Saeed rubbishes Indo-Pak friendship efforts, vows 'jihad'

Rezaul H Laskar
Islamabad (PTI) - Jamaat-ud- Dawa (JuD) chief
Hafiz Mohammad Saeed on Sunday made a rare public appearance
here to lead the funeral prayers for Kashmiri leader Maulvi
Showkat Ahmed Shah, killed in Srinagar last week, and used the
occasion to rubbish the Indo-Pak cricket diplomacy while
vowing for a "jihad" in the north Indian state of Jammu and
Kashmir.
In a provocative speech, Saeed, the mastermind of the
2008 Mumbai terror attacks, claimed the movement in Kashmir
would serve as an example for "Muslims in Hyderabad and
Junagarh who want independence from the oppression of Hindus".
New Delhi has been pressing for action against Saeed
who continues to roam freely in Pakistan making anti-India
tirades.
In Islamabad, this has been the second time since the
26/11 attacks that Saeed has made a public appearance.
"The stand taken by the Pakistan government for
friendship with India is not acceptable to the Pakistani
people under any circumstances," said Saeed, who led the
'ghayebana namaz-e-janaza' for moderate Kashmiri leader Maulvi
Showkat Shah, who was killed in an explosion in Srinagar on
April 8.
Saeed, also the founder of the banned Lashkar-e-Taiba,
said "friendship, trade and cricket diplomacy" with India has
no meaning.
"We make it clear that (the government) should back
the Hurriyat till the last breath for the independence of
Kashmir," he told a gathering of about 300 people outside the
National Press Club in the heart of the Pakistani capital.
Members of parliament and the government should adopt
a "strong position" on the Kashmir issue so that it becomes
clear to the people of Pakistan and Kashmir that they are
"doing the right thing", he said.
"We want to make it clear that we are with Kashmiris
and will remain with them... All the people in Pakistan and
Kashmir are unwilling to accept anything less than
independence (for Jammu and Kashmir)," he said in a brief
speech as the crowd repeatedly cheered.
He said rather than put efforts to foster friendship
and trade with India, the Pakistan government should work to
support the movement to achieve the "independence" of Jammu
and Kashmir.
Paying tribute to Shah, the president of the Jamiat-e-
Ahle Hadith who was killed in the bombing on April 8, Saeed
claimed the movement in Jammu and Kashmir was "a jihad for
independence where even death is part of life".
Dismissing the impression in certain quarters that the
movement in Kashmir had become weak in the post-9/11 era,
Saeed said he believed "it has come very close to its final
stage".