The media organisations in Srinagar on Friday received a CD statement, allegedly from Al Qaeda, stating that the militant organisation was declaring a war on India. The fifteen-minute CD comprises the speech of Abu Abdul Rehman Ansari, who claims to be a top Al Qaeda leader. Ansari appearing in a mask speaks in Arabic and Urdu while announcing ‘Jihad’ (holy war) against India, and lashes the Hurriyat leaders and United Jihad Council’s (UJC) chief Syed Salahuddin for supporting Jammu and Kashmir’s ongoing peace process.He even did not spare the hardliner, Syed Ali Geelani, and the UJC, accusing them of fixing on Kashmir rather working for a global Islamic jihad for establishing “Khilafat”. The speaker railed against Kashmiri leaders, naming them as Syed Ali Geelani, Mirwaiz Umer Farooq and Prof Abdul Gani Bhat; former chief ministers Farooq Abdullah and Mufti Muhammad Sayeed and current chief Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad. The CD showed the leaders’ photographs as the speaker called out their names.
Home Ministry sources in Delhi said it was highly unlikely that Al Qaeda could have engaged in circulation of the CD and possibly Lashker-e-Taiba (LT) could be behind it to “boost the morale of its demoralising cadres”.
Jammu and Kashmir police top officials maintained that the veracity of the CD was being verified, but they were taking no chances and had started the investigations. State Police chief Gopal Sharma said cognisance of the CD had been taken to verify its authenticity and that it was premature to make a comment. In Delhi, the Home Ministry issued a statement that it too was verifying the authenticity of the CD.
While pointing out that there was “no need to panic”, the ministry said, “We view such activities and threats as a desperate effort by terrorist and anti-national elements to try and create problems in the country and scare the people.”
Militant group Lashker-e-Taiba has, however, disassociated itself with the CD, saying that it will investigate its contents. A caller identifying himself as Dr Abdullah Gaznawi, spokesman of LT, told a news agency in Srinagar that a similar kind of reports about presence of Al Qaeda in Kashmir came out about a year ago but nothing followed. “We will investigate the CD and till than we can not comment on it”, the spokesman added.
Meanwhile, the Mirwaiz Umar Farooq-led Hurriyat Conference said it would soon convene its executive body meeting to discuss the CD’s contents. “This is a serious issue and we think we have to go through the contents of the CD and discuss it in our executive body before commenting on it,” Umar Farooq’s secretary Shahid-ul-Islam said.