Kashmiri Analyst Condemns Delhi Bomber: "Suicide, Not Martyrdom" Says Son of India's First Hijacker

Umar Nabi's pre-recorded video circulated widely on social media before Meta removed it from their platforms.

Following the devastating suicide bombing near Delhi's Red Fort, Junaid Qureshi, a Kashmiri political analyst and son of India's first aircraft hijacker Hashim Qureshi, has strongly denounced the attacker and called upon Kashmiri society to address terrorism "from within."

Speaking to NDTV, Junaid Qureshi, who directs the Amsterdam-based European Foundation for South Asian Studies (EFSAS), firmly rejected both the ideological foundation and religious justification presented by suicide bomber Umar Nabi in his viral video that was subsequently deleted by Meta.

The bombing claimed at least 15 lives and injured over 30 individuals, marking the most severe terrorist attack in Delhi in more than a decade.

"I've never embraced that legacy," Qureshi stated regarding his father Hashim Qureshi, who hijacked Indian Airlines flight 'Ganga' from Srinagar to Lahore in 1971. "I have always condemned his act of terrorism."

Addressing Umar Nabi's video message, Qureshi asserted the bomber was attempting to "intellectually dress up" a suicide attack as religious martyrdom. "He tries to find foundations in religion, but it is suicide. He has committed suicide and killed more than a dozen innocent people," Qureshi emphasized, describing the attempt to connect the bombing with martyrdom as "a distortion of Islam."

Citing Islamic tradition, Qureshi noted that the Prophet "refrained from leading funeral prayers" for those who died by suicide, arguing this leaves no theological justification for glorifying suicide bombings. He mentioned that Muslim scholars globally have repeatedly clarified that such attacks are forbidden in Islam, but statements alone are no longer sufficient.

"We Kashmiris, or we Muslims, can keep on saying this is not Islam, which is true, but the time for just saying that has gone. The time for action is here," he declared.

Qureshi referenced examples from Egypt and Lebanon where families of suicide bombers refused to claim their bodies or perform funeral rites as a public rejection of their actions. He emphasized that Kashmir now requires similar moral clarity.

"We need candlelight marches in Delhi against this Red Fort blast," he stated. "The parents of Umar Nabi, his neighborhood and his friends should say, 'We will not take his body because he is a shame to our culture, a shame to our family, and most importantly, a shame to our religion.'"

Qureshi also highlighted what he described as "hypocrisy" within segments of Kashmiri society—where terrorists are condemned in media but honored with large funerals. "There is a discrepancy between what we are trying to say and what we do," he observed. "We are preaching something different and doing something different."

Regarding intelligence reports about attempts to revive banned separatist groups and recruit women into terror networks, including alleged female facilitators in the Delhi bombing plot, Qureshi warned that women in Kashmir are being cynically exploited.

"When it suited these terrorists, women were told to sit at home, wear burqas, not work. When it suited them, the same women were used for smuggling and other activities," he said, urging Kashmiri society to resist the exploitation of its "most victimized" population in violent campaigns.

Qureshi connected these new recruitment and radicalization patterns to what he described as Pakistan's evolving strategy following international exposure of its proxy war in Kashmir. According to him, Pakistan's military establishment is now attempting to make the conflict appear "Kashmiri-owned"—by pushing educated youth, including doctors and professionals, into terrorist networks and establishing new Kashmiri-branded organizations.

"This strategy of making it Kashmir-owned will give Pakistan plausible deniability in the world," he argued, cautioning that if moderate Kashmiri voices fail to act decisively now, "at some point the world will stop believing us" when they say terrorism does not represent their religion or culture.