Pak cracks down on Hizbul Mujahideen

Announcing the restrictions in Islamabad, Interior Minister Faisel Saleh Hayat said, ‘‘They (Hizb) are not allowed to regroup as a militant force obviously. Use of militancy is totally out of question, we will not allow that.’’

Though there were no restrictions on the movement of Hizbul leaders outside PoK, they could not conduct their organisational activities in the country, Hayat said. Hayat said the government of PoK had already imposed a ban on the entry of Hizb leaders into the territory, which effectively meant that its militants would not cross into Jammu and Kashmir at will.

He said that Pakistan would not allow them ‘‘to use our soil to propagate any damaging propaganda or physical activity which could endanger the life or pose a security threat to Pakistan or any of its neighbours.’’ He said that Pakistan would not allow them ‘‘to use our soil to propagate any damaging propoganda or physical activity which could endanger the life or pose a security threat to Pakistan or any of its neighbours.’’

‘‘We cannot ban Hizbul Mujahideen. The ban cannot be applicable because it is not a Pakistan-based organisation,’’ Hayat told private TV channel Geo News. ‘‘They would not be allowed to open offices, organise rallies and carry weapons,’’ Hayat said adding, however, that the ban on Lashkar-e-Toyaba and Jaish-e-Muhammad would continue and its leaders would not be allowed to go to Pakistan-occupied kashmir.

Hizbul Mujahideen today denied that the Pakistani government has put any restrictions on their activities. In a telephone interview with The Indian Express from Islamabad, Hizbul spokesman Saleem Hashmi said: ‘‘Our group has no activity in Pakistan so there is no question of curbing them.’’ He said that the group does not have weapons in Pakistan. ‘‘We have never displayed arms or taken part in any activity in Pakistan,’’ he said.

‘‘Azad Kashmir (PoK), however, remains an integral part of the Jammu and Kashmir State and nobody can put a ban on us there especially because we are all Kashmiris’’. He said: ‘‘Even in Azad Kashmir, we are never armed. This is not happening today but it has always been like that.’’

In Srinagar, however, former Hurriyat Conference chairman Syed Ali Shah Geelani said India has delivered a diplomatic punch to Pakistan by ‘‘catalysing’’ a ban on the organisation.

In an exclusive interview to The Indian Express, Geelani said the ban was a result of India’s continued and calibrated approach ‘‘to pass themselves as victims of terrorism’’ and a tacit understanding with the US which pressured Pakistani Govt to crack the whip on Hizbul Mujahideen.

‘‘My belief is that a strong Indo-American axis has finally led to the ban,’’ he said, adding ‘‘the present development has arisen as a result of a deep-rooted American conspiracy’’. ‘‘India is the clear winner today,’’ he said.

Geelani said the ban was highly deplorable and that country was now taking dictation from America. ‘‘Tomorrow if America asks Pakistan govt to call it by any name other than Islamic Republic, it will do that in a jiffy,’’ he said. He, however, clarified that ‘‘the people of Pakistan are our brethren.’’ ‘‘We nurse a grudge against the current rulers of Pakistan. No question of harbouring any ill-will against Pakistani people arises,’’ he added.

Asked whether the armed struggle was relevant in the backdrop of the new world order and ‘‘US-led fight against terror’’, Geelani said he still believed ‘‘armed movement can still go hand-in-hand with political fight’’.