Ashiq Hussain Faktoo
Qasim Faktoo is a Kashmiri separatist and militant, serving life imprisonment for the murder of Hriday Nath Wanchoo. He had been among the earliest members of Hizbul Mujahideen.
Personal life
Faktoo graduated in Commerce from Islamia College Srinagar. He claims to have been denied selection in the state constabulary for failing to pay bribe; this incident motivated him to rally against the state and with the passage of time, become a secessionist. Faktoo is married to Asiya Andrabi, the co-founder of Dukhtaran-e-Millat.Education
He earned his PhD in Islamic Studies in 2006, from the prison, and has been since working towards a second PhD in the same field.Politics
Faktoo's introduction into radical Jihadi secessionist politics was via Mohammad Abdullah Bangroo, a co-founder of Hizbul Mujahideen. In 1990, he was inducted as a spokesman for the group. In 1999, Faktoo launched Muslim Deeni Mahaz, a separate separatist group.Assassination of Hriday Nath Wanchoo
Murder
On 5 December 1992, Hriday Nath Wanchoo was assassinated by gunmen at Balgarden in Srinagar; renowned for documenting abuse of human rights by the state, he was among the rare Pandit secessionists and one of the two Hindu ministers in the "government in-absentia" run by Jammu Kashmir Liberation Front. Initial media narrative centered on how the local administration had released two militants in exchange for murdering Wanchoo, one of whom would be killed in an encounter. Days before his death, Wanchoo had confessed in private, about threats to his life from local administration as well as the security apparatus.Investigation and Prosecution
The state government roped in Central Bureau of Investigation to investigate the murder; the agency assigned blame on a militant group called "Jamait-ul-Mujahidin" comprising twelve Kashmiri Muslims including Faktoo. He was arrested along with Andrabi, at the Srinagar Airport, upon returning from Delhi. By the time, the investigation concluded, four of the accused had died and five had absconded, leaving only three — Faktoo himself, Mohammad Shafi Khan, and Ghulam Qadir Bhat — for the trial under Terrorist and Disruptive Activities (Prevention) Act before a special court in Jammu. Confessions had been obtained from all of them. Faktoo secured bail from the Jammu and Kashmir High Court in 1999; however, he was arrested in Delhi, upon arrival from London, on charges of carrying RDX and incarcerated.In July 2001, the TADA Court acquitted Faktoo and others in light of procedural deficiencies in obtaining confessional statements and the absence of any other corroborative evidence. CBI appealed the judgement before the Supreme Court of India; in January 2003, a bench of S. N. Variava and B. N. Agrawal disagreed with the court's characterization of the confession and sentenced all to life-imprisonment. Faktoo and Khan filed a review petition but the Court rejected re-adjudication, in September of the same year, after a closed-court hearing. A writ-cum-review petition was filed by Faktoo and Khan in August 2016; however, the Court declined to entertain the petition on procedural grounds.