JKLF was founded by Amanullah Khan in Birmingham in June 1976 from the erstwhile UK chapter of the 'Plebiscite Front'. Maqbool Bhat is often credited as being its co-founder. Khan was born in Gilgit, studied in Srinagar and emigrated to Pakistan in 1952. Bhat was born in Kupwara and also emigrated to Pakistan after studying in Srinagar. The duo had earlier formed Jammu Kashmir National Liberation Front (NLF) in the late 1960s, along with Hashim Qureshi. The group carried out the hijacking of Ganga, an Indian Airlines plane flying from Srinagar to Jammu, in January 1971, and diverted it to Lahore. The Pakistani government returned all the passengers and crew to India, and subsequently tried the hijackers and several members of NLF on charges of being Indian agents. Khan was imprisoned in a Gilgit prison during 1970–72, released after protests broke out. Maqbool Bhat was released in 1974, and he crossed over into the Indian-administered Kashmir where he was arrested in a bank robbery.