The Hindu : Top terrorist back on covert peace mission?

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Monday, Jan 26, 2004

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National

Top terrorist back on covert peace mission?

By Praveen Swami

SRINAGAR, JAN. 26. `Master' Ahsan Dar, one of the founders of the Hizb-ul-Mujaheddin, has been spotted by Indian intelligence assets at three locations in southern Kashmir. He had fled Jammu and Kashmir for Pakistan in June 2000, after serving seven years in jail. If informant reports are correct, Mr. Dar's return to the State could signal a major effort by pro-dialogue elements among Islamist groups to garner support for the ongoing peace process.

Mr. Dar was controversially released from jail in early 2000 on the orders of the then Minister of State for Home, Mushtaq Ahmad Lone. Lone, critics had charged at the time, engineered the release to win support for the ruling National Conference among Islamists, hoping to thus undermine the secessionist All Parties Hurriyat Conference. Interestingly, Mr. Dar had been arrested from the home of Lone's brother in 1993. Lone himself was assassinated by the Lashkar-e-Taiba during the 2002 Assembly elections.

After his release, Mr. Dar escaped to Pakistan under mysterious circumstances. On June 30, 2000, journalists received a call from Mr. Dar, who said he had chosen to rejoin the armed struggle. He gave no reasons for his decision, but said he had revived his old organisation, the Ansar-ul-Islam. Mr. Dar founded the Ansar-ul-Islam shortly before his arrest, after falling out with the Inter-Services Intelligence's favoured candidate for leadership of the Hizb, Mohammad Yusuf Shah. Mr. Shah, who uses the nom de guerre, Syed Salahuddin, continues to head the terrorist organisation.

For reasons which have never become clear, the Ansar-ul-Islam neither aggressively recruited cadre in Jammu and Kashmir, nor actually carried out any terrorist operations. Mr. Dar, unlike most Jammu and Kashmir terrorists based in Pakistan, never issued press releases or spoke to the media. It has been speculated that his visit to Pakistan had something to do with the Hizb's unilateral ceasefire that went into effect in July 2000. Abdul Majid Dar, the pro-dialogue Hizb commander who was the architect of the abortive ceasefire, and Mr. Dar were old comrades-in-arms.

Reports of Mr. Dar's presence in the Valley come just a day after another key Hizb figure, Mohammad Akbar Bhat, joined the APHC centrists now engaged in dialogue with the Union Government. On Friday, Mr. Bhat announced his decision to joint the APHC faction led by the moderate leader, Maulvi Abbas Ansari.

A key aide of Mr. Majid Dar, Mr. Bhat, a pro-dialogue commander, was part of the Hizb team that met the former Union Home Secretary, Kamal Pande, during negotiations held in 2000.

Mr. Bhat, along with several commanders loyal to Mr. Majid Dar, was subsequently expelled from the Hizb. After several months of a semi-underground existence in Srinagar, Mr. Bhat resurfaced and announced his decision to join the Jammu Kashmir Salvation Front, a group of one-time terrorists who now back the moderate APHC. "When India and Pakistan are coming together at the negotiating table," he said, in a rebuke to Islamists opposed to the ongoing dialogue, "there is no reason for us to shy away from entering a dialogue."

If Mr. Dar is indeed in the Valley, it would appear that the groundwork for a ceasefire involving some Hizb elements is well under way. At least one Srinagar-region commander, code-named Arif Khan, is believed to have had quiet discussions with senior police officials on the prospect of giving up arms. While these discussions went nowhere, they could indicate pressures from the Hizb rank and file. The central Kashmir divisional commander, Abdul Rashid Pir, code-named Shardar Khan, is known to have separately held talks with senior National Conference and People's Democratic Party politicians.

Meanwhile, Mr. Shah is having serious problems finding a credible, hardline figure to head his organisation in the Kashmir Valley. The top Hizb commander, Ghulam Rasool Dar, was shot dead earlier this month. The killing was the latest in a string of top-level hits against the Hizb, which had earlier claimed the life of Rasool Dar's predecessor, Ghulam Hassan Khan, and his deputy, Saif-ul-Rahman Bajwa. Sources told that one contender could be the former divisional commander, Abdul Ahad Bhat, code-named Umar Javed. He has yet, however, to cross the Line of Control and take command.

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