SRINAGAR: A former army officer and the strategic writer has asked security agencies to take complete advantage of the “widening rift” between Hurriyat and Hizb ul Mujahideen.

“Operational planners and intelligence agencies should be on their toes, seeking such opportunities to exploit, adding fuel to fire, forcing adversaries into caution and permitting security agencies to gain the upper hand,” Luckhnow based writer Harsha Kakar said in a brief commentary that he wrote for a website. “I hope they are already on the ball, exploiting the situation.”

 

(A screen grab of Kakar’s Twitter account)

Apparently written before Zakir Musa quit Hizb, Kakar, in his opinion copy How to exploit Hurriyat and Hizbul Mujahideen’s power struggle in Kashmir termed it a “power struggle”.

“This power struggle is not something which has suddenly come to the fore. It has been fought silently since the uprising of last year, when the HM has attempted to sideline the Hurriyat,” Kakar wrote. “The present announcements create an interesting scenario for the Kashmir valley, which the government and security agencies must take complete advantage of.”

The writer sees Hurriyat as “defunct” organisation which is “funded by Pakistan’s ISI” and has money to purchase Kashmir’s “only running industry”, the stone pelters. HM, according to him, is seeking support on “basis of religion” but lacks “means to fund the violence”.

“The two parties need to be handled separately and in turn. The first target being the Hurriyat, which is possibly easier,” suggests the writer. He believes that neither Hurriyat can reach out to HM nor the latter can meet them. “Hence, all attempts must be made to expand the rift,” he suggested.

“This should be done by releasing statements, whether made or not, as attributable to the Hurriyat. The statements should be critical of the HM, compelling the local leadership to take note. Led by young brash leaders, eager to prove their point, they would seek to eliminate one or more of the Hurriyat leaders to prove their point,” the write-up says, insisting it was “the most opportune moment to withdraw the security of the Hurriyat”.

“An open threat on its face, without a security cordon would anyway compel it to stay away from the limelight and maintain silence, since they are not there for personal sacrifice, but to sacrifice the lives of innocents who take them at their face value,” the writer believes. He wants the security withdrawal should be threatened to seek cooperation.

“Operations against the HM’s top leadership should go slow, till the Hurriyat has been handled. If the HM’s top leadership is eliminated early, then the Hurriyat may again suddenly discover their voice,” Kakar wrote. “The rift thus needs to be blown up, adding confusion even in the minds of the youth, compelling most from supporting neither of the two, changing the tenor of the agitation.”

Kakar wants the Hurriyat to be tackled first: “Thus the need to handle each in turn – the painful Hurriyat first and the brash HM next.”

The write-up, however, has been written after Zakir’s threatening video on Thursday but before he issued a new YouTube statement. Zakir has quit HM after its Muzaffarabad based leadership termed his statement as his personal opinion. He also clarified that he is not going to hang anybody.

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