Hizbul Mujahideen (,
Ḥizb al-Mujāhidīn, meaning "party of holy warriors"), founded by Ahsan Dar in 1989, is a Kashmiri militant group active in the Indian state of
Jammu and Kashmir since 1989. Their headquarters are located in
Muzaffarabad, the capital of
Pakistan-administered Kashmir. It is believed the group
al-Badr, derived from Hizbul Mujahideen in early 1998 was encouraged by the
Inter-Services Intelligence of Pakistan. The current leader of the group is a Kashmiri known under the alias of
Sayeed Salahudeen. Hizbul Mujahideen is currently the largest militant group operating in
Kashmir, and is widely considered by the sources on both sides of the Kashmir conflict to be the most indigenous and widely-supported group active in Kashmir.
Sayeed Salahudeen is at present located in Pakistan. The media often reports his whereabouts in Pakistan occupied Kashmir or in Northern Punjab.
The Indian government has time and again requested the Pakistani government for the extradition of
Sayeed Salahudeen. However in recent times a well known news agency conducted an interview with the leader of Hizbul Mujahideen, where the leader claimed that the government of Pakistan would never hand him over to the Indian authorities.
Although Sayeed Salahudeen is a citizen of Pakistan occupied Kashmir, he is known to have resided in towns located around important cities like Karachi and Peshawar, sources claim that this pattern is followed for two main reasons,
1) Many sources claim...
Read More