Debate On Kashmir In UK: News18 Decodes Link To Pakistan’s ISI | Exclusive – News18
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The debate organised by Oxford Union on “independent Kashmir” invited Muzzammil Ayyub Thakur and Zafar Khan as speakers
The protesters outside the building. (X)
Amid chants of ‘Vande Mataram’ and ‘Bharat Mata ki Jai’, Insight UK, a social movement representing British Hindus, on Friday protested outside the Oxford Union building against an event by the organisation on November 14, according to top intelligence sources.
The debate organised by Oxford Union — This House Believes in the Independent State of Kashmir – had invited Muzzammil Ayyub Thakur and Zafar Khan as speakers.
The debate was influenced by Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) and Cairo-origin Oxford president Ebrahim Osman Mowafy was brought on-board. Mowafy, too, has a tainted past. He was suspended once from the presidency for his wrong comments.
Nigerian Muslims, Pakistanis, Indian Muslims from Telangana and Andhra Pradesh had supported the debate. Both the UK and India have named the duo in several cases related to incitement, hate speech and connections to extremist groups and they are already under investigation in both the countries.
Thakur, the president of the World Kashmir Freedom Movement, was investigated by the Scotland Yard, Charity Commission, and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) for suspected ties to terrorist activities.
Khan, chairman of the Jammu Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF), has been associated with a group known for violent activities targeting the Kashmiri Hindu community.
According to intelligence sources, the debate was funded by Mercy Universal, the front organisation of Mohammad Ayub Thakur. Mercy Universal was shut down in 2011 after a Scotland Yard Probe, but remains active.
Mohammad Ayub Thakur was a Kashmiri political activist and founder of the London-based World Kashmir Freedom Movement (WKFM). He was also accused of providing financing and logistical support to terrorists.
The Indian government had booked him under the Terrorist and Disruptive Activities (Prevention) Act in 2001. His activities had led to his Indian passport being impounded, and there was a demand for his extradition to India twice, in 1992 and 1993.
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