Ayub Thakur

Muhammad Ayyub Thakur (1948 – 10 March 2004 ) was a political activist and founder of London-based World Kashmir Freedom Movement (WKFM). He also founded a charity organization called 'Mercy Universal'. In 2011, according to a report by The Telegraph, It was a front group for Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI). After investigatation by the British Charity Commission, Scotland Yard and the FBI, it was stated that his organization had direct contacts with Hizbul Mujahideen, an EU-Sanctioned insurgent organization.

In 2001, Indian Government had booked him under Terrorist and Disruptive Activities (Prevention) Act for providing financing & logistical support to terrorists.

His son Muzammil Ayub Thakur is an active representative member of the UK based NGO

Early life Thakur was born in 1948 in a farming family in Pudsoo village in district Shopian in Jammu and Kashmir. He was the eldest of four children. Thakur obtained his Doctorate (Phd.) in Nuclear Physics from the University of Kashmir.

Career

In 1978, after a brief stint at the Bhaba Atomic Research Centre (Zakoora, Srinagar), he became lecturer in the Department of Physics in the University of Kashmir. He had a keen interest in the social and political issues of Jammu and Kashmir.

In 1981, Thakur joined the Nuclear Engineering Department of King Abdulaziz University, Jeddah in Saudi Arabia as a lecturer.

Family Members Allegedly Harassed Ayub regularly claimed that his family members, relatives and friends were subjected to house raids, torture and harassment by the Indian army [citation needed]. He often claimed that his ancestral home in Kashmir was raided many a time and his parents threatened. His funeral was held at the London Central Mosque, Regent Park, and he was laid to rest at the Garden of Peace, in Greenford, West London, close to where he had been living for many years. The Indian Government, having stripped him of his citizenship in 1993, dismissed a request by his family that he be buried in Jammu and Kashmir. He is survived by his wife, a son and two daughters.