A former Hizbul Mujahideen commander struggles to explain why the outfit appears to be fading from the militant scene in Kashmir,now dominated by the Lashkar-e-Toiba as far as operations are concerned. We have lost this battle, the former commander admits in an informal chat,adding,But the war continues. Once thousands strong,the Hizb has been reduced to an outfit with barely 30 active members. They have very little presence now,in only some areas, says Inspector General of Police (Kashmir) S M Sahai. All their cadres are now commanders. Earlier this month,police reportedly arrested the Hizbs operations chief Mohammad Shafi Shah,or Dr Dawood,in a secret operation in Srinagar. Dawood,resident of Papachan village in Bandipore,had taken up militancy in 1993 and was the Hizbs topmost commander in the valley,second only to PoK-based supreme commander Syed Salah-ud-din. The arrest,admitted by the Hizb and Dawoods family though not yet confirmed by the police,almost coincided with the killing of J-Ks longest surviving militant,Hizb commander Mushtaq Jhangi,in a joint operation by police and the Army last week. Police sources say only two surviving commanders are now on their radar. Talib Lali alias Wasim operates from Bandipore in north Kashmir,while Shabir Ahmad Bhat runs his operations from Tral region in the south. Even after the reduction in numbers,the Hizb remains the largest in the Valley with 140 cadres,though barely 30 are active. A recent census by the police counted 325 militants across Kashmir,with 119 of them active the lowest since militancy peaked in 1990. The Hizb was set up up in 1989,with most of its members from the families of Jamat-e-Islami members. It advocated Kashmirs accession to Pakistan. It split the very next year,when its ameer-e-aala (chief patron) Hilal Ahmad Mir alias Nasir-ul-Islam broke away to form the Jamiat-ul-Mujahideen. Mir was upset by Hizb chief Mohammad Ahsan Dars announcement that their outfit was the military wing of the Jamat-e-Islami. Yet the Hizb grew,roping in cadres from many other militant groups,some joining voluntarily,others arm-twisted. By 1992,it was the Valleys the largest outfit,its members including militants from other countries. Among them was Akbar Bhai,an Afghan war veteran and personal bodyguard of warlord and Hizb-e-Islami chief Gulbadin Hekmatyar,who operated from Sopore and was killed on August 7,1993. Mast Gul,who headed the 1995 siege party at Chrar-e-Sharief,was from Pakistan and fled to his home country. Ibn Masood,an explosives expert killed in Sopore,was a Sudanese engineer. The Hizb faced its first challenge in the emergence of a counterinsurgency group,Ikhwan,which killed many of its sympathisers. Only Sopore,the Hizb stronghold,remained untouched. With time,the Hizb tided over the Ikhwan wave but it had lost many men and much power by then. And it was no longer the only formidable militant force in the Valley. The Lashkar had emerged,while the Hizbs foreign militants had broken away to form the Al-Badr Mujahideen. Most of the Hizbs remaining members were from Jammu and Kashmir. It banked on local sensibilities to survive crackdowns and the onslaught from counterinsurgency groups. Very few locals were,however,willing to join militancy. Some hardcore members also shifted to the Lashkar and other outfits. And the Hizb continued to lose its cadres in encounters,with the outfit the main target of security agencies. It puts the number of slain militants at 17,000. Human rights groups estimate that at least half the militants killed in the state belonged to the Hizb. The Hizb suffered a huge split in 2000. That July,after its chief commander Abdul Majid Dar had announced a ceasefire in Kashmir,it was initially endorsed by supreme commander Syed Salah-ud-din who,however,withdrew the ceasefire in a fortnight. For two years,the conflict was kept a secret,but in May 2002 Salah-ud-din announced that Dar was being suspended along with four commanders loyal to him. A large number of commanders rallied behind Dar. After Dar was killed the next year in his hometown Sopore,many of his loyalists gave up militancy. A police officer says the reason the police have checked the Hizb is human intelligence. Most of the operations against the Hizb in recent years were based on hum int cultivated over the years, he says. Unlike the Lashkar,Hizb militants have abandoned cellphones and use traditional methods of communication like human couriers. As such tech int is of little use against them. The officer says the Hizb has also gone defensive,giving security agencies the edge in the offensive. Blow by Blow 1990: Military strategist and founder member Abdullah Bangroo,believed to be behind killing of Mirwaiz Mohammad Farooq,killed on June 22. 1993: Commander Maqbool Illahi,founder member,and then number two Shams-ul-Haq killed separately 1997: Chief commander Gazi Naseeb-ud-Din killed along with commanders Engineer Firdous Kirmani,Manzoor Khan and Abdul Majeed Wani; Hizb says killed in custody. 1998: Strategist Ali Mohammad Dar killed 2002: Hizb supreme commander Syed Salah-ud-din expels military chief Abdul Majid Dar and two top commanders; Hizb splits 2003: Dar killed by militants in March; commander Ghulam Rasool Khan alias Saif-ul-Islam alias Engineer Zaman killed the next month 2004: Ghulam Rasool Dar alias Gazi Naseeb-ud-din,operations commander,and finance chief Fayaz Ahmad killed by security forces 2008: Junaid-ul-Islam,Hizbs spokesman and face in Kashmir,arrested from Srinagar; commander Rayees Ahmad Dar alias Rayees Kachroo,who had fled from court,killed in Pulwama 2009: Muzaffar Ahmad Dar,chief commander for operations,arrested; Mohhamed Sidiq Dar alias Saquib,Hizb second-in-command,killed 2011: Operations chief Mohammad Shafi Shah alias Dr Dawood arrested; states longest surviving militant leader Mushtaq Khan alias Mushtaq Jhangi killed,both this month
