Islamabad: Pakistan-based militant group Hizbul Mujahideen has split into two with a
dominant section in the outfit rejecting the leadership of Sayed Salahuddin and
forming a separate unit in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK) following the killing of
its former chief commander Abdul Majid Dar.
Two hundred supporters of Dar parted ways with the Salahuddin-led faction and
launched their own faction.
"We have launched our own faction of Hizbul Mujahideen," Tufail Ahmed, a former
operational chief of Hizbul and supporter of Dar, was quoted as saying by Pakistani
daily 'Dawn' in Islamabad.
"Around 40 per cent of the Hizb activists are with us," Ahmed said.
Ahmed's remarks came as some 200 emotionally charged youth chanted slogans, "Dar we
salute your greatness" and "Dar you have become immortal" in Muzaffarabad on March
26.
Some youth also carried portraits of Dar, who was regarded as a moderate militant.
"We had no option but to part ways with the Salahuddin-led faction of the Hizb, but
we will carry on the struggle for freedom from India," Ahmed said.
He said commanders of the group had unanimously appointed Ahmed Yasin as the Chief
commander, "who will use his full abilities to fill the vacuum" created due to Dar's
killing.
Militants shot dead Dar, former Hizbul Mujahideen Chief Commander who shot into
prominence after announcing a unilateral ceasefire in 2000, at his house at Noorbagh
in Baramulla district of North Kashmir on March 23.
PTI
