Kashmiri militants expel former chiefs

The group says Indian troops must leave Kashmir

A leading separatist group in Indian-administered Kashmir has said it has expelled three former top commanders for breaching discipline.

The Hizbul Mujahideen group said its former operational chief, Abdul Majid Dar, had been thrown out, along with former divisional commanders Asad Yazdani and Zafar Abdul Fateh.

The group issued a statement announcing the expulsions after a meeting of its command council in Muzaffarabad, the capital of Pakistan-administered Kashmir.

Mr Dar headed operations in the Indian-administered portion of Kashmir until October 2001, when the group says he was replaced at his own request.

The other two former commanders were relieved of their posts at the same time.

Violations

The statement said the three men had been expelled "for violating the discipline of the group and adopting an approach conflicting with the policies of the outfit."

A Hizbul ceasefire in 2000 was quickly withdrawn

"He [Dar] and two other former commanders have no link with Hizbul Mujahideen from now and any actions taken by them should not be attributed to the group," it said.

The statement did not give details of the charges against the men.

Mr Dar achieved prominence in July 2000 when he announced a ceasefire against Indian forces.

But the group's overall leader, Syed Salahuddin, withdrew the decision two weeks later after India refused to accept the group's demand to include Pakistan in negotiations.

The Indian Government later declared its own suspension of combat operations in Kashmir, but resumed them six months later when the move met with no response from the militants.

No ceasefire

Hizbul's announcement of the expulsions came a day after it denied a report that it would lay down its arms if Indian authorities were prepared to enter a peace process.

"The armed struggle will continue until Indian forces vacate Kashmir," group spokesman Salim Hashmi told reporters.

He was responding to a newspaper article attributed to one of the group's leaders, Moin-ul-Islam, which called for a new ceasefire if India took steps to resolve the dispute.

Mr Hashmi said the remarks, which appeared in the Greater Kashmir daily, did not reflect official policy of the Hizbul Mujahideen.

The group was trying to verify who had written the piece, he added.