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Abdul Majid Dar, expelled former chief operations commander of the Hizbul Mujahideen in Jammu & Kashmir, will soon launch a political outfit that will work to resolve the Kashmir issue peacefully through tripartite talks.
"Dar is coming out in the open with a political outfit of his own very soon," Fazlul Haq Qureishi, the Hizb commander's interlocutor for the abortive talks with the Government of India in August 2000, told rediff.com
Qureishi, whose association with Dar spans several decades, ruled out the possibility of a bloody clash between militants loyal to Dar and those backing Syed Salahuddin, the Pakistan-based 'supreme commander' of the Hizb. "He [Dar] is a reasonable man," Qureishi said, "and would not favour any such violence."
The expulsion of Dar and two other senior Hizb commanders, Asad Yazdani and Zafar Abdul Fateh, had taken a belligerent turn with the latter two lashing out at the outfit's Pakistan-based leadership.
Yazdani, a former divisional commander, challenged Salahuddin's authority on Monday and said it would become clear in a couple of days who controls the organisation.
Denying the stated grounds for their expulsion, he asserted that the ousted commanders had not indulged in any disobedience.
But highly placed sources told rediff.com that Dar's influence on the Hizb cadres is limited to a "few pockets" and the Salahuddin camp has minimised his influence, first by removing him as the chief operations commander and then by infusing new batches of cadres.
Dar was replaced by Saiful Islam, a hard-core supporter of Salahuddin. So were his divisional commanders. While Dar's camp maintains that his replacement was because his tenure as commander had ended, sources said it was on account of the perception that he was warming up to the Government of India.
"When he came to announce the cease-fire in August 2000, he told me that he was disappointed with Pakistan and felt that Pakistan was not interested in solving the Kashmir issue," said a source.
Meanwhile, Qureishi maintained that Dar, whose wife is expecting, was 'disturbed' by the developments. But he added that Dar is in touch with local Hizb commanders and they continue to hold him in high esteem. "Dar will ask them to be loyal to Salahuddin and he will work on the political front now," Qureishi said.
Indications of Dar joining the separatist political front had surfaced earlier, because when some Hurriyat members participated in the much-discussed 'Dubai meet', Dar had remained silent, though Salahuddin had criticised them.
"Dar had approached the Hurriyat Conference in mid-2001 and wanted to join the separatist conglomerate," sources said. "But a prominent Hurriyat leader refused him entry into the organisation, asking him to stick to the Hizb."
Regarding the belligerent statements of Dar's lieutenants following their expulsion, Qureishi insisted that much should not be read into that. "They were hurt and that explains their reactions," he said.
Dar for his part is maintaining a stony silence. But he is expected to speak out soon.
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