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| "That's a really nice beard you got there, Qazi!" "Why, thank you, Syed! You got a nice beard, too! And you look very well fed!" "Takes a lot of calories to run a major terror organization!" |
The HM is considered the biggest militant group in the Valley but in recent months its fighters have not been involved in most of the attacks. The terror attacks against the Srinagar-Muzaffarabad bus was, for instance, blamed on Lashkar-e-Taiba and other smaller groups which are striking sporadically with suicide attacks. A ceasefire with the HM may not reduce violence, but could dampen the pro-Pakistan sentiment in the Valley and give greater room to manoeuvre the separatist groups. Neither the state government nor the Centre has reacted to the apparent olive branch, which comes at a time when the groups are facing a severe crunch of men and material and are on the run.