Hizbul Mujaheedin chief Syed Salahuddin has urged Kashmiri Pandits to return to their homes in Jammu and Kashmir.

The outfit promised 'protection' to them.

"They should return home and Allah willing the Mujahedeen (warriors) would provide them all possible protection," Hizbul chief Syed Salahuddin said at a meeting in Muzzaffarabad on Monday.

Strange, isn't it?! Syed Salahuddin is offering protection to the Pandits. But who is he going to offer protection from?? ...

Ahh! the terrorists!!... how silly of me!

But then,, isn't Hizbul Mujahideen a terrorist organization?!!

*confused*

Seriously speaking, the whole thing has to do with the position of Hijbul Mujahideen (HM) in the Kashmir valley. After years of funding and backing by Pakistan's ISI, HM is now without a backing except by its mother organization Jamaat-e-Islaami. The ISI prefers the Jaish-e-Mohammad in addition to the mercenary outfits like Lashkar-e-Toiba and Harkat-ul-Mujahideen. With the ISI taps running dry and Pakistan Government putting a squeeze on Jamaat-e-Islaami, HM's funding has been severely affected.

HM has always been pro-Pakistan organization which advocates Kashmir's union with Pakistan. This has been the bone of contention between it and other pro-independence organizations like JKLF. Also, HM wants American intervention in the Kashmir dispute while organizations like Hurriyat are dead against it.

So Hizbul Mujahideen is essentially a spent force with a divided leadership. Its call to the Pandits to return to their homes is nothing but empty rhetoric and is inconsistent with their known idealogy. And unless majority of terrorist outfits do not give guarantees (which is a highly improbable event) for their safety, the return of Kashmiri Pandits to the valley may well start off another gruesome round of "ethnic cleansing".