Zeenews Bureau
Srinagar: Jamaat-ud-Dawah (JuD) chief Hafiz Saeed and Hizbul Mujahideen supreme commander Syed Salahuddin have reportedly stated that jihad (armed militancy) would revive in Kashmir next year.
News magazine Tehelka reported on Wednesday that a delegation of Kashmiri separatists, while visiting Pakistan last month, had also Hafiz Saeed and Syed Salahuddin. The duo, whom India describes as terror masterminds, told the Kashmiri separatists that armed militancy would revive in the Valley in 2014.
“Both Saeed and Salahuddin told us that militancy in Kashmir would escalate after the US-led international troops depart from Afghanistan in 2014,” one of the delegates told Tehelka.
The meeting between Kashmiri separatists and the terror duo was kept secret. Both the meetings happened separately - one in Lahore, and the other in Islamabad.
It may be noted that Hizbul Mujahideen was among the first militant outfits to have started jihad in Kashmir.
”Saeed and Salahuddin think that with the US off their back, the militants would be in a position of command in Kashmir after 2014,” a Hurriyat delegate said, as quoted by the magazine. ”They say India won’t bargain sincerely unless armed militancy forces its hands.”
Salahuddin had last week too said that an armed struggle was the only way to resolve the Kashmir issue.
“The Kashmiri people, leadership and the state of Pakistan should prepare themselves for it. Otherwise freedom will remain a distant dream,” he told a press conference.
