Srinagar, December 8
A series of critical setbacks to the valley’s once most formidable and only indigenous militant outfit, the Hizbul Mujahiddin (HM), has shaken its organisational structure and if official sources are to be believed, its present disarray could be irretrievable.

A section of police and intelligence officials told The Tribune, “One after another most of its top commanders have been killed and some apprehended. Its cadre strength has been declining and so low is the morale that its most active militants do not want to take leadership positions for fear of getting targeted,” a senior police official said.

He added that the HM was yet to name replacement top commander Gazi Misbahudin, something unthinkable till six-seven years back.

Official sources said the present estimated strength of Hizbul is unlikely to be more than 300 as compared to 3,000 about 10 years back.

The HM is the only active outfit which has close to 90 per cent of its cadre from the state, while other terror outfits like LeT, which is numerically smaller but more deadly than HM, Al-Badr and Jaish-e-Mohammad draw most of their strength from outsiders, mostly Pakistanis.

Explaining the reasons behind its decline, a senior official said the fratricidal war it launched on other militant outfits in the early 1990s to gain control of the armed movement came back to haunt it years after it neutralised its adversaries like the JKLF and Al-Barq.

As security forces consolidated in the valley, the victims of HM’s unilateralism sided with them to get back at it. And it continued to face reverses.

Besides, support to it from Pakistani establishment had been contained since the two countries began talks.

“The HM depends critically on Pakistan unlike the Lashkar or Jaish who have their own independent set-ups and ideological roots,” he said.

With local recruitment on a low and active Kashmiri youths present in Pak-occupied-Kashmir estimated not more than 1,000, officials said it was likely to continue going downhill unless things changed dramatically.

Amidst positive signs in the valley, official sources said LeT remained their most formidable foe due to high level of ideological motivation of its cadre.

Unlike the HM, Lashkar and Jaish relate themselves with the global Islamist phenomenon and they can contain its activities only to an extent, an official said.

“We have been successful in dealing with HM as its roots are in Kashmir. The same can’t be said about these outfits as they have so many active and sleeping cells across the country,” he said.

Srinagar, December 8
After repeated cancellation of Haj flights due to bad weather at the Srinagar airport for many days, three flights carrying 646 pilgrims, including 220 women, left for Jeddah from here today.

Three additional flights have been arranged to carry more pilgrims tomorrow, who have been asked to report at the Haj House in the morning as per the scheduled departure of their respective flights.

According to the executive officer, State Haj Committee, with the intervention of Chief Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad, additional Haj flights have been arranged for airlifting the pilgrims of the state.

The remaining flights will move down by one day each, an official spokesman
said here.