A targeted shooting in Muzaffarabad left Kashmiri educationist Arjumand Gulzar Dar critically injured on Thursday, according to police and eyewitnesses. The suspected attacker was arrested within about 30 minutes of the incident during a police operation in the area.
Dar, who originally belonged to Pulwama district in Indian-occupied Kashmir, had moved to Pakistan in 2018 for higher studies and later became the principal and managing director of Allama Iqbal Memorial School in Muzaffarabad. Family sources said he had established a peaceful life in Azad Kashmir and was the father of a young son.
Hospital officials confirmed that Dar sustained three bullet wounds and remained in critical condition on a ventilator. Police sources stated that he had previously received security threats because of his public support for the Kashmiri freedom movement on social media. Authorities had reportedly assigned him two security guards shortly before the attack.
According to investigators, Dar had gone outside the school building to meet visitors who arrived in a double-cabin pickup vehicle. As he was returning toward the school, an armed attacker allegedly shot him from behind before attempting to flee the scene.
Police teams led by local officers pursued the suspect and arrested him near a residential area shortly afterwards. Authorities also recovered the weapon believed to have been used in the attack. Video clips circulating online showed police taking the suspect into custody.
Senior police officials, including DIG Shehryar Sikander and SSP Riaz Mughal, supervised the initial investigation. Officials revealed that the suspect had reportedly been staying in a nearby guesthouse for several days and had monitored the area before carrying out the attack.
Police also criticised the guesthouse management for allegedly failing to share the suspect’s details through the official “Hotel Eye” digital monitoring system designed to track hotel guests and suspicious activity.
Law enforcement agencies suspect that hostile foreign intelligence involvement cannot be ruled out, especially after some Indian media outlets claimed the target had alleged links to the 2019 Pulwama incident.
The attack has raised serious security concerns in Azad Kashmir, where thousands of migrants from Indian-occupied Kashmir have settled over the past decades after fleeing conflict and persecution.
