Intelligence chatters have indicated the gang war between Hizbul Mujahideen on the one hand and the Al Qaeda Kashmir and ISJK on the other in Jammu & Kashmir has rattled Pakistan’s spy agency Inter-Services Intelligence that suspects the former being a local outfit is leaking information about the other terror groups due to battle of supremacy.
The Hizbul is known to play double game by leaking information to security forces in the Valley and is also open to dialogue for the cause of the separatist diaspora and has also close connections with the Pakistani establishment. Such gang wars are likely to increase in the future as an ambitious Hizbul seeks to increase its utility with a view to join the dialogue process at future date in any Indian initiative.
Following the Indian strikes at Jaish-e-Mohammad facility in Balakot post-Pulwama suicide hit on a CRPF convoy earlier this year, the Jaish is facing a crunch of cadres in the Valley and Hizbul is now seeking to fill that space to become more important in the eyes of the Pakistani masters. Hizbul chief Syed Salahuddin is resident of the Valley and is based in Pakistan under the patronage of the Pak army-ISI combine.
Salahuddin has been known to be beneficiary of the largesse of the Indian covert agencies with a number of his relatives being in government service. Hizbul has in the past played friendly cricket matches with the Indian army. The Hizbul is considered a local terror group with patronage from Pak army-ISI combine as part of the latter’s strategy to claim deniability after terror attacks in the Valley as also to get local recruits for other jehadi groups like the Lashkar and Jaish.
Last week, the security forces eliminated four terrorists of Al Qaeda Kashmir also known as Ansar Ghazwatul Hind---Rafi Hassan Mir of Kralchak, Shopian, Suhail Ahmad Bhat of Batmuran, Shopian, Showkat Ahmad Mir of Rajpora in Pulwama and Azad Ahmad Khanday of Bamnoo, Pulwama. The Hijbul terrorists in the Valley are suspected to have leaked information leading to the elimination of the four terrorists in a cordon and search operation at the Panzar area of Shopian, sources said.
In its bid to deflect attention from its vested agenda in the Valley, the Hizbul Mujahideen in association with the Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Tayyaba indulged in a fight with the international terror group Islamic State Jammu and Kashmir (ISJK) Commander in South Kashmir’s Anantnag district on Wednesday to show solidarity with the ISI’s designs in the trouble-torn State.
The clash between ISJK terror commander Adil Das and Hizbul terrorist Arif Hussain Bhat ensued at an apple orchard in Sirhama village in Beijbehara. While Das was killed in the shootout, Bhat was nabbed by the State police.
The ISJK operates in the Valley under the banner of Wilayah Al Hind but has been unable to gain significant traction locally where even the Al Qaeda’s arm has been virtually decimated with the liquidation of its chief Zakir Musa last month.
Sources said the gunfight is an indication of the rift between various terror groups operating in the Valley for gaining supremacy. It is also indicative of the desperation in the terror ranks following continuous operations by the security forces against the ultras. The security forces have killed over 700 terrorists during the last three years including the elimination of Al Qaeda Kashmir chief Zakir Musa and Hizbul commander Burhan Wani among others. Only one key commander of the Hizbul Mujahideen Riyaz Naikoo has evaded the security forces after the Indian Army released a list of 22 most wanted terrorists last year as part of the Operation All Out.
Hizbul had engaged in Ramzan ceasefire during Atal Behari Vajpayee regime at the Centre and the outfit’s chief Syed Salahuddin’s son was given admission in MBBS course in Sri Nagar Medical College who is now based in London. The Indian army had rescued Salahuddin’s son working in Jammu and Kashmir education department who was trapped in terror siege in two separate incidents and two commissioned officers of the army had laid down their lives in saving him.
The international groups like Al Qaeda Kashmir has been seeking to respond to the ISIS attack in Colombo and making their presence registered here through domination on groups like Hizbul. Feeling the heat, Hizbul has started sharing information to the forces at different levels. Both commanders and cadres are believed to be sharing inputs on other groups to the agencies in a discreet manner, sources said.
Agencies in the Valley are getting good information on the movement and hideouts of other terror groups and are expecting the trend to continue in both short and long term, added the sources.