Hizb disowns splinter group responsible for attacks in Kashmir
MUZAFFARABAD: Hizbul Mujahideen has disowned a splinter faction suspected of a string of killings in India-held Kashmir, with the rebuke followed swiftly on Friday by attacks on telecom facilities in Srinagar.
The rivalry is fuelling concern that militants could ratchet up tension between India and Pakistan.
Hizbul Mujahideen, whose leader Syed Salahuddin is based in Pakistan, said on Thursday it had expelled Abdul Qayoom Najar over his involvement in “gruesome murder” and the “character assassination of established pro-freedom leadership”.
Indian security forces say Najar leads a breakaway group called Lashkar-i-Islam that has perpetrated a series of attacks around Sopore, killing five people, including telecom vendors and former militants.
In an apparent escalation on Friday, three more attacks were carried out on telecom facilities in Srinagar, one of them near the office of chief minister Mufti Mohammad Sayeed. A senior police officer said one person had been injured in the attack near the chief minister’s office, which declined to comment.
Earlier, militants threw grenades inside two mobile phone shops in Srinagar, injuring one person.
Lashkar-i-Islam has warned people to stop working for telecommunication companies, saying that Indian security forces are using mobile phone services to target members of the group.
Generation gap
The decision to expel Najar was taken by Hizbul Mujahideen’s command council headed by Salahuddin, a 69-year-old preacher who turned to militancy in the late 1980s.
The bearded cleric is widely viewed as allied to Kashmiri leader Syed Ali Shah Geelani, who is 85.
“The report submitted by the inquiry commission has proved that Qayoom Najar, in an utter disregard of the Hizb leadership, violated the constitution of the outfit and carried out condemnable acts. Our constitution does not allow or permit such actions,” Salahuddin said in a statement.
Analysts say the emergence of a breakaway faction could mean that a new generation of Kashmiri militants is trying to force aside the ageing leadership – inspired by those who have resorted to extreme violence elsewhere and spread their message through social media.
Published in Dawn, July 25th, 2015
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