Is Mohammad Aslam a warrior in the Kashmiri jihad? From AP, with thanks to Twostellas:
A British citizen held in Pennsylvania on immigration charges is wanted for the kidnapping and murder of an Indian diplomat in England in 1984, officials said Thursday.
Mohammad Aslam, 48, was identified by fingerprints as the man wanted in the shooting death of Ravindra Mhatre in Birmingham, England, said Mike Gilhooly, a spokesman for the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
Aslam has been held in a county prison in southeastern Pennsylvania since July on the immigration charges. The announcement of the British murder warrant came a day after Aslam had a deportation hearing.
“We learned about the warrant in the summer of 2003 as we were making arrangements for (deportation) with authorities from the United Kingdom,” Gilhooly said.
British officials said Mhatre was kidnapped and killed in 1984 by members of the Kashmir Liberation Front, a group fighting for the separation of Kashmir from India.
Mhatre “apparently was kidnapped, taken to a field and he was shot,” said Assistant U.S. Attorney Daryl F. Bloom, who is handling Aslam’s deportation case.
Aslam was born in Kashmir and became a British citizen as a boy. According to court records, he moved to England in 1970 and returned to Kashmir in 1985.
Aslam moved to Pennsylvania, where he married a woman from Pottsville in 2001, and managed a Pottsville apartment complex.
Following a July meeting in Philadelphia with immigration authorities, Aslam was arrested for overstaying his 90-day visa.
Gunnar L. Armstrong, a lawyer for Aslam in the immigration case, said Thursday he was unaware of the murder charge until being contacted by a reporter.
It was unclear whether Aslam would be extradited to England. Police offices in Birmingham, England, were closed late Thursday and no one was available for comment.
Ann Aslam laughed deeply when a reporter told her of her husband’s arrest warrant.
“I don’t believe that. I don’t have any knowledge of it, but I don’t believe it,” she said.