Hizbul Mujahideen chief Syed Salahuddin attacked by ISI in Pakistan: Reports

Hizbul Mujahideen chief Syed Salahuddin has reportedly been attacked in Pakistan by assailants from the country's spy agency ISI. According to reports, the Hizbul chief was attacked on May 25. However, the nature of the attack and his injury was not immediately known. The attack on Salahuddin was reportedly carried out by trained ISI killers.

The relations between Pakistan's ISI and the Hizbul chief were strained lately. The attack, the report claimed, was not aimed at taking his life but delivering a message that his survival in Pakistan was possible only at the mercy of the ISI. After the attack, he has been shifted to a safe house where is undergoing treatment.

 Syed Salahuddin has long been a key for Pakistan in its evil agenda abetting terrorism in India. ISI provides training and weapons to Hizbul terrorists but due to the pressure from India and West, Pakistan has been trying not to appear supporting terrorism openly. Recent reports suggested that the ISI had stopped providing adequate training and weapons to Hizbul which led to a tiff between Salahuddin and the spy agency.

Things went south after Naikoo's killing

Their differences also grew even more after the recent killing of top Hizbul commander Riyaz Naikoo by the Indian Army in Jammu and Kashmir. Following Naikoo's encounter, the Hizbul chief had criticised ISI during his address to his cadres in Pakistan occupied Kashmir.

Earlier this month, Indian security forces had killed Naikoo and three other Hizbul terrorists in an encounter at his village in south Kashmir's Pulwama district. Amid the coronavirus lockdown, Naikoo had reportedly gone to visit his family. The security forces received information about his visit and launched an operation to nab him. He was Salahuddin's key aide and carried several attacks on security forces in Kashmir.