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

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JuD chief Hafiz Mohammad Saeed today 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 J-K.

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'.