The Hindu : `Jihad' the only option in Kashmir, says MMA

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Friday, Feb 07, 2003

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International

`Jihad' the only option in Kashmir, says MMA

By B. Muralidhar Reddy

ISLAMABAD Feb. 6. The Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal, an alliance of six religious parties, has said that jihad (holy war) is the only way to "rid Kashmiris of Indian occupation'' as negotiations and United Nations resolutions have failed to give them the right to self-determination.

The MMA's prescription of jihad was contained in a resolution adopted at a rally in Peshawar on Wednesday. The rally was held to coincide with `Kashmir Solidarity Day', officially observed every year throughout Pakistan and Pakistan Occupied Kashmir (PoK) and attended by second rung leaders of the MMA.

There is little doubt that such resolutions are a source of embarrassment to the Pervez Musharraf-Mir Zafarullah Khan Jamali Government, particularly when articulated in public. But thanks to its unexpected success in the October last general elections, the MMA has become so influential that the Government could do little other than wring its hands.

What is more disturbing is that the resolution has virtually given a call to the people to take up arms to fight for the Kashmir cause. The organisers seem to have deliberately left the resolution vague.

It read: "The lingering Kashmir issue could not be resolved through negotiations or U.N. resolutions, and jihad was the only option to finish decades-long Indian occupation from the occupied Kashmir.''

Reports in the local media suggest an impressive turnout at various rallies and demonstrations in different parts of the country in support of the `Kashmir cause'. Interestingly, at some places the sloganeering was targeted as much against the United States as against India. It is a reflection of the prevailing anti-U.S. sentiments due to a number of factors.

The Peshawar rally demanded that the Government lift the ban on Jihadi organisations and allow people to cross the Line of Control and let them fight along with the Kashmiris against Indian forces. In his much-publicised January 12, 2002 speech, the Pakistan President, Pervez Musharraf, had banned the Lashkar-e-Taiba and the Jaish-e-Mohammad along with other sectarian outfits and vowed that no one would be allowed to indulge in terrorism in the name of Kashmir.

The rally demanded that the U.N. play its `due' role and take note of what was termed Indian atrocities.

A report in the English daily, Dawn, said that despite the official ban the Jamaat-e-Islami and the Hizbul Mujahideen had set up a donation camp at Khyber Bazaar and distributed pamphlets, carrying Jihadi messages.

The JI leader, Liaqat Baloch, told the Peshawar rally that the U.N. and the international community had failed to stop India from committing atrocities and claimed that more than 80,000 Kashmiri Muslims had been killed.

He alleged that imperialist forces were pressuring Islamabad to withdraw support to the Kashmiri people and forced the Government to strike a deal on the core issue. He, however, warned that the Pakistani nation was not ready to accept any deal on Kashmir.

Mr. Baloch said Muslims were passing through a critical juncture across the world. America and England were determined to occupy Iraq, Israeli forces had begun genocidal attacks on the Palestinians, Russia was engaged in crushing the Chechen freedom movement and state agencies were targeting Muslims in Europe and the U.S.

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