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J&K militants find new address
The death of British terror plot suspect Rashid Rauf in a US missile strike in North Waziristan area on Friday, along with four other al-Qaeda men, has confirmed Western fears that the trouble-stricken Waziristan region was the new battlefield for Kashmiri militants who are joining forces with the anti-US and pro-Taliban elements there.Rashid Rauf, a close relative of Maulana Masood Azhar, the chief of Pakistan-based Kashmiri militant group Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM), was killed along with al-Qaeda leaders Abu Nasr Al-Misri and Abu Zubair Al-Masri after their rented hideout was spotted due to their frequent use of a mobile phone. Pakistani agencies have found fighters belonging to at least four Kashmiri militant groups in Waziristan. They are the Harkatul Jehadul Islami (HuJI) led by Maulana Ilyas Kashmiri, the Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) led by Maulana Masood Azhar, the Harkatul Mujahideen (HuM) led by Pir Syed Salahuddin and the Jamaatul Furqaan (JuF) led by Maulana Abdul Jabbar. HuJI chief Maulana Ilyas Kashmiri happens to be a veteran of jihad in Kashmir and spent several years in an Indian jail. Pakistan arrested Kashmiri after the December 2003 twin suicide attacks on Musharraf's cavalcade in Rawalpindi. But he was released shortly, prompting him to shift base to North Waziristan and join hands with Baitullah Mehsud. Kashmiri also established a training camp in Razmak area of Waziristan, shifting also most of his warriors from the Kotli training camp, 20 km from Kotli in Pakistan occupied Kashmir. The Hizbul Mujahideen, meanwhile, is considered the mother of the ongoing militancy in Jammu and Kashmir. The Hizb leadership had established contact with many Afghan Mujahideen groups such as Gulbuddin Hekmatyar's Hizb-e-Islami, under which some of its cadre received arms training at camps in Afghanistan. On September 11 this year, Afghanistan-based American forces fired a missile at an alleged al-Badar training camp. The al-Badar, a Kashmiri militant group, was being aided by the Hizb. American Predator aircraft launched several missiles at a target in the village of Tol Khel on the outskirts of Miramshah, the administrative seat of North Waziristan. Twelve al-Badar members were killed. The Jamaatul Furqan is a splinter group of the Jaish-e-Mohammad, led by Maulana Abdul Jabbar, involved in the Kashmiri jihad as a Jaish commander. Post-9/11, Pakistani authorities have arrested him many times but he was set free each time. Posted by: Fred 2008-11-29 |
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