Sajjad Afghani
Born	Muhammad Sajjad Khan Rawalakot, Azad Kashmir, Pakistan
Died	1999 Bhalwal, Jammu and Kashmir, India
Burial place	Jammu, Jammu and Kashmir, India
Nationality	Pakistani
Occupation	Militant
Years active	(1984–1996)
Organization	Harkat ul-Ansar
Known for	Militancy
Notable work	Soviet–Afghan War
Title	Commander
Movement	Insurgency in Jammu and Kashmir
Opponents	Indian Military CRPF
Family	Sudhan

Muhammad Sajjad Khan, known by his nom de guerre Sajjad Afghani, was a Islamist Commander-in-Chief of Harkat-ul-Mujahideen. He had become a popular figure amongst the local Kashmiri populace. In Afghani was responsible for moulding the insurgency in Jammu and Kashmir into a youth-oriented movement. Afghani was a Militant leader and had reportedly recruited numerous foot-soldiers through his personal efforts and he was known as Sajjad Afghani, due to his Afghan ancestry belonging to Sudhan tribe from Poonch having done so primarily through a strong participation in the 1990's Soviet-Afghan War as militant commander of Afghan Mujahideen.^[1][2]

He was born in the village of Baibakh, Rawalakot, in the Poonch District of Azad Kashmir to an Sudhan family, who claim their ancestry from Afghanistan and moved to southern Poonch.^[3] The body of Sajad Afghani, former chief Commander of the Harkatul Ansar who was killed during a jailbreak attempt in the high security Kotbalwal Jail on July 15 this year, lies buried in the graveyard at Gujjar Nagar, Jammu.

The hijackers are now demanding the return of his body along with the release of 35 jailed militants and $ 200 million.

Afghani, who was arrested in February 1994 along with the general secretary of the Harkatul Ansar, Maulana Masood Azhar Alvi (31), was shifted to Kotbalwal jail after a through interrogation by various security agencies in Kashmir.

The tall and well built Sajad was the first chief commander of the Harkatul Ansar which was formed in 1993 following the merger of the Harkatul Jehadi Islami and Harkatul Mujahideen. Both Afghani and Alvi were in the same barracks from 1997 after Masood Azhar was shifted back to Jammu's Kotbalwal jail after a nearly two-year stay in Tihar Jail, New Delhi.

Both stayed together, along with other Kashmiri militants. However, after the daring jailbreak in February 1999 during which Major Irfan, the main accused in Jammu stadium serial blasts escaped along with two others from the high security Kotbalwal jail, the authorities segregated the Kashmiris and the foreign militants and put them into separate barracks.

However, Afghani and Masood, along with other foreign militants continued their stay in the same barracks.

On July 15, 1999, the foreign militants planned another escape from jail. A group of foreign militants including Sajad Afghani dug a 23-feet long tunnel inside a cell. A few more feet and all of them would have managed their escape, but the jail guards detected the tunnel. In the clash that followed, 11 prisoners, including Afghani, received serious injuries and succumbed in jail.

His body was later taken by the police to Gujjar Nagar, a Muslim dominated locality in Jammu and the locals buried it in the main graveyard.

Meanwhile, a senior state official disclosed that during a routine chat with a jail official yesterday, Maulana Masood Azhar Alvi had said he was not happy with the hijacking of the aircraft and was pained by the agony and difficulties which the passengers may be facing at Kandahar. "I won't like to get released like this," he is reported to have said.

Sajjad Afghani joined the militancy under the banner of Harkat-ul-Mujahideen in the 1980s. He was well trained and remained involved in the Soviet–Afghan War. He stayed in Afghanistan until 1989.^[4]

In 1991 he became Commander in Chief of Harkat Ul Ansar in Srinagar. In June 1994 he was arrested along with Molana Masood Azhar by the Indian Border Security Force. ^[5] Lt. Gen. Arjun Ray, then Brigadier General Staff (BGS), described Afghani, a frail but visibly tough militant who had fought the Russians, as the "biggest catch" given his importance in militant circles.^[6]

According to Indian sources, Sajjad Afghani was killed during an unsuccessful jailbreak from the high security Kot Bhalwal Jail in 1999. He is buried in Jammu Graveyard.^[5] His death led to the hijacking, by Harkat, of Indian Airlines Flight 814 in December, which led to the release of Maulana Masood Azhar, Ahmed Omar Saeed Sheikh (both Harkat members) and Mushtaq Ahmed Zargar by the Indian Government. His body was also one of the initial demands of the hijackers.^[7]