Kashmir Solidarity Day: Banned Jihadist Groups Re-Emerge Publicly In Pakistan; Lashkar-e-Taiba Re-Brands Itself With a New Name; Pakistani Leaders Link Kashmir and Palestinian Issues

On February 5, 2009, religious and jihadist organizations, political parties and the Pakistani government marked Kashmir Solidarity Day, in support of the Kashmiri movement for independence from India. A human chain was formed to mark the occasion, at the Kohala Bridge over the Jhelum river, linking Pakistani Kashmir with Pakistan. [1] Protest rallies and seminars were held across Pakistan; government offices, businesses and educational institutions were closed due to public holiday; and human chains were formed in many cities, including Islamabad and Muzaffarabad, the capital of Pakistani Kashmir. In Islamabad, Qazi Hussain Ahmad, the Emir of Jamaat-e-Islami, told the protesters: “We will never accept Indian occupation of Kashmir.” [2]

On the eve of Kashmir Solidarity Day, senior Pakistani leaders issued messages, committing to the cause of the Kashmiri movement. In their messages, Raja Zulqarnain and Sardar Yaqub Khan, respectively president and prime minister of Pakistani Kashmir, pledged: “The people of Kashmir will continue their struggle for freedom until the entire state [of Jammu and Kashmir] is liberated [from India] and aligned with Pakistan.” [3] The two leaders reminded the people that Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto, the former leader of Pakistan, had pledged to fight a thousand-year war to liberate Kashmir.

Former Pakistan prime minister Nawaz Sharif noted in his message that resolving the Kashmir issues is essential to lasting peace in the region. [4] In their messages, President Asif Zardari and Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani also pledged to work for a just and peaceful resolution of the Kashmir issue. [5] On this occasion, Prime Minister Gilani told a meeting of legislators from Pakistani Kashmir in Islamabad: “India continues with violating basic human rights in Occupied Kashmir… The over-700,000-strong Indian army has unleashed a reign of terror on the Kashmiris…” [6] Yasin Malik, a secessionist leader who came from India, was present in the meeting and urged the Pakistani political parties to maintain a unified stand on the Kashmir issue. [7]

The legislative assembly in the Punjab province adopted a resolution calling for a plebiscite to be held in Indian Kashmir. [8] An editorial in the Urdu-language newspaper Roznama Khabrain accused India of creating 100 terrorist camps in Afghanistan along the border with Pakistan. [9] In Pakistani Kashmir, the legislative assembly adopted a resolution, urging the United Nations to play its part in resolving the long-standing Kashmir issue. [10] Pakistan’s Parliamentary Special Committee on Kashmir has decided to mark Kashmir Solidarity Week by holding various events. The Committee, chaired by Maulana Fazlur Rahman of Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam (F) party, has also decided to send a memorandum to U.S. President Barack Obama to remind him of his pledge to resolve the long-standing Kashmir issue. [11

On February 4, 2009 - a day before the Kashmir Solidarity Day - Pakistan-based jihadist groups held a conference in Muzaffarabad, the capital of Pakistani Kashmir. The conference was addressed by militant commander Syed Salahuddin, chairman of the Muttahida Jihad Council (United Jihad Council), which is a network of over a dozen Pakistan-based Islamic militant organizations active in Indian Kashmir.

The Muttahida Jihad Council, which was formed in the mid-1990s under the patronage of Pakistan's military-led Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), comprises a number of militant organizations such as Harkat-ul-Ansar, Al-Badr, Hizbul Mujahideen, Jamiat-ul-Mujahideen, Al-Jihad, Al-Barq, Ikhwan-ul-Muslimin and Tehrik-ul-Mujahideen. By early 2000, as many as 21 organizations were affiliated with the Muttahida Jihad Council, though only five of these were considered influential.

According to a report in the Urdu-language newspaper Roznama Jasarat, the conference was attended by "thousands of people, including the representatives and leaders of Pakistan's banned organizations Jaish-e-Muhammad, Harkat-ul- Mujahideen, and Jamaatud Dawa, in addition to the leaders of the Muttahida Jihad Council." [13]

The importance of the jihadist groups’ February 4 conference lies in the fact that for the first time since the November 2008 Mumbai terrorist attacks, a number of militant organizations publicly came together to hold a conference. Following the crackdown on militant groups after the Mumbai attacks, the Muttahida Jihad Council had gone underground, temporarily dissolving itself, closing down its offices, and removing all signs and nameplates. In fact, a militant commander of the Council told the Pakistani daily The News: “Following the Mumbai attacks and the subsequent tension between Pakistan and India, the United Jihad Council has decided to remain silent.”
There have been efforts by Islamist organizations in Pakistan and internationally to link the issue of Kashmir to the Palestinian issue.

In late January 2009, the Jamaat-e-Islami, which is seen as the mother of all jihadist organizations in Pakistan, issued a statement urging its members to mark February 5 as “Kashmir Palestine Day.” While announcing a series of programs for February 5, Syed Munawwar Hasan, secretary-general of Jamaat-e-Islami, accused the U.S., India and Israel of working to sabotage “the Kashmir freedom movement, disarm Pakistan of its nuclear assets and put the Kashmir issue on the backburner like the Palestine issue.” [30]

On Kashmir Solidarity Day, the Urdu-language newspaper Roznama Jasarat, a Pakistani daily aligned with Jamaat-e-Islami, wrote an editorial in which it questioned Pakistani President Asif Zardari’s statement that Kashmiri fighters are terrorists. It added: “Terrorists are those who have occupied the big parts of Afghanistan, Iraq, and Palestine, as well as Kashmir.” [31]

On February 4, the women’s wing of the Jamaat-e-Islami organized a big rally in Karachi which was addressed by senior leaders of the organization. Professor Ghafoor Ahmed, deputy emir of Jamaat-e-Islami, told the rally while lauding the Kashmiri militants: “The time will come soon when the occupied Kashmir will become India’s graveyard.”

In the same breath, Ahmed went on to talk about the Palestinian issue, stating: “Israel has massacred unarmed Palestinians with the assistance of the U.S. Despite the [UN] Security Council resolutions; attacks on Gaza continue even today. The oppressors will lose.” [32] Another Jamaat-e-Islami leader Hafiz Naeemur Rahman told the participants why they were there: “The women of Karachi have come out in the streets today to express solidarity with the people of Kashmir and Palestine.” [33]

Liaqat Baloch, another key leader of Jamaat-e-Islami, told a rally in Karachi on February 5: “The connecting of freedom movements with terrorism is a conspiracy to deprive the Kashmiri and Palestinian people of their basic rights.” [34] He described Kashmir as the jugular vein of Pakistan. The rallyists carried placards that read: “Earth’s three Satans – India, U.S. and Israel”; “Yours, my desire – martyrdom, martyrdom”; “Kashmir is Pakistan’s jugular vein”; “We support Kashmiris and Palestinians.” [35]

In an editorial marking Kashmir Solidarity Day, the Urdu-language newspaper Roznama Express, which circulates in 11 Pakistani cities, said that the United Nations was losing its credibility because of its inability to resolve the Kashmir and Palestinian issues. It added: “Because of not fully paying attention to Kashmir and Palestine, and [because of] showing haste in protecting the interests of the U.S. and Britain, questions are being raised about this institution [UN].” [36

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