Hizbul Mujahideen

Hizbul Mujahideen (Arabic: حزب المجاھدین‎, Ḥizb al-Mujāhidīn, meaning "party of holy warriors"), founded by Ahsan Dar in 1989, is a Kashmiri militant group active in the Indian-administered state of Jammu and Kashmir since 1989. Their headquarters are located in Muzaffarabad, the capital of Azad Kashmir. The current leader of the group is a Kashmiri known under the alias of Sayeed Salahudeen. Hizbul Mujahideen is currently the largest militant group operating in Kashmir, and is widely considered by the sources on both sides of the Kashmir conflict to be the most indigenous and widely-supported group active in Kashmir.

Sayeed Salahudeen is at present located in Pakistan. The media often reports his whereabouts in Azad Kashmir or in Northern Punjab.

The Indian government has time and again requested the Pakistani government for the extradition of Sayeed Salahudeen. However in recent times a well known news agency conducted an interview with the leader of Hizbul Mujahideen, where the leader claimed that the government of Pakistan would never hand him over to the Indian authorities.

Although Sayeed Salahudeen is a citizen of Azad Kashmir, he is known to have resided in towns located around important cities like Karachi and Peshawar, sources claim that this pattern is followed for two main reasons,

1. Many sources claim that Hizbul Mujahideen leader maintains continuous contact with the Intelligence agency of Pakistan, ISI. These towns are used as meeting places where important information regarding Kashmir switches hands along with funding required to conduct militant training camps.
2. Although the Indian parliament has not sanctioned covert operations across the LOC, the constant fear of a covert raid by the Indian Special Forces, deters Sayeed Salahudeen from entering Azad Kashmir frequently.