After the Indian government repealed Article 370, Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) is allegedly ‘upset’ with one of its closet aid and Hizbul Mujahideen Chief Syed Salahuddin for failing to produce ‘favourable results’ in Kashmir and has threatened him with death, a report by News 18 quoted a source from the banned terror group as confirming.
According to News 18, the tension between ISI and the Hizbul chief escalated after Syed Salahuddin declined to take part in the drug trade with the Pakistani Army in lieu of money.
Pakistan’s terrorist activities in Kashmir practically came to an end when Article 370 was repealed because of how tough the security forces were. Salahuddin was instructed by ISI to reactivate Hizbul activities in the Valley.
The situation deteriorated after the ISI ordered Salahuddin to transfer or hand over control to Hizbul commander Amir Khan during a recent meeting in July.
According to the News18 report, the ISI no longer provides financial support to the outlawed terror organisation and its office in Islamabad has also been sold. According to the sources, Salahuddin is being threatened with death by the ISI. He recently increased his security to include up to 12 guards.
The report stated that after the fallout, Salahuddin approached Raja Farooq Haider and other leaders of Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK) for support and to form a front against the ISI.
Meanwhile for the Pakistani Intelligence, not having prior information about the abrogation of Article 370 and even significant events like the G20 in Kashmir was an “absolute failure” of the Hizbul Mujahideen.
Sources quoted by News18 have said that Pakistan has decided to make Mushaal Hussein Mullick the special assistant to Pakistan’s Prime Minister on human rights mainly to teach Salahuddin a lesson. Mullick is Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front’s chief Yasin Malik’s wife.
The report also quoted top Indian intelligence sources as saying that, India has “successfully managed the Kashmir issue and the government is clear that it is a done deal. The only issue which is going to be considered is the statehood of Jammu and Kashmir. No infiltration and foreign interference is our motto.”
The sources further said Pakistan is a “failed state” and there are no reasons to discuss or consider the Kashmir issue with them. “The people of POK wanting a merger with India is their own failure and we have got nothing to do with their internal issues.”
“Salahuddin should have taken a cue long back and we don’t rule out his killing by the ISI in the coming days because his utility is over,” the sources were further quoted as saying.
Syed Salahuddin was listed as a ‘bonafide official working with the ISI’ until 2020
Notably, in 2020, the Indian security agencies had recovered a crucial piece of document that linked the Pakistani Intelligence to the terror outfit Hizbul Mujahideen. The document was issued by the Directorate of Intelligence in Islamabad and certified Hizbul Mujahideen chief Syed Salahuddin as the “bonafide official working with the ISI”. The document was valid until December 31 2020 and bore the name and signature of the Director Wajahat Ali Khan.
Salahuddin operates in India through NGOs and charities
Syed Salahuddin is the key mastermind of the attack on Pathankot Air Base in Punjab in 2016. Born in 1946, Salahuddin is a graduate of the SP College in Srinagar and a Post Graduate in Political Science from the Kashmir University in 1971. He had contested the Jammu and Kashmir Assembly elections in 1987 from the Amirakadal constituency on a Muslim United Front ticket but lost.
The Hizbul terrorist also operates the United Jihad Council (UJC) which serves as an umbrella organisation for other radical Islamist groups such as Lashkar-e-Toiba and Jaish-e-Mohammad. As per reports, Salahuddin works in India via proxy NGOs and ISI-backed charities such as Jammu and Kashmir Affectees Relief Trust (JKART). The Hizbul terrorist uses these organisations for recruitment by offering financial benefits to the newly hired terrorists. Interestingly, JKART has its headquarters in Rawalpindi and branches in Islamabad, Muzaffarabad and others.
The Enforcement Directorate (ED) had earlier filed cases against Salahuddin and 11 other accused in a case related to terror financing. It also alleged that Jammu Kashmir Affectees Relief Trust (JKART) was a front through which Hizbul Mujahideen received Rs 80 crore between 2004 and 2011 to carry out terror activities in India.
Salahuddin was declared a specially designated global terrorist by the US Department of State in June 2017 on charges that he “vowed to block any peaceful resolution to the Kashmir conflict, threatened to train more Kashmiri suicide bombers, and vowed to turn the Kashmir Valley into a graveyard for Indian forces.”
