[Reader-list] "We are ready for jihad, we are ready for jihad!”

[Pawan Durani]

http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2010\03\24\story_24-3-2010_pg7_11

Hardliners vow jihad to liberate Held Kashmir

* 5,000 people attend a rally held in Kotli to mark Pakistan Day

KOTLI: Militants on Tuesday vowed to wage jihad to liberate Kashmir
from Indian control.

About 5,000 people attended a rally in Kotli in Azad Jammu and
Kashmir, shouting, “We are ready for jihad, we are ready for jihad!”

The gathering marked the anniversary of the 1940 Pakistan Resolution,
in which Indian Muslims decided to struggle for a separate country
following independence from British rule. Pakistan was born seven
years later.

“Diplomacy, talks and negotiations spanning several decades have not
worked,” said Syed Salahuddin, chairman of the United Jihad Council,
which consists of 16 religious groups, militant outfits and political
parties.

“The only way to liberate Kashmir is jihad,” said Salahuddin, who also
leads Hizbul Mujahideen.

He denied that jihadi groups were behind attacks within the country.

Tuesday’s rally was also attended by leaders of Jamaatud Dawa.

A resolution adopted after the meeting said, “Jihad will continue
until India ends its occupation of Kashmir.”

India and Pakistan have remained arch foes, with relations between the
South Asian nuclear-armed rivals further strained since the 2008
attacks on India’s financial capital Mumbai, which New Delhi blamed on
Lashkar-e-Tayyaba, a Pakistan-based terrorist outfit.

In late February, the two sides held their first official talks since
the Mumbai siege, but they ended with few concrete developments.

More than 3,100 people have been killed in suicide attacks and bomb
blasts across the nation since July 2007, which are blamed on
militants opposed to the government’s alliance with the United States.
afp