The Tribune, Chandigarh, India

Sunday, May 12, 2002, Chandigarh, India

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4 top Hizb leaders join Dar
Rajeev Sharma
Tribune News Service

New Delhi, May 11
In a major setback to Pakistan, four members of the Hizb-ul-Mujahideen’s seven-member Central Command Council and two senior militant commanders have joined ranks with Abdul Majid Dar who was recently sacked by Islamabad as supremo of the outfit’s Indian chapter.

This development took place at a crucial meeting of the Hizb’s apex decision-making body— the Central Command Council —held at a secret location in the Kashmir valley on May 8, well-placed sources ,here, disclosed to‘‘ The Tribune’’ today.

The four members of the council who sided with Dar and condemned his expulsion are Shamsher Khan, Majid Jahangir, Riaz Geelani Rasool and Khalid Saifullah.

Besides, two more senior militant commanders have joined the expelled leaders and challenged the authority of its Pakistani leadership, sending a strong signal that the latter cannot marginalise the groups in Jammu and Kashmir.

Sources said these two commanders, launching commander Abu Amir and district commander for Kupwara Asgar Rahman, alleged that the Pakistan-based leadership of their organisation did not take them into confidence while taking a decision on the expulsion.

Already, four commanders have sided with Majid Dar. They are Zafar Abdul Fatah, former divisional commander; Dr Yazdani, former south divisional commander, Abul Ubaid, present north divisional commander; and Asgar, Kupwara district commander.

The three expelled commanders of the Hizb— Abdul Majid Dar, Dr Asad Yazdani and Zafar Abdul Fateh— are also likely to adopt their strategy with their Pakistani mentors by announcing soon that the group controlled by them was the real Hizb.

A split in the pro-Pakistan Hizb, the only indigenous militant group operating in Jammu and Kashmir, is virtually complete with about 800 of its 1100 cadres siding with Dar, whose group favours dialogue with the Centre to end violence in the state.

Dar parted ways with Pakistan-based Hizb leader Syed Salahuddin after he refused to follow the ISI dictate to continue the gun culture and oppose the electoral process in the state.

Sources said about 800 of the Hizb operatives in Jammu and Kashmir had sided with Dar after his expulsion by Syed Salahuddin. The rest of the 300-odd hardcore Hizb militants are still advocating violence.

Dar was under tremendous pressure from Pakistan to oppose the peace process, but he refused. Some of his supporters who are in training camps in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir are being maltreated there because of Dar’s decision to give peace a chance. Dar had recently sent some 200 new recruits to PoK for training. They are receiving training at “jungle mangal” camp in PoK under the overall command of the ISI’s “Brigadier Abdullah”, normally a code name for any ISI brigadier in charge.

(To be concluded)

6 ultras, jawan killed in encounters

Srinagar, May 11
Nine persons, including six militants and a jawan, were killed and two wounded in separate incidents, while security forces arrested two ultras in Jammu and Kashmir since last night, a police spokesman said today.

Two Hizbul Mujahideen militants and a jawan were killed and another soldier wounded in an encounter at Dardpora in the Lolab area of Kupwara district in north Kashmir early today.

He said the encounter took place when the troops confronted the two militants during search operations and asked them to surrender. However, they opened fire forcing the troops to retaliate.

While one of the deceased militant was identified as Ghulam Haider, alias Lukman Hizbi, the identity of the other is being ascertained. Two AK rifles, four magazines with 48 rounds, a wireless set and two grenades were seized from them, the spokesman said.

He said three militants of Lashker-e-Toiba (LeT) outfit were killed in an encounter with security forces at Bhata Chevan Gali in Doda district last night. Two AK rifles, five magazines with 25 rounds, two grenades and a wireless set were seized from the killed militants.

Security forces shot dead a foreign militant in another encounter which took place at Bunjwah village in the Gandoh area of the district last night. An AK rifle and some ammunition were seized, the spokesman said.

Unidentified militants shot dead an employee of Public Health Engineering at Bijbehara in Anantnag district of south Kashmir this afternoon, the spokesman added. PTI