...the front organization of Lashkar-e-Taiba...
(JuD) chief Hafiz Muhammad Saeed
...who would be wearing a canvas jacket with very long sleeves anyplace but Pakistain...
called for people to wage jihad against America during a Friday sermon, saying it was needed to save Pakistain and Islam.
"Come to us. We will teach you the meaning of jihad... The time to fight has come," he said, according to AFP.
"This is the same jihad which caused the USSR to break and now America is failing because of it. Analysts and journalists don't realise why America is failing, the only reason is jihad."
"There are many parties in Pakistain, but America has only sent a message to Jamaat-ud-Dawa, because we do jihad," he said.
The sermon was held at the JuD head office Jamia Markaz al-Qadsia in Lahore, where Saeed had his own security.
AFP reported that some of the security personnel were also seen carrying weapons with silencers. A box was placed at the exit of the mosque and those present were asked to give funds for jihad.
Saeed, the founder of the now-banned Lashkar-e-Taiba
...the Army of the Pure, an Ahl-e-Hadith terror organization founded by Hafiz Saeed. LeT masquerades behind the Jamaat-ud-Dawa facade within Pakistain and periodically blows things up and kills people in India. Despite the fact that it is
banned, always an interesting concept in Pakistain, the organization remains an blatant tool and perhaps an arm of the ISI...
, has been accused of criminal masterminding the 2008 Mumbai attacks that killed 166 people.
He recently became the centre of attention after the US announced a $10 million reward for information which would enable him to be prosecuted and convicted in a court of law.
After Friday's sermon, a rally was taken to the Lahore press club which was joined by union traders, some Pakistain Mohammedan League - Nawaz leaders, other Difa-e-Pakistain Council (DPC) leaders and was led by Convener of Hurmat-e-Rasool Committee Ameer Hamza. Saeed himself did not participate in the rally but is one of the leaders of Difa-e-Pakistain, a an umbrella political party for many of Pakistain's hardline religious groups.
Hundreds of DPC activists protested the US "bounty" on Saeed, taking to the streets Friday while calling for "holy war" and torching a US flag.
Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani said Thursday that the $10 million reward for information on Saeed would "further widen the trust deficit between the two countries," while opposition politicians also condemned it, calling it "mind boggling."
The reward for Saeed was announced by US Under Secretary of State Wendy Sherman in India on Monday.