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| February 21, 2002 | Thursday | Zilhaj 8, 1422 |
Mujahideen deny Indian claim of surrender
MUZAFFARABAD, Feb 20: Two Kashmiri Mujahideen groups, fighting the Indian forces in the occupied Kashmir, on Wednesday denied outright that any of their cadres had surrendered to the Indian authorities.
The Hizbul Mujahideen and the Jamiatul Mujahideen described the claim made by an Indian official in the held Kashmir on Tuesday as “totally false designed to break the will of the struggling Kashmiris and mislead the outside world at this particular stage.”
The held Kashmir police chief, K. Rajindran, told reporters in the border town of Kupwara on Tuesday that nine guerrillas, belonging to the Hizbul Mujahideen and the Jamiatul Mujahideen, had surrendered to the police “after being persuaded by their parents and other relatives.”
However, when contacted by Dawn, both the groups dismissed the assertion, saying that none of their fighters had put down the gun and those presented by the Indian police as freedom fighters might be the civilians or activists of a New Delhi-backed counter-insurgency group.
“India has long been staging such dramas to break the morale of the Kashmiris”, Salim Hashmi, spokesman for the Hizbul Mujahideen said.
Hizb is considered the largest and mainly indigenous of more than a dozen Mujahideen groups, fighting the Indian oppressive rule in the disputed Himalayan region.
“We are fighting in accordance with our convictions and none of us can think of surrendering before the oppressor”, Hashmi said, adding that the Indian army wanted to smear his group with such false claims.
“The fresh propaganda drive on part of New Delhi is also aimed at giving impression that the Mujahideen groups have lost popularity in occupied Kashmir.
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