Pulwama district, said his other son — Shahid Gulzar, who was arrested in 2022 and is lodged in Jammu jail — should not be punished for his brother’s deeds and should be released.

“Arjumand went to Pakistan on January 28, 2018 to pursue MBBS. He left on his own without consulting me. Before that, he was studying at Rajiv Gandhi University, Bangalore in 2017. After completing his first semester there, he returned home in December and left again in January,” Dar said.

He said around 13 days after that, the family came to know that Arjumand had gone to Pakistan.

“As soon as we came to know about it, we informed the police and other agencies that our son had gone to Pakistan without consulting us. We told him (Arjumand) that he had a one-month visa and should come back. But after a month, he submitted his student visa and said he was pursuing MBBS in Pakistan,” the father said.

Dar said the family handed over those documents to police and agencies, “but unfortunately, two months later, we discovered that he had taken the wrong path”.

“He cut off contact with us, and we haven’t had any connection with him since,” the father said.

He said the family has endured a very difficult time since then. “My eldest son, Shahid Gulzar, a 2019 batch KAS qualifier, was arrested in 2022 and has been in Jammu jail for the past five years,” Dar said.

His other son Arif, Dar said, who holds a PhD and has also qualified the NET, was supposed to go to Russia for research purposes, but his passport has been confiscated.

He appealed to Jammu and Kashmir Lt Governor Manoj Sinha that his other sons should not be punished for the deeds of their brother, urging the release of his eldest son from prison.

“I appeal to the L-G and the administration; he (Arjumand) got what he deserved by choosing the wrong path and was killed in Pakistan, but my son Shahid should be released on ground of humanity,” he said.