JuD leaders chant 'jihad', would not mind Indo-Pak N-war

Extremist leaders, including Jamaat-ud-Dawah (JuD) chief Hafiz Saeed, have stepped up calls for jihad against India, even advocating the use of nuclear weapons if needed in the "war for Kashmir".

The vicious comments at a massive rally organised by Jamaat-ud-Dawah to mark the Kashmir Solidarity Day, have come at a time when India and Pakistan are trying to find ways to revive the peace process.

At the rally, speaker after speaker espoused the use of jihad or holy war to settle the Kashmir issue and Saeed said this approach should be adopted even if even leads to a "nuclear war" with India.

Saeed, blamed by India for masterminding the Mumbai attacks, said: "I want to give a message to (Prime Minister) Manmohan Singh—quit Kashmir or get ready to face a war".

He was addressing a rally of about 20,000 supporters on the Mall, one of the main thoroughfares of Lahore, yesterday.

"You (Singh) must remember that the movement of the Kashmiri people is nearing an end and I am telling you very clearly to immediately leave Kashmir.

"Otherwise we are ready to start a war against you to get this at any cost," Saeed told the rally held to mark Kashmir Solidarity Day.

"The only solution to the Kashmir issue is jihad," said Saeed.

The jihad should continue "as long as Kashmir remains under Indian occupation" and there would be "no problem" if the fighting leads to nuclear war between Pakistan and India, he contended.

JuD deputy chief Abdur Rehman Makki demanded that Pakistan's prime minister should set up an independent ministry for the jihad in Kashmir.

"The JuD will provide the budget for this ministry if (the prime minister) accepts our proposal," he said.

Offering to provide one million trained fighters to wage the jihad, Makki called on the Pakistan army chief to provide Kalashnikovs for these fighters.

Jamaat-e-Islami secretary general Liaquat Baloch, who also addressed the rally, said it was obligatory for Muslims to be ready for jihad.

The rally was held a day before the Indian and Pakistani foreign secretaries meeting on the margins of a SAARC conference in Bhutan to find ways to give a nudge to the peace process, stalled since the Mumbai attacks of November 2008 that killed 166 people.

Saeed, however, claimed India wants to "linger" on the Kashmir issue on the pretext of holding a dialogue with Pakistan.

Other speakers at the rally also advocated nuclear war.

Hafiz Saifullah Mansoor, one of Saeed's close aides and chairman of the Kashmir Action Committee, said the government should use its atomic weapons, if needed, in the "war for Kashmir".

Markazi Jamiat Ahl-e-Hadith leader Rana Nasrullah said Pakistan's nuclear weapons were not for deterrence alone and should be used against India for the "independence of Kashmir".

PML(N) parliamentarian Naseer Bhutta, and Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam leader Hafiz Hussain Ahmed also addressed the rally, which was larger than all other gatherings held yesterday to mark Kashmir Solidarity Day.

Saeed further claimed the Indian government would not be successful with such a "trap" as the JuD would continue its struggle for Kashmir.

He lauded China for not recognising Indian passports issued to residents of Jammu and Kashmir.

Though even the US has said that the Kashmir dispute could trigger a nuclear war, the JuD is not afraid of such a war, he said.

He rejected the labelling of the JuD as a terrorist group and said it was only taking up the Kashmir cause and helping Kashmiris in their "freedom movement".

India could not prove anything against the JuD after blaming it for the Mumbai attacks, he claimed.