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| India-Pakistan |
| Cash underpins continuing carnage in Kashmir |
| 2006-06-24 |
| Evidence is emerging that the recent wave of violence along the fringes of the Pir Panjal range in southern Kashmir may be linked to a power struggle within the Hizb-ul-Mujahideen over the proceeds of organised crime-style extortion operations. On Tuesday night, the police eliminated Farooq Ahmad Bhat, Hizb commander for Anantnag district. Documents recovered from the terrorist show that 280 residents of Anantnag and Kulgam, his areas of operation, were making graded payments of Rs. 11,000 or Rs. 4,800 at regular intervals to the Hizb. Dozens of others made one-time payments of several hundred thousand rupees. Between December 12, 2005 and May 17, 2006, Bhat, his diaries record, raised an estimated Rs. 5,95,000, no small amount given that the Hizb's active cadre strength in Kulgam and Anantnag is put at under 50 men. In addition, a staggering Rs. 38,61,550 was distributed to the families of 290 slain Hizb terrorists, although it is unclear from the documents if these funds were also raised locally. Investigators believe that the June 11 massacre of nine migrant labourers from Nepal may have been linked to the Hizb's highly-organised extortion operations. Executed by its Kulgam commander Sajjad Ahmad Butt, the massacre is thought to have been intended to compel local contractors to make direct payments to the terrorist rather than to his district and division-level superiors. |
| Posted by:john |
| #1 Common banditry... |
| Posted by: john 2006-06-24 19:29 |