‘Banned militant groups recruiting in Pak’s Punjab to fight in Kashmir’

‘Banned militant groups recruiting in Pak’s Punjab to fight in Kashmir’

Lahore, August 26, 2011
First Published: 16:03 IST(26/8/2011)
Last Updated: 16:31 IST(26/8/2011)
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Banned militant organisations, including Jaish-e-Muhammad (JeM) and Lashkar-e-Jhangvi (LeJ), have begun recruiting young men from Pakistan’s Punjab province to fight, particularly in the Kashmir region, intelligence agencies have said. According to agencies, these recruitments have begun following visits from militant leader Syed Salahuddin to different cities in Punjab.
Salahuddin heads Hizbul Mujahideen, the most prominent militant outfit in Kashmir, and terror alliance Muttahida Jihad Council, which supports Kashmir’s accession to Pakistan.
According to the agency’s report, these activities have been observed since the last week of July in many cities in central Punjab. Both Salahuddin and Hafiz Saeed have been delivering emphatic speeches at public gatherings and Iftar parties.
The JeM is in the process of regaining its traditional physical and financial strength, which had dissipated during the ten-year ban imposed by the then military ruler Pervez Musharraf, Jaish activists and intelligence officials told The Express Tribune.
The jihadi group is working on a plan to reach out to its activists who had abandoned the organisation after it came on the radar after being implicated in an attack on the Indian Parliament in 2001, they added.
According to another report forwarded by the Punjab Home Department, banned militant outfit LeJ has also become active, particularly after the release of the group’s founder Malik Ishaq in July.
According to the report, some terrorists who have been released from Punjab’s prisons in the last six months have also regrouped.
These 51 alleged high-profile terrorists have been conducting meetings with their previous accomplices and are collaborating with the outfits that they used to belong to, says the report.