Hizbul Mujadheen

Of the Terrorist outfits currently operating in Jammu and Kashmir (J&K), the Hizb-ul-Mujahideen (HM) is the one of the largest, with a cadre base drawn from indigenous and foreign sources. It is one of the most important terrorist outfits in terms of its effectiveness in perpetrating violence across the State at regular intervals. The HM is one of the 32 outfits proscribed under the Prevention of Terrorism Act, 2002.

Formation and Objectives

The HM came into being in the Kashmir Valley in September 1989 with Master Ahsan Dar as its chief. Dar was later arrested by security forces in mid-December 1993. It was reportedly formed as the militant wing of the Jamaat-e-Islami (JeI), an Islamist organisation. The Jamaat-e-Islami is reported to have set up the Hizb at the behest of the Inter Services Intelligence (ISI), Pakistan’s external intelligence agency, to counter the Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF), which had advocated complete independence of the State. Many of the early Hizb cadres were former JKLF members.

In June 1990, the HM ‘Constitution’ was approved and Mohammed Yusuf Shah, popularly known as Syed Salahuddin, was appointed Patron and Hilal Ahmed Mir as Amir (chief). Apparently, differences between JeI elements and the non-JeI faction started developing within the HM which led to a split with one faction being led by Salahuddin whereas the other was led by Hilal Ahmed Mir (killed in 1993).

The Hizb-ul-Mujahideen stands for the integration of J&K with Pakistan. Since its inception, the HM has also campaigned for the Islamisation of Kashmir.

Leadership, Command Structure and Areas of Operation

Headquartered at Muzaffarabad in Pakistan occupied Kashmir (PoK), the Hizb-ul-Mujahideen with an estimated cadre strength of at least 1500, is presently headed by Syed Salahuddin. The patron of HM in PoK is Ghulam Nabi Nausheri.

Ghazi Nasiruddin is the outfit’s ‘chief commander of operations' in the Kashmir Valley. He succeeded Saif-ul-Islam alias Ghulam Rasool Khan alias 'Engineer' Zaman, who was killed in a major counter-insurgency operation on April 2, 2003, at Nowgam Chowk, on the outskirts of capital Srinagar. Saleem Hashmi is the spokesperson of the outfit.

Currently, the HM is organised into five divisions: central division for Srinagar, northern division for Kupwara-Bandipora-Baramulla, southern division for Anantnag and Pulwama districts, Chenab division for Doda district and Gool in the Udhampur district, and Pir Panjal Division for the Rajouri and Poonch districts.

The HM has its own news agency, Kashmir Press International, and a women's wing, Banat-ul-Islam.

The Hizb reportedly has a substantial support base in the Kashmir Valley and in the Doda, Rajouri, Poonch districts and parts of Udhampur district in the Jammu region.

Internal Dynamics

The HM came into the spotlight when it’s Salar-e-Ala or ‘chief commander’, Abdul Majeed Dar, made a conditional offer of cease-fire to the Indian Government at a press conference in Srinagar on July 24, 2000. The endorsement of this offer by the group's supremo Syed Salahuddin followed in an Islamabad press conference on July 25. On August 3, 2000, a high-level official team of the Government of India visited Srinagar and conducted a meeting with Dar and his associates at the Nehru Guest House. However, on August 8, 2000, Syed Salahuddin 'withdrew' the cease-fire at a press conference in Islamabad, reportedly under pressure from the other terrorist groups and their handlers in Pakistan.

On March 23, 2003, Majeed Dar was shot dead by unidentified gunmen in the Noor Bagh area of Sopore Township in north Kashmir when two gun-wielding youth barged into his ancestral house and fired indiscriminately. Two terrorist groups claimed responsibility for Dar's killing: the hitherto little-known, 'Save Kashmir Movement', believed to be a front of the Al Umar Mujahideen, while claiming responsibility, labeled Dar as "an informant of Indian agencies" and "an enemy of the Kashmiri people." Separately, a person describing himself as the spokesperson of Al Nasireen, another obscure group, in a message to a local news agency, said that activists of his group killed Dar for his 'anti-movement activities'. Meanwhile, another person claiming to be a spokesperson for the HM called up the news agency and condemned Dar's killing. Dar had been a front ranking terrorist in the HM before his 'expulsion' in May 2002. In his capacity as 'deputy supreme commander', 'Military adviser' and 'chief commander of operations', Dar played a significant role in the indoctrination, recruitment, launching and training of Hizb cadres. Reports suggest that, while managing the Hizb training camps in Pakistan, he was the only Kashmiri terrorist who had direct access to Prime Minister Nawaz Sharief as also General Pervez Musharraf.

Dar's killing is the culmination of an almost three-year old battle for supremacy being waged by his followers against the faction led by Syed Salahuddin, the HM 'supreme commander' and chief of the 14-member United Jehad Council (UJC), a conglomerate of Pakistan-based terrorist organisations. The Dar initiated 'peace talks' led to dissent within the Hizb, with the Pakistani ranks fearing that an effective process of negotiations may actually be established, to the detriment of Pakistani interests. Subsequently, a war for supremacy ensued within the HM, and a distinctive 'bimodal' operating structure emerged, with separate factions owing allegiance to Dar and Salahuddin. Since the ill-fated peace talks, followers of Salahuddin - who operates from Pakistan - and Majeed Dar, who remained 'underground' in the Kashmir Valley, had a series of internecine clashes. In November 2002, two Salahuddin loyalists were killed in factional conflict reported at the Mirpur and Tarbela camps in PoK. The Hizb leadership in Pakistan has also issued statements claiming Dar's alleged alignment with Indian intelligence agencies. Reports suggest that Dar had been disillusioned with the Pakistani Inter Services Intelligence (ISI) and its military leadership. Dar was 'suspended' by the Salahuddin faction and replaced by Saiful Islam as the Hizb 'chief commander of operations' in Kashmir, on May 4, 2002. Two of his close associates, Assad Yazdani and Zaffar Abdul Fatah, were also 'removed' from positions of command. Again, on May 9, 2002, the Hizb leadership expelled another two 'divisional commanders' in south Kashmir. Even as Dar and his associates were accused of assisting Indian security forces, many of his loyalists were killed by cadres of the Salahuddin group. Faced with Dar's rising popularity within the HM ranks, Salahuddin and the ISI had, in the recent months before the former’s death, initiated several moves to marginalize and target Dar and his associates in the terrorist ensemble.

The Salahuddin faction is also widely believed to have carried out the January 31, 2003, killing of the editor of News and Feature Alliance (NAFA), Parvaz Mohammad Sultan, in Srinagar. NAFA had been prominently reporting on the internal feud in the HM for the preceding two weeks prior to Sultan's killing. The NAFA reports had mentioned that the Valley-based faction led by Dar had 'overthrown' the Salahuddin faction. Within hours of Majeed Dar's murder clashes broke out at HM camps in PoK between the slain leader's followers and the faction led by Salahuddin. Violent confrontations are believed to have taken place at camps in Kotli, Mirpur, Oggi, Jungal-Mangal, Haripur and Gadhi-Dupatta. Reports have indicated that Salahuddin was fidgety over the prospect of an imminent test of strength in the camps.

In a major counter-insurgency operation on April 2, 2003, HM 'chief commander of operations', Saif-ul-Islam was killed at Nowgam Chowk, on the outskirts of Srinagar. Within a span of 10 days, two front ranking cadres of the HM had been liquidated. An emergency meeting of the 'command council' of the HM in Muzaffarabad named Ghazi Nasiruddin as the new chief for Kashmir, to succeed Saif-ul-Islam, on April 3. However, sources indicate that a process of churning is underway within the HM and its guardians in Pakistan. The HM has for long been regarded as having a considerable number of Kashmiris in its ranks. However, the relative dominance of foreign cadres within the HM has, in the past, progressively impaired the operational capacity of the group. Strained relations between local and foreign cadres have, at times, culminated in violent clashes in some places. Prior to his elevation as the 'chief commander', next only to chief Syed Salahuddin, Saif-ul-Islam had functioned as a 'divisional commander' in south Kashmir for seven years. When Salahuddin removed Abdul Majeed Dar and some 'divisional commanders' loyal to him in January 2002, Saif-ul-Islam was installed as 'chief commander of operations'. Dar had fallen out of favour with Salahuddin and the ISI ever since he announced an ill-fated cease-fire in July 2000.

Media reports have indicated that, two months prior to his death, Pakistani intelligence officials had been urging Majeed Dar to return to Pakistan. Although the Salahuddin-led faction was hostile to Dar, the ISI was keen on a rapprochement. More important, Dar believed that American pressure on Pakistan to move forward with the dialogue process would ensure his safety. But, subsequent events have proved otherwise and the recent killings have led to a split in the HM, with followers of the slain Dar saying that they were parting ways with 'supreme commander' Salahuddin. "We have launched our own faction of Hizbul Mujahideen," Tufail Ahmed, a former 'operational chief' of the Hizb, and Dar supporter said in a March 27, 2003, report. Ahmed is the younger brother of Zafar Abdul Fateh, who was expelled along with Majeed Dar by Salahuddin in May 2002. He claimed that commanders of the new faction on both sides of the border had 'unanimously' appointed Ahmed Yasin as their 'chief commander'. "Around 40 per cent of the Hizb activists are with us," claimed Ahmed.

The two Hizb factions have often blamed each other for the arrest and deaths of their leaders in J&K. Seven Hizb 'chief operational commanders' have been killed in J&K since 1989, according to the Daily Times. They include Ahsan Dar, Ashraf Dar, Maqbool Allai, Commander Baangro, Naseerul Islam, Masood Nantary, and Abdul Majeed Dar. Barring Majeed Dar, all these 'commanders' were killed in encounters with the Indian security forces. Saif-ul-Islam's name now also belongs to this list. At least two of these 'commanders' were reportedly killed after they formed splinter Hizb factions.

Links

The HM is closely linked to the Jamaat-e-Islami, both in the Kashmir Valley and in Pakistan. Overseas, it is allegedly backed by Ghulam Nabi Fai's Kashmir American Council and Ayub Thakur's World Kashmir Freedom Movement in the USA. Early in its history, the Hizb had established contacts with Afghan Mujahideen groups such as Hizb-e-Islami, under which some of its cadre is alleged to have received arms training.

The HM is reported to have a close association with the Pakistani Inter Services Intelligence and the United Jehad Council, and other terrorist organizations operating out of Pakistan. Hizb chief Syed Salahuddin also heads the UJC.

The INDIAN ARMY.

Forgiving Terrorist Is Left to GOD
But Fixing Their

Appointment With GOD
Is Our Responsibility- INDIAN ARMY"

Today while going to sleep a thought just went across my mind. The above statement clearly explains my thought process......

The Indian army has existed in its current form since the days Britishers made it 200 years ago but the units are as old as 300 years like the Punjab units of Maharaja Ranjeet Singh fame.

The Indian Army has proved its caliber fighting against the world class armies like the German, Japanese and Turks. It has the unique privilege of being the only army which has fought five wars since WWII( these wars were forced on the country).
It has the record of the maximum number of surrender since WWII i.e. Bangladesh war and it also created a new nation.

Apart from this it has more than two decade experience in Counter Insurgency in North East and Kashmir Valley. With its sheer professionalism it has managed to evolve as the world most experienced combat army......

Till here all is fine but recent record shows the decline in the Youth choice list when it comes to join the Army. This is a question we need to answer but who will answer this....I AM FORCED TO THINK......

Rashtriya Rifles!!!!!

A special poem dedicated to the bravehearts deployed in the Kashmir valley for past twenty years...some consider it as the largest counter insurgency force deployed anywhere in the world!





Trained, Pushed and Trained
in SWEAT....
in BLOOD....
Till all that is left.....
HONOUR,
COURAGE,
COMMITMENT.

To a Brotherhood and a Freedom
that
No One can take away from us.

Through PAIN..
OUR STRENGTH GROWS...

Through BATTLE..
OUR GLORY RISES...

BORN
BRED
for the days of
WAR..

WE ARE
"RR"

Y UPSC main chunk comes Bihar n UP?

There is famous song which i use to sing in KV
" bharat ka swarnim gaurav kendriya vidalaya laayega,takshila nalanda ka itihaas laut kar aayega"
..hope some of you must have got it in your mental web somewhere.
now the thing to notice is Takshila..
the oldest university of the world which was once flooded with scholars in Maurayan era which was later destroyed by the Muslim invaders( thats their contribution to us). If you look at the area of Takshila it was mainly Bihar n poorvanchal i.e. eastern UP, now why it was established there not because land was cheap or labour was available, sorry for pun. It was because of the availability of teachers in that area so this is an old indicator of the mental level of the people in that belt. We got independence and the successive rulers neglected the area due to their vested interest..at the same time the Southern states were progressing ahead,people were educated and in this side of Line of cancer we were still busy in old hindi medium school and nothing has changed much till date.
But but n but here is the other side of story....
no education can give you what you have in your genes....
N the genetic structure of people of these two most poor n administratively weak state made them go over n kept them excelling over rest of the india's in..in India's most prestigious exam UPSC or in local language IAS Ka paper..
still dont believe me ok then you need statistics..
so to verify this you have to go to Patna n Allahabad where there are lodge(yes people preparing here cannot afford hostels). now what is Lodge: a single room which is your bedroom cum kitchen cum study room and a community bathroom. Light and water are at the mercy of municipal corporation..still there chunk is more than all.
After all you cant change the genes..hey i got a simpler way to help you verify this....so nxt time you tune to TV look for the titles from this area i.e. mishra, pandey, rai, divedi, tripathi, pathak, jha, ojha, chaubey,dubey,sinha, and most imp names without a proper surname(it would be a bihari for sure) in the interviews or when you visit a office of Sectary level Officer and you would know who is still running the Country...if education could have been proper then god save the Queen..I M FORCED TO THINK...

Goonda

The word takes its Origin from "gaad maharaj " of banaras. These were the people who by tradition use to make 'Bhaang-the nectar of Bholenath ' at the ghats of ganges. These people use to be in full masti and josh after a dose of bhaang. There care free attitude irked many as they were considered lawless by muslim rulers,more so ever they were the one who defended the famous vishawnath temple during that era when it was a common practise of muslim rulers to make mosque by breaking the temple or next to temple. With time passing the word changed many faces and now today we know it as GUNDA. hope now you know a bit about the origin of the word, if you disagree with me you got to read GUNDA by jaishankar prasad. Banarasi hai hum

Naxalite are not problem...

Recent attack of the Naxalite have been condemned throughout but we got to understand both side of the coin. The state declared a war on them when they challenged the democracy, but in hurry we forgot that they are the part and result of same democracy. The question here is why this monster was allowed to grow,from where it got its nutrients to survive..it was the same system which gave birth to a necessary evil better known as CORRUPTION. Why few areas were underdeveloped and the anger was allowed to grow inside the people to such a level where they picked the gun for their rights....is it democracy.
Now other side can Naxalite provide basic amenities to the people they are claiming to fighting for, can they build an infrastructure necessary enough for the area to develop. The answer is a big NO.
The state has to come forward to the people after all we are TO THE PEOPLE,BY THE PEOPLE, FOR THE PEOPLE. A common man can do no help in it.
A hasty Govt in fact terrified one pushed the forces without proper military training and equipment in the stronghold of the Naxalites. Sun-zu has said "if you know the enemy 100% and yourself 100% your success is 100%", sorry these may not be the exact words but the intention is clear. Here we know that we know only 20% of the enemy so rest is for you to think afterall CRPF was not raised for this kind of situation,its a mob controlling force, they need to be trained after all FIGHTING IS THEIR DHARMA. Some military experts should be consulted as any strategy by the naxalites will be of no match in front of them.Look at the sucess of Grey-hounds we got to raise battlions on this type as AP has done.The state can only fight it with the people on their side.We have to remember that Jawan to kurbaan hone ke liye hi hota hai is not true as said in path-braking movie RDB..I am forced to think

My name is not Khan

I am not writing anything but just doing Crtl+P today:
My name is not Khan, I am Mr Kaul Tarun Vijay,
22 December 2009, 08:55 AM IST

I am not Khan. My name bears a different set of four letters: K A U L. Kaul. As those who know Indian names would understand I happened to be born in a family which was called Hindu by others. Hence, we were sure, we would never get a friend like KJ to make a movie on our humiliations, and the contemptuous and forced exile from our homeland.
It's not fashionable. It's fashionable to get a Khan as a friend and portray his agony and pains and sufferings when he is asked by a US private to take off his shoes and show his socks. Natural and quite
justifiable that Khan must feel insulted and enraged. Enough Masala to make a movie.

But unfortunately I am a Kaul. I am not a Khan.

Hence when my sisters and mothers were raped and killed, when six-year-old Seema was witness to the brutal slaughtering of her brother, mother and father with a butcher's knife by a Khan, nobody
ever came to make a movie on my agony, pain and anguish, and tears.

No KJ would make a movie on Kashmiri Hindus. Because we are not Khans. We are Kauls.

When we look at our own selves as Kauls, we also see a macabre dance of leaders who people Parliament. Some of them were really concerned about us. They got the bungalows and acres of greenery and had their portraits were worshipped by the gullible devotees of patriotism.

They made reservations in schools and colleges for us. In many many other states. But never did they try that we go back to our homes. They have other priorities and 'love your jihadi neighborhood'
programmes. They get flabbier and flabbier with the passing of each year, sit on sacks of sermons; issue instructions to live simply and follow moral principles delivered by ancestors and kept in documents treated with time-tested preservatives.

They could play with me because my name is Kaul. And not Mr Khan. I saw the trailer to this fabulous movie, which must do good business at the box office.

There was not even a hint that terror is bad and it is worse if it is perpetuated in the name of a religion that means Peace. Peace be upon all its followers and all other the creatures too.

So you make a movie on the humiliation of taking off shoes to a foreign police force which has decided not to allow another 9/11.

The humiliation of taking off the shoes and the urge to show that you are innocent is really too deep. But what about the humiliation of leaving your home and hearth and the world and the relatives and wife
and mother and father? And being forced to live in shabby tents, at the mercy of nincompoop leaders encashing your misery and bribe-seeking babus? And seeing your daughters growing up too sudden and finding no place to hide your shame? No KJ would ever come forward to make a movie, a telling,
spine-chilling narration on the celluloid, of five-year-old Seema, who saw her parents and brother being slaughtered by a butcher's knife in
Doda. Because her dad was not Mr Khan. He was one Mr Kaul.

Sorry, Mr Kaul and your entire ilk. I can't help you.

It's not fashionable to side with those who are Kauls. And Rainas. And Bhatts. Dismissively called KPs. KPs means Kashmiri Pandits. They are a bunch of communalists. They were the agents of one Mr Jagmohan who planned their exodus so that Khans can be blamed falsely. In fact, a movie can be made on how these KPs conspired their own exile to give a bad name to the loving and affectionate Khan brothers of the valley.

To voice the woes of Kauls is sinful. The right course to get counted in the lists of the Prime Minister's banquets and the President's parties is to announce from the roof top: hey, men and ladies, I am Mr
Khan.

The biggest apartheid the state observes is to exclude those who cry for Kauls, wear the colours of Ayodhya, love the wisdom of the civilisational heritage, dare to assert as Hindus in a land which is
known as Hindustan too and struggle to live with dignity as Kauls. They are out and exiled. You can see any list of honours and invites to summits and late-evening gala parties to toast a new brand. All
that the Kauls are allowed is a space at Jantar Mantar: shout, weep and go back to your tents after a tiring demonstration. Mr Kaul, you have got a wrong name.

A dozen KJs would fly to take you atop the glory - posts and gardens of sympathies if you accept to wear a Khan name and love a Sunita, Pranita, Komal or a Kamini. Well, here you have a sweetheart in
Mandira. That goes well with the story.

And you pegged the movie plot on autism.

I wept. It was too much. I wept as a father of a son who needed a story as an Indian. Who cares for his autistic son, his relationship with the western world, his love affair with a young sweet something as a human, as someone whose heart goes beyond being a Hindu, a Muslim or a proselytizing Vatican-centric aggressive soul. Not the one who would declare in newspaper interviews: "I think I am an ambassador for Islam". Shah Rukh is Shah Rukh, not because he is an ambassador for Islam. If that was true, he could have found a room in Deoband. Fine enough. But he became a heartthrob and a famousl star because he is a great actor. He owes everything he has to Indians and not just to Muslims. We love him not because he is some Mr Khan. We love him because he has portrayed the dreams, aspirations, pains, anguish and ups and downs of our daily life. As an Indian. As one of us.
If he wants to use our goodwill and love for strengthening his image as an ambassador for Islam, will we have to think to put up an ambassador for Hindus? That, at least to me, would be unacceptable
because I trust everyone: a Khan or a Kaul or a Singh or a Victor. Who represents India represents us all too, including Hindus. My best ambassadorship would be an ambassadorship for the tricolour and not for anything else because I see my Ram and Dharma in that. I don't think even an Amitabh or a Hritik would ever think in terms Shah Rukh has chosen for himself. But shouldn't these big, tall, successful Indians who wear Hindu names make a movie on why Kauls were ousted? Why Godhra occurred in the first place? Why nobody, yes, not a single Muslim, comes forward to take up the cause of the exiled and killed and contemptuously marginalized Kauls whereas every Muslim complainant would have essentially a Hindu advocate to take on Hindus as fiercely as he can?

If you are Mr Khan and found dead on the railway tracks, the entire nation would be shaken. And he was also a Rizwan. May be just a coincidence that our Mr Khan in the movie is also a Rizwan.

Rizwan's death saw the police commissioner punished and cover stories written by missionary writers. But if you are a Sharma or a Kaul and happened to love an Ameena Yusuf in Srinagar, you would soon find your corpse inside the police thana and NONE, not even a small-time local paper would find it worthwhile to waste a column on you. No police constable would be asked to explain how a wrongly detained person was found dead in police custody?

Because the lover found dead inside a police thana was not Mr Khan. No KJ would ever come forward to make a movie on 'My name is Kaul. And I am terror-struck by Khans'.

Give me back my identity as an Indian, Mr Khan and I would have no problem even wearing your name and appreciating the tender love of an autistic son.