Religious parties stress jihad to liberate Kashmir

LAHORE:Leaders of religious parties have stressed that jihad is the only way to liberate Kashmir from illegal Indian occupation and no amount of protests, resolutions and appeals to the UN and world community would help the Kashmir cause.

This was the central argument of the speeches at the rallies and seminars held by various religio-political parties to mark Kashmir suppression day here on Wednesday. The central leader of JUP, Qari Zawwar Bahadur, said it was a pity that Muslims have continued to pin their hopes with those global institutions and leaderships who had been responsible for all the injustices and suffering meted out to them particularly in Kashmir, Palestine, Chechnya, Bosnia, etc. He said jihad was the only way to liberate Kashmir from Indian occupation as the so-called civilised world had badly failed to acknowledge the Kashmiris’ sufferings after it had been under indefinite curfew and become the world’s largest open air prison for the last one year, he said while addressing a seminar at Jamia Al Marks Islami.

It was also addressed by other leaders including Hafiz Naseer Noorani, Mufti Tasadduq Hussain, Rasheed Rizvi, Maulana Arshad Mehr, Maulana Salim Awan, Mufti Jamil Rizvi, Maulana Shaukat Ali, Maulana Mohammad Azam, Hafiz Liaqat Ali and others.

Lahore president of Markazi Jamiat Ahle Hadith, Hafiz Babar Farooq Rahimi led a protest rally on Ravi Road, marching from Niaz Chowk to Data Darbar, chanting slogans against India, UN and other global human rights groups for allowing the continued genocide of Kashmiris. Addressing the participants, Babar Farooq Rahimi and other leaders warned that only jihad was the viable solution to liberate Kashmir, and urged Pakistan army to play its role and use its remarkable combat abilities and matchless fighting spirit to liberate Kashmir from Indian occupation.

Tanzim Islami Information secretary Mirza Ayub Beg praised the inclusion of entire Kashmir as its territory in a newly modified map, calling it a big step in the right direction. Addressing a meeting, he regretted that entire world remained silent on such a prodigious crime committed by India, by annexing Kashmir into its main land in stark violation of UN resolutions calling Kashmir a disputed territory and binding Delhi to give right to self-determination to them. He warned if Kashmiris were not given their fundamental rights, the flames of war will engulf and severely burn this entire region.

Trade leader and president of Hadia Haleema centre Urdu Bazaar Sarwar Asim has lauded the government for conferring veteran Kashmiri freedom fighter and symbol of Kashmiri liberation struggle for the last six decades, Syed Ali Gilani, with country’s highest civilian honour “Nishan-e-Pakistan”.

Addressing a meeting, he demanded that other leaders of Hurriyet Conference should be conferred with Pakistani honours and warned that Kashmir could only be liberated by Jihad since all political, diplomatic and moral efforts to move the world community to solve this issue like they had solved East Timor, south Sudan, sanctions on Iran and North Korea had badly failed.