The HuM was formed in 1989 in the Kashmir Valley with Master Ahsan Dar as its chief. Dar was later arrested by the Indian all-armed forces by mid-December 1993. It was reportedly formed as the militant wing of the Jamaat-e-Islami (JeI) at the behest of the Inter Services Intelligence (ISI), Pakistan’s external intelligence agency, to counter the Jammu Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF), which had advocated complete independence of the State from the nations. Many of the early Hizb cadres were former JKLF members.