Dates of operation since 1989 | ||
Leaders Muhammad Ahsan Dar (founder)
Sheikh Abdul Waheed
Ashraf Dar
Abdul Majid Dar
Ghulam Rasool Dar
Ali Muhammad Dar
Muhammad Yousaf Shah
Burhan Muzaffar Wani Headquarters Muzaffarabad, Azad Kashmir | ||
Hizb-ul-Mujahideen (Arabic: حزب المجاھدین, Ḥizb al-Mujāhidīn, meaning "Party of Holy Warriors" or "Party of Mujahideen"), founded by Muhammad Ahsan Dar in September 1989, is a Kashmiri separatist group. It is designated a terrorist organisation by India, the European Union and the United States, active in the Indian-administered state of Jammu and Kashmir since 1989. The current supreme commander of the group is a Sayeed Salahudeen.
Contents
- Foreign involvement
- Divisions in the 1990s Ceasefire of 2000
- Death of Burhan Wani and protests in Kashmir
- References
Holding a pro-Pakistan Ideology, the group is considered to be the largest indigenous militant group in Kashmir. In 1990 Ahsan Dar had more than 10,000 armed men under his command.
Foreign involvement
Eamon Murphy has alleged in his book The Making of Terrorism in Pakistan: Historical and Social Roots of Extremism that Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) have provided training and funding to HiB. However the book has been criticized for not containing accurate information. It has been reported by the Delhi-based Indian non profit organization Institute for Conflict Management that Jamaat-i-Islami founded Hizbul Mujahideen at the request of the ISI to counter the Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front(JKLF) who are advocates for the independence of Kashmir.
Divisions in the 1990s, Ceasefire of 2000
In 1991, after the merger with the Tahreek-e-Jihad-e-Islami (TJI), the strength of the Hizbul had reached 10,000. In the following years, rivalries developed within the Hizb, culminating in a killing of 21 people in a Pakistan administered Kashmir(AK), village near the border in 1998.
By the late 1990s, several voices within the Hizb including its operational commander Abdul Majeed Dar sought a return to more peaceful approaches. In July 2000, Dar, along with four other Hizb commanders, made a surprise unilateral ceasefire declaration from the outskirts of Srinagar. The ceasefire was immediately ratified by the PAK based commander Sayeed Salahudeen, but was criticized strongly in the Pakistan media. It was withdrawn by Salahudeen by September. In 2002 Dar was denounced as an agent of the Indian intelligence agency Research and Analysis Wing (RAW). He was expelled from the Hizb along with four divisional commanders.
The ceasefire move, its immediate endorsement and subsequent withdrawal highlighted deep divisions between the more hawkish operatives in AK and those based in India.
Dar and several other ex-Hizb leaders were assassinated between 2001 and 2003. The organization today, under Salahudeen, is viewed as much more hardcore.
Death of Burhan Wani and protests in Kashmir
On 8 July 2016, a prominent Hezb separatist, 22-year old Burhan Muzaffar Wani, was shot dead by Indian security forces. More than 50,000 people joined his funeral procession and there were mass protests in the Kashmir valley.