Dissent In The Hizbul Ranks

The Hizbul Mujahideen, the most effective militant outfit in Jammu and Kashmir, may be heading for a split, considering the two different voices it is speaking in. According to sources, the pressure is mounting on the Hizbul's PoK-based supreme commander, Syed Salahuddin, to distance himself from the ceasefire call given by the group's Kashmir wing. On August 2, Salim Hashmi, the outfit's spokesperson in PoK, said the ceasefire offer would not hold if New Delhi did not come out openly on involving Pakistan in tripartite talks. Hashmi said the Hizbul had set August 8 as the deadline for the government to make this announcment.

But Hizbul commanders in Kashmir, guided by a pro-Kashmiriyat sentiment, did not take this declaration by their masters in Pakistan too seriously. Masood Ahmed, the deputy commander, refused to comment on this matter. "All I will say is that the first round of talks was positive. We will have to address the core issue of Kashmir," he said after the first face-to-face talks with New Delhi's representatives in Srinagar on Thursday. That there is some churning in the outfit is certain. The All Parties Hurriyat Conference chairman, Prof Abdul Ghani Bhat, and the Amir of the Jamaat-e-Islami, Ghulam Muhammad Bhat, have virtually distanced themselves from the Hizbul's solo effort to first announce a ceasefire and then hold talks. Fazal-ul-Haque Qureshi, the interlocutor appointed by the Hizbul Mujahideen to facilitate talks, has also come under fire from the Hurriyat, which is saying that he has no mandate to act as a go-between.

Security forces believe that sections of Pakistan's political-military-intelligence establishment is putting pressure on the Hizbul leadership in PoK to toe a tough line vis-a-vis talks with New Delhi. That may well explain the dichotomy which might just lead to a rupture in the organisation.