Eight weeks after the detention of Lashkar-e-Taiba chief Hafiz Mohammad Saeed, the group's parent political organisation has resumed issuing public threats of terrorist operations directed against India. Last month's issue of the Jamaat-ul-Dawa's house journal Majallat al-Dawa has proclaimed that its fidayeen commandos would soon "butcher every Hindu and Kashmir will be freed." The magazine flatly noted that "our fidayeen love to slit the throats of Hindu dogs," adding the "Hindus understand the language of knives and guns only."
Majallat al-Dawa's express linkage of the Jamaat-ud-Dawa with terrorism flies in the face of official Pakistani protestations that the organisation has no links with the internationally proscribed terror group. In a recent interview to The Hindu , Pakistani Foreign Minister Khurshid Kasuri argued that the Jamaat-ud-Dawa "is doing charitable work." He said no proof had emerged that its members were engaged in acts of terrorism.
| "No, no, certainly not!" |
| "But in the meantime I'm pretty comfortable. Have you seen my new HD plasma screen?" |
India is not the only subject of recent Lashkar invective — a fact of no small significance given that Dr. Saeed was detained after allegations emerged that the terror group had trained members of terror cells which targeted the U.S. and the United Kingdom. Speaking at the al-Qudsia mosque in Lahore on September 27, Jamaat-ud-Dawa second-in-command Abdul Rehman Makki described Jews as "the worst and eternal enemies of Prophet Muhammad and Islam." "The Jews," he continued, "are the worst nation. They are the most sinful people. They do all the forbidden things."
Mr. Makki proceeded to demand that Pakistan's "foreign policy should be the Koran. Koran gives the Muslims the courage to stand up. A foreign policy that hinges on the U.S. policy can never be strong and stable." He ended his talk with a taunt evidently directed at Pakistan's Foreign Office spokesperson Tasnim Aslam: "Such countries which follow the U.S. policies appoint female spokesmen."
Other prominent Islamists have thrown down similar challenges to the regime of President Pervez Musharraf. On August 4, the Daily Ummat quoted Pakistan's former army chief General Mirza Aslam Beg as arguing that "Iran should attack Israel and Pakistan should attack India. This is the only way to bring a change in the world. Otherwise, humiliation will be the future of the Muslims."
| It would certainly bring a change in the world, wouldn't it. |