Hizb ul Mujahideen
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Contents |
History
Hizbul Mujahideen was formed by a Jamiat-e-Islami worker, Master Ahsan Dar, in 1989. Dar had crossed over to PoK in 1988 for arms training and returned to Kashmir in 1989 and began recruiting local youth for jihad. But he kept his outfit low key . Dar was joined by Mohammad Yousuf Shah, another staunch Jamiat supporter, who later gained notoriety as Syed Salauddin of the United Jihad Council.
The two together expanded the group and tried to take over from the Jammu Kashmir Liberation Front, which advocated complete independence or “azadi“ for Kashmir -not its merger with Pakistan. HuM strategically allowed JKLF to target Kashmiri Pandits and mainstream politicians, close cinema halls and ban liquor in the Valley.
The expansion of JKLF and its dominance in the Valley worried both Jamiat and Pakistan.In 1990, Dar came out in the open and started issuing statements in the press warning Pandits to leave valley “within 48 hours“.
In Srinagar, Dar was joined by one Mohammed Abdullah Bangroo. HuM formally came into being in April 1990 with Bangroo joining as “military advisor“ while Dar was the chief of operations. There was no dearth of funds or arms. Within a year, HuM had over 10,000 armed cadres. The outfit's first major strike is believed to have been Mirwaiz of Kashmir, Moulvi Mohammed Farooq, the father of current Mirwaiz Umer Farooq.According to police, Bangroo and his two associates conspired to kill Moulvi Farooq on May 21, 1990. A large number of people took to streets protesting against Farooq's killing, forcing the Armed forces to fire in which 26 people were killed.
The joining of Yousuf Shah alias Syed Salauddin led to Ahsan Dar's expulsion. Salauddin took over Hizb leadership by 1991. Dar, however, formed his own group along with loyalists, naming it `Muslim Mujahideen'. The group, however, quickly fell apart after his arrest in 1993.
HuM thereafter tried to eliminate JKLF cadre by providing intelligence to security forces and even killed JKLF men themselves in clashes. Nearly 300 JKLF cadre were killed by HuM.
Funding
5 firms using cross-border trade to fund Hizb/ 2017
In its probe into the alleged transfer of crossLoC trade funds for terror purposes in J&K, the National Investigation Agency has found at least five companies with links to the Hizb-ul Mujahideen.
Top sources told TOI that the scrutiny of around 300 companiestraders engaged in cross-LoC India-Pakistan trade since 2008 has revealed some dubious transactions related to five firms. NIA officials refused to divulge the names of these companies.
Sources said that these companies were engaged in barter trade with some Pakistan-based individualscompanies that were under-invoicing the import of California almonds (badam giri) at trade fa cilitation centres (TFCs) located at Salamabad and Chakkan-da-Bagh in J&K.
The under-invoicing led to windfall profits for the Indian companies now under the scanner and that money was most likely used for “terror operations“. NIA suspects that several crores of rupees were handed over to overground workers of Hizb or to separatist elements to fuel the massive protests and violence in the Valley following the killing of the terror group's commander Burhan Wani in July 2016.
In an FIR registered in 2016 under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, NIA had stated that largescale transfer of funds was taking place through the California almonds trade. The trade was in gross violation of prohibition on trade in `third-party origin goods' through this mechanism.
Earlier this month, security forces had arrested a truck driver -Irshad Ahmad Mantoo, a resident of Kulgam -while trying to smuggle in arms and ammunition from Pakistan. He had received the consignment from a terrorist operative in POK and had hidden it in a cavity in his truck that was bringing in merchandise from across the border.
NIA is questioning him to identify the people to whom the delivery was expected to be made. NIA is also analysing several thousand documents related to the companies involved in barter trade in J&K to know more about terror funding.
MBBS seat for Salahudin's son
The Times of India, Jul 04 2015
Sameer Arshad
`Hizbul chief got son medical seat with IB help'
Pakistan-based Hizbul Mujahideen chief Syed Salahudin was obliged when he called the Intelligence Bureau (IB)'s chief in Srinagar seeking admission for his son to a Kashmir medical college during Farooq Abdullah's tenure (1996-2002) as chief minister.
Former spymaster A S Dulat has revealed this in his book, insisting this was “a great opening“ that should have been followed up to bring back Salahudin, who features on India's list of 48 fugitives holed up in Pakistan.
The ex-spymaster said the “little favour could have been used to bring Salahudin back like his colleague, Majid Dar, who had declared unilateral ceasefire and held talks with the government in 2000 before he was killed three years later.
