India - Al-Faran

Nobody that DP has talked to in Kashmir or Pakistan had ever heard of Al-Faran (the mountain people who some say they took their name after a mountain in Saudi Arabia near Mecca), but they quickly became famous. On July 4, 1995, two Brits and two Yanks were nabbed by Al-Faran, reputedly a shadowy Kashmiri separatist group but actually Afghan mercenaries hired to spring captured fighters out of jail. One of the Americans escaped, and the remaining hostages were joined with a German and a Norwegian seized in a separate incident. The Norwegian, Hans Christian Ostro, was beheaded and left in the village of Seer with the words "Al-Faran" carved on his back. The group demanded the release of 15 Afghan fighters in exchange for the hostages, but quickly was forced to disperse, and many members were gunned down in raids and standoffs. The hostages are seen sporadically (see IADP Kashmir) and the families search for them continues. Al-Faran is thought to be a front group for Pakistan-based Harkat-ul-Ansar (HUA see below), which lost four leaders in shoot-outs in a mere four months. The HUA appealed for the release of the hostages and insists this was a rogue act. The truth is, that Al-Faran was sent in to capture high level Western expats (engineers or embassy folks) and screwed up. They snagged the picnicking tourists out of impatience. The Turkish, Afghan and Pakistani mujahedin were long on meanness but short on smarts. They panicked when nobody budged. They offed the Norwegian, dumped the remaining hostages with local groups and then some ran back to Pakistan after a major shoot-out in Dec '96. The alleged mastermind of the hostage-taking-Harkat-ul-Ansar leader Sanaullah-was gunned down in June 1997 by cops who had stopped him for questioning. Two other members of HUA (see below) were shot or beaten to death by police. There are now four fewer guys the hostages' families can get answers from.