Umar is said to have traveled to Afghanistan where he met Osama bin Laden, and later joined Harkat-ul-Jihad al-Islami (HUJI), a Jihadist group with branches across the Indian Subcontinent. Umar's affiliation with Al-Qaeda was reportedly solidified after the Pakistani government's 2007 storming of the radical Lal Masjid seminary, resulting in the deaths of many militants. He is said to have made contact with Ilyas Kashmiri, a top jihadist with close links to al-Qaeda.