The Hizbul Mujahideen (HM) in Pakistan is working under the Shabab-e-Milli (SM), the youth wing of the Jamaat-e-Islami (JI), Hizb sources told Daily Times on Wednesday. However, HM Kashmir spokesman Abdul Saleem Hashmi denied that Hizb had or has any link with the JI. âWe share a common ideology, but otherwise we do not have an organisational link with the Jamaat,â he said.
Sources said the Jamaat had ordered officials to make sure word that Hizb is a wing of the Shabab-e-Milli should not get out. âThe decision was taken nine months ago to show that the HM is an indigenous movement in Occupied Kashmir, that it is a Kashmiri organisation which has no links with the Jamaat and all its workers are Kashmiri,â sources said.
The Hizb is actually the only big Jihadi outfit operating in Kashmir that actually has a majority Kashmiri membership, the Jaish and Lashkar are something like 80% Pakistani.
When this decision was taken, the HM based in Kashmir was also separated from the Jamaat and the HM in Pakistan was told that its role in the Kashmir jihad was only to collect donations and recruit volunteers. âIt was decided that the HM in Pakistan would recruit Mujahideen from the Kashmiri community in Pakistan,â sources said. Hizb earlier worked under the direct patronage of the Jamaat and its offices were in JI offices around the country. âA while ago they closed all HM offices in Pakistan, leaving just a media office in Rawalpindi.â Sources said the JI chief ran the HM in Pakistan through a Kashmir committee, but now the Shabab-e-Milli is responsible for its affairs. The Jamaat is reportedly under pressure to renounce all jihadi groups to improve the Muttahida Majlis-e-Amalâs image. âThere has been pressure from outside the JI since some Al-Qaeda operators were arrested in JI workersâ homes,â sources said.
| Since it's Pakistan, they don't actually have to do anything, just say it... |
|