A recounting of the story of infamous British-born terrorist Ahmed Omar Saeed Sheikh, who kidnapped and murdered Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl in 2002.
A recounting of the story of infamous British-born terrorist Ahmed Omar Saeed Sheikh (Rajkummar Rao), who kidnapped and murdered Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl (Timothy Ryan Hickernell) in 2002.A narration in the voice of George Bush, who says that there are thousands of Al-Qaeda terrorists all over the world. They are recruited from their own nations and sent to terror camps in Afghanistan for training in the tactics of terror.
Omar was born in Britain, but frequently traveled to Pakistan. By 1994, he was radicalized by Al-Qaeda operatives in Lahore. The same year he is ordered to enter India for surveillance purposes. His precise orders are to befriend influential Americans, British or other Europeans whom he meets in Delhi.
In a few days he befriends Rhys Partridge who is the son of the Czech Ambassador. Rhys introduces Omar to his British friends Paul and Chris. Bella, an American diplomatic attache is also staying at the same hotel as Rhys. Omar takes Rhys and his friends sight-seeing and then brings them to his home for a game of chess and dinner. This is when Omar's associates arrive and kidnap Rhys. Omar tells Rhys that his kidnapping is in response to the atrocities perpetrated by Serbs on the Muslims.
While Rhys is in custody, Omar starts following Bella and befriends her while helping her haggle during shopping at a local market. He then runs into her at a coffee shop and offers to show her around India Gate.
Next, he kidnaps Bella. He then records and publishes a video statement of the hostages condemning the actions of their own governments. Using Rhys as bait, Al Qaeda demands the release of Muslim terrorists in Serbia.
Omar is nabbed by the police when he visits his handler, and the police is already waiting there. Omar is tortured by the police. In December 1994, Omar is housed in the Tihar jail. His lawyer Majeed (Jaipreet Singh) advises Omar that the best way to get out of India is to plead for the trial in UK as Omar is a British citizen. Omar's father Saeed Sheikh (Keval Arora) believes that he is an ISI agent as suspected by the Indian authorities.Even in jail, Omar follows his strict Islamic routine and encourages other Muslims to do so as well.
The story reverts to 1992 to a meeting in London, where the radicalization starts over the Serbs treatment of Bosnian Muslims where hundreds of thousands died in ethnic genocide. A local recruiter tells Omar that Islam is about sacrifice and to save Islam he has to be willing to fight. Omar had an admission to LSE but decided to give it up to travel to Bosnia. His father Saeed begs Omar to complete his degree and advises that Bosnia would be dangerous, but Omar wants to help his fellow Muslims there.
Omar contacts a local Maulana Ismail (Rupinder Nagra), who gets him to travel to Pakistan to meet Maulana Abdullah (Sanjiv Chopra) in Karachi. Abdullah organizes training for Omar. In 1993, Omar travels to PoK to a terrorist training camp to complete his induction into Al Qaeda. The recruits are trained in weapons handling, bomb making, physical endurance and so on.He is also paid a visit from Maulana Masood Azhar (Sanjeev Mehta) & General Mahmood (Rajesh Tailang) (who heads the ISI) who share his own philosophy with the new recruits. Masood spots the potential in Omar and sends him for higher level training with the ISI in Miranshah Covering topics such as strategy, intelligence and urban warfare. Masood then changes Omar's mind to focus on the struggle in Kashmir. Omar is taught to use his mind as his greatest weapon. He is given the location of ISI's sleeper cells in India and its terror network.Masood goes on a mission in India and gets arrested.
In 2000, after the IC814 hijack, 3 people are released in exchange for hostages. 2 of them are Omar and Masood Azhar. Omar returns triumphant to Al Qaeda HQ in Afghanistan. Saeed is livid as Omar has now been branded as a militant for life. In Dec 2000, Omar gets married to first wife (Nisha George). Saeed warns Omar that the respect he is getting from Pakistan is for the dirty work he is doing on their behalf. Omar now settles down in Pakistan and considers himself to be a part of the establishment.In Sep 2001, the world trade center twin towers are attacked in New York. Omar is linked to organizing funding for these attacks.
Later in 2001, Daniel Pearl is a US reporter who travels to Pakistan to complete his investigation on how the Pakistani Govt is sheltering terrorist organizations like JeM, Masood Azhar etc. He even reports that Dawood Ibrahim is not just a gangster, but a terrorist and is being sheltered in Pakistan by the ISI.Daniel is expecting a child with his wife Mariane (Kallirroi Tziafeta).
Daniel meets Omar in Lahore in December 2001 and expresses his desire to meet Syed Gilani. Omar is hesitant as he doesn't know if Daniel works for the CIA. In 2002, Omar wins Daniel's trust by promising him to take him to Gilani, but then abducts him on the instructions of the ISI.A few months later Daniel is shot after he has repeated ideological arguments with Omar.
Subsequent US pressure leads to the arrest of Omar by Pakistani authorities. In 2002, he is sentenced to death but is active from the Hyderabad jail even in 2008. He is shown to orchestrate the Mumbai attacks, as well as making fake phone calls to the Govts of India and Pakistan, that bring them to the cusp of war.
