Days after his amalgam claimed that Lashkar-e-Islam has been floated by Indian secret agencies to “defame freedom movement”, the newly surfaced suspected militant group has rubbished the allegations and asked Syed Ali Geelani to probe his own ranks over the killings of four militants including a top commander.In two combined statements issued by Lashkar-e-Islam which appeared in a section of local Urdu newspapers, the group has urged Geelani as well as chairman of United Jihad Council (UJC) Syed Salahuddin to “investigate the existence of the outfit properly”.In an address to senior resistance leader, the outfit urged him to probe his members’ vis-à-vis the killings of four militants including Javaid Salafi of Anantnag, Mufti Hilal alias Hilal Molvi of Palhallan, Adil of Pulwama and Rashid from Zainageer.
Referring to Mufti Hilal, who was killed in Srinagar’s Fateh Kadal locality, the outfit’s spokesman Abu Sariq in his address to Geelani, said: “We have evidence who were involved in the killing of Hilal. So, we request to you to probe it from your surrounding members.”“We also have evidence regarding the involvement of people in the killing of Javid Salafi. Do probe this after asking your members,” the newly surfaced outfit said. The outfit has also sought probe into the killing of two other militants – Adil and Rashid.According to GNS, the spokesman has rebutted the accusations of Geelani and Salahuddin and said Lashkar-e-Islam “is the outfit of Mujahideen-e-Islam (warriors of Islam) and is active for the sake of Allah”. The outfit rubbished the allegations of “defaming pro-freedom movement” leveled by pro-freedom and militant leadership. The outfit has asked Geelani to make the evidence public against them.
Truth demands that it should have been made public,” it said.The group, once again, has justified its action against telecommunication companies and towers, saying telecom network is a “conspiracy” and this “conspiracy has weakened armed resistance” and “also affected society negatively”. “Due to telecommunication network, lot of militants were killed which include two militants from Palhallan identified as Aaqib and Bilal while Nisar Ahmad alias Usman Bhai was also arrested with the help of mobile phones,” the outfit said, adding: ““Though Allah gave us ability to understand this nuisance (telecom network) and there was no repeat of any incident (a militant getting killed or arrested due to mobile phones) but the brothers who come from Pakistan for sacrificing themselves for us are unaware about this.”It further said: “Laskhar-e-Toiba, Jaish-e-Muhammad outfits were most affected due to this nuisance.
The fresh example is the incidents which took place at Saadpora and Rafiabad in which four colleagues died.” The group also blamed mobile phones for the killing of Muzamil Amin Dar alias Urfi, Abdullah Shaheen and Abdullah Uni.Pointing towards the killing of two persons in Sopore, the outfit said one of them was “an informer of army and Special Task Force (STF)” and claimed it has evidence. But, the group added that it had no “intention” to kill Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) limited.“One of the two persons whom we killed was the informer of army and STF and we have evidence. The second one was not killed deliberately. If we had intent to kill him, we would have had killed all the employees in the showroom,” the outfit according to GNS said in the statement. It further said that the person killed in Dooru Sopore “got a Jaish militant Hamza arrested in 2010” and “a rifle was still in deceased’s possession and he was not ready to handover it”.
The outfit urged UJC chairman and Hizbul Mujahideen supreme commander, Syed Salahuddin, to probe the matter properly and said: “We are no Indian agents but mujahideen who are ready to perish for Islam.”“We will not allow India’s plan to succeed. We have no personal grudges against telecom operators. People of Kashmir were ready to support us in fight against telecommunication but first you branded us terrorists and Indian agents and then your statements encouraged telecom operators with the help of police and army to restore the services,” the outfit said in its address to UJC chairman, adding: “But Insha Allah (God Willing) we will not allow restoration of telecom system.”
The outfit has told Salahuddin that despite claiming responsibilities for attacks on Ganju house and a sub-inspector jointly along with Hizb and Jais, they were branded “terrorists” and compared with Al Faran.“Though we have no complaints but you (Salahuddin) should first probe and then say whether our step was right or wrong,” the statement reads at the end. (GNS)