Front Page   

Lashkar offers to end jihad

NEW DELHI: In a statement released to Srinagar-based journalists on Saturday, a Lashkar-e-Taiba spokesperson said it was willing to terminate its terror campaign in return for international intervention on the Kashmir issue.

“If the world listens to our cries and plays its role in resolving the Kashmir issue, there is no point in continuing fighting,” said the spokesperson, who uses the code-name “Dr. Abdullah Ghaznavi.”

“Our struggle is only confined to Kashmir,” he claimed, “and we have no relations or association with armed groups operating at international level. We have no global agenda. We just want freedom of Kashmir and if it comes peacefully we will welcome it. We don’t see armed struggle as the only way to achieve our goal. If the world listens to our cries and plays its role in resolving the Kashmir issue there would be no reason for us to fight.”

“Dr. Ghaznavi” was responding to remarks of British Foreign Secretary David Miliband, who was reported to have called for India to work more closely with Pakistan in seeking a resolution to the conflict in Jammu and Kashmir.

“Great Britain did not implement the agreed upon agenda of Partition,” ‘Dr. Ghaznavi’ said, “[and] due to this mistake committed by the British government, our nation is suffering. The Lashkar-e-Taiba was compelled to take up arms due to suffering of our Kashmiri nation. Since the world did not respond to our peaceful calls for resolution of the Kashmir issue for almost 40 years, we had no choice to take arms for our freedom.”

Stories in this Section

Ramalinga Raju, brother sent to police custody
Pakistan gives probe team 10 days
Lashkar offers to end jihad
Turn words into action, Antony tells Pakistan
Probe Satyam-Maytas nexus: Karat
Ramalinga Raju’s plans were well laid out
Hamas announces ceasefire
4 ULFA militants killed, arms seized
Pakistan law allows transfer of fugitives
Thirumavalavan calls off fast
Two MTC buses damaged, 13 arrested
Ravindra Jadeja gets the big break
Bahrain-based company acquires stake in S Tel
Heart disease gene variant widespread in South Asians
Centre approves plan to study Toto tribe in north Bengal
Pre-flight drill gets close attention
PM visits RTO office to get licence renewed
‘No haste to cancel Maytas projects’
“Industrial units violating power norms”
Rajya Sabha seat: Mani not to give in
Buildings flouting norms get show-cause notices
Nagapattinam-Velankanni BG line completion by June
Students cautious, coaching centres register decline in enrolment Life in recession
Four bombs found in Ahmedabad
Missionaries beaten up
Narrow escape for Somnath
Ravindra Jadeja in team to Sri Lanka
Uncertainty in BJP over Lucknow

Copyright © 2009, The Hindu. Republication or redissemination of the contents of this screen are expressly prohibited without the written consent of The Hindu