13 October,2016 11:53 AM IST | | mid-day online correspondent
Jaish-e-Muhammad chief Masood Azhar has brazenly demanded that jihadist groups be allowed to escalate their operations against India, in their endeavour to seize Kashmir
Jaish-e-Muhammad chief Masood Azhar
Jaish-e-Muhammad chief Masood Azhar has brazenly demanded that jihadist groups be allowed to escalate their operations against India, in their endeavour to seize Kashmir. This demand of was part of the front-page article published in the current issue of Jaish's weekly magazine al-Qalam.
According to a report in the Indian Express, Azhar states in the article jihadist policies backed by Pakistani government in the 1990s had brought strategic benefits to the country.
In the article, Azhar writes, "If the government of Pakistan shows a little courage, the problem of Kashmir, as well as the dispute over water, can be resolved once and for all right now. If nothing else, the government simply has to open the path for the mujahideen. Then, god willing, all the bitter memories of 1971 will be dissolved into the triumphant emotions of 2016."
"India had sought to build Akhand Bharat, but its hopes were degraded in the course of the jihad which left every one of its limbs badly injured," he goes on. "What remained of its military prowess was exposed in Pathankot and Uri. India is putting pressure on Pakistan at this time. Looking at the situation in Kashmir, though, Pakistan should have been doing all this. Given that Kashmir is our jugular vein, we should have cancelled the SAARC conference ourselves, and cancelled the ceasefire on the Line of Control. In the last ninety days, how many Muslims have been martyred, and how many more injured?" the Jaish chief further wrote.
Indian Express further reported of the article stating that jihadist operations in Kashmir have significantly eroded India's military capacities. "Consider India before and after the jihad in Kashmir, you will see a dramatic difference. In the course of this journey, which I have been an eyewitness to, I have seen India reduced from a serpent to an earthworm."
Boasting about the growth of jihad, Azhar claims in his article, "We have watched as the jihad we befriended grew from a glowing ember into the sun; from a small spring into a river, and now, as it is about to become a great ocean."
Relations between India and Pakistan hit a low following the Uri attack, after which India responded with surgical strikes across the LoC.
