Intelligence inputs suggest Hizbul Mujahideen (HM) chief Syed Salahuddin is under pressure to step down, with Jaish and Lashkar mounting pressure on him, developments that point to deepening rivalries in the ranks of Pakistan-based jihadi outfits that target India.
Salahuddin, who has for years led Hizbul with the support of ISI and headed the United Jihad Council (UJC), is battling HM’s depleting influence in Kashmir-centric operations and facing the growing ambitions of aggressive groups. He is even understood to have “expressed his willingness” to step down as the chief of the outfit, which operates only in Kashmir.
The military intelligence input, accessed by TOI, states the Hafiz Saeed-led Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) and Maulana Masood Azhar’s Jaish-e-Mohammad are spearheading the campaign against Salahuddin. “ISI is under pressure from LeT and JeM to remove Syed Salahuddin,” the input reads. The intelligence reports said Lashkar and Jaish have pitted Salahuddin’s commanders such as Amir Khan, Imtiyaz Alam and a few others against him.
The HM chief, who is a UN-listed global terrorist like Saeed, has enjoyed considerable prominence as head of UJC, formed by Pakistan army as an umbrella organisation for coordination between anti-India terror groups. Hizbul leaders are lobbying against Salahuddin, the input adds.
Several reasons are being cited for HM’s downturn in Kashmir, including specific intelligence-based operations of the Army, J&K police and the CRPF in the last two years in which top commanders of the outfit, including Burhan Wani, Sabzar Bhat, Sajad Gilkar, and Abdul Qayoom Najar, have been killed.
HM has also not carried out a major attack on security forces in the Valley, which has apparently irked the Pakistani establishment that has increasingly preferred Jaish and Lashkar, as was the case in the recent strikes on the Sunjuwan and CRPF camps, said counter-terrorism officials. A senior home ministry officer, requesting anonymity, said “Fidayeen attacks on the camps of the BSF, the CRPF and the Army in the last couple of months are proof of JeM and LeT taking over the operations and that they want to expand their reach.
” The security agencies also see this as Saeed and Azhar’s pressure tactics to bring HM under their control, as they probably want Kashmiri militants, who largely make up the HM cadre, to be part of fidayeen squads of well-trained fighters from Pakistan. “It’s good that these groups are fighting with each other but if Kashmiri militants are moved towards JeM and LeT, it could be a dangerous trend,” said another officer.(ToI)