Militant outfit Hizb ul Mujahideen outfit in Kashmir has warned of more Pulwama like attacks on government forces by young Kashmiris, saying “it has become a do-or-die situation for militants in Kashmir.”
The operational commander Riyaz Naikoo has released a 17-minute purported audio message in which he warned of ‘fidayeen’ attacks on forces by young boys as they (militants) ‘will prefer to die than to surrender’, according to a report by The Hindustan Times.
The warning by Hizb has come in the backdrop of fidayeen attack on CRPF convoy on February 14 in south Kashmir’s Pulwama that left 49 CRPF personnel dead.
Hizb has thus far remained out from carrying fidayeen attacks in Kashmir. However, such attacks have been mostly carried out by Lashkar or Jaish cadres.
Naikoo in his audio message said: “Whatever is happening in Kashmir was the result of atrocities committed by India on the people.”
“You will have to cry till the time you are here. The coffins of your soldiers will continue to fill till your army is here. We are ready to die but won’t allow you to live as well,’’ Naikoo said in the message, according to Hindustan Times.
Naikoo also said freedom was a passion for Kashmiri youths.
“We will keep on sacrificing our lives. We prefer to die than surrender. The day is not far when our 15-year-old children will strap explosives on their bodies and barge into your army vehicles. We prefer death over slavery,” he said.
Naikoo blamed the Indian government for not “fulfilling promises” made to the people of Kashmir. “The person responsible for the fidayeen attack on forces was a Kashmiri and the atrocities committed on him by the army forced him to carry out the attack. No power in the world can stop these types of attacks.
The attacks will continue till Indian forces remain in Kashmir,” Naikoo added.
On Tuesday, Lt Gen KJS Dhillon, head of 15 corps based in Srinagar, had said the forces are wary of the challenges such attacks could pose to them.
“This type of suicide car bomb attack happened after a long time in Kashmir. We are alive to it and keeping all our options open to deal with it in future,’’ Dhillon had said.
In May 2000, a 17-year-old Afaq Ahmed Shah blew himself, along with his Maruti car outside the corps headquarter.
