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Pakistan should be ready for war: Lashkar chief

Amir Mir in Lahore

"Indian Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee's invitation to General Pervaiz Musharraf for a dialogue in Delhi is an eyewash, primarily meant to defuse international pressure on India," Professor Hafiz Muhammad Saeed, chief of the Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiyba, told rediff.com in an exclusive interview.

Dialogue, the Lashkar chief declared, would not resolve the Kashmir dispute. The Pakistan army, he said, should be ready to wage war against India at any time.

"We have learnt India is preparing its army for war. Therefore, the Pakistan army should prepare itself to defend Pakistan's frontiers from Indian aggression," Professor Saeed observed.

Asked about the possibility of General Musharraf visiting Delhi in July, the Lashkar chief said such visits would be a futile exercise -- like the 1972 Indira Gandhi-Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto Simla summit and the 1999 Lahore Declaration -- given the fact that the Indian leadership was not sincere in resolving the Kashmir dispute.

"I warn General Musharraf to refrain from entering into a dialogue with the Hindu leadership, otherwise his fate would not be much different from that of Nawaz Sharif," the furious Lashkar chief said.

Asked how the Kashmir dispute could then be resolved, Professor Saeed said jihad was the available option. "The Kashmiri mujahideen and their political leadership is unanimous on the issue of jihad and reject any peace initiative," he said.

Although the US state department had stopped short of declaring the Lashkar a terrorist organisation, he said "the Americans are going to label us thus in the near future. The Americans actually want to gain the Indian market. Besides, China is also a source of headache for the US. Therefore, it is hell-bent upon heaping favours on India."

The professor said the US has been talking about declaring Lashkar a terrorist organisation for the last two years, but failed because of the lack of substantial evidence. "Even the inclusion of the Lashkar in section II of terrorist organisations speaks of its failure to come up with any solid evidence against Lashkar. Otherwise, it would have already been declared a terrorist organisation."

"We have challenged the US time and again to prove terrorism charges against the Lashkar in any international forum. We repeat this challenge now. We can prove who is the real terrorist. India, Israel, US and Russia or the mujahideen? The world fully knows who was responsible for the brutal killings of hundreds of thousands of innocent people by dropping nuclear bombs. Has the world seen a greater act of terrorism than that?" he asked.

While denying that Lashkar activists were involved in killing innocent civilians in Kashmir, Professor Saeed said such stories were fabricated and aimed at misleading the world. "None of our activists was ever involved in the gruesome murders of Sikhs in Chhatisinghpura and the brutal killing of Hindu yatris in Pahlgam.

"Even the Indian media has ruled out the Lashkar's involvement in these bloody acts of terrorism. Lashkar activists are not allowed to carry out any operation at public places. However, they will continue the jihad against the Indian army, which is committing atrocities against innocent Muslims in Kashmir. This jihad has been commanded by Allah Almighty and no one can stop it," he said.

Professor Saeed said the purpose of founding an organisation like Lashkar was to revive the concept of tableegh or preaching Islam, since he and his colleagues believed that democracy had so far harmed Pakistan in many ways. "We want to create an environment of religious harmony and promote Islamic teachings in the true spirit, while simultaneously motivating the youth to participate in jihad and use force to liberate occupied Muslim territories."

"We are against killing Muslims and strongly support a peaceful solution of disputes between various groups," he said and explained that the Afghan war provided the impetus needed to build up the momentum for jihad. The Lashkar joined the Afghan jihad as a small group. Four years later, when the Russians withdrew from Afghanistan, Professor Saeed said, "we had not only increased in numbers, but had also attained the maturity to operate such an organisation."

He denied that the Lashkar or its parent -- the Markaz Dawatwal Irshad (Centre for Religious Learning and Propagation) -- receive any government patronage or financial support. He, however, acknowledged that after the Russian invasion of Afghanistan in 1979, several countries, including the US and Germany, provided funds through Pakistan to various groups fighting the Russians, including the Markaz. "But once we shifted our attention to the Kashmir Valley, we stopped receiving funds; government support also ended. Neither the Pakistan government nor any other Muslim country has contributed a single rupee for the Kashmir jihad," he claimed.

"Believe me, we are not funded by any foreign countries. We don't believe in waging jihad with foreign funds. Huge funds poured in during the Afghan war and we have seen its ill effects." Where then does the Lashkar and the Markaz receive funding from? "Only from individuals, people who send their sons to sacrifice their lives for the holy crusade in Kashmir," he replied.

"We teach a mujahid not only how to use a weapon, but also guide him as to who should be the target," the Lashkar leader said. "We keep a strict check on our members and don't allow anybody to take part in terrorism. For every mujahid martyred in Kashmir, there are at least 20 people waiting to replace him." He, however, refused to disclose the exact number of Lashkar militants deployed in Kashmir.

The Kashmir Cease-Fire: The Complete Coverage

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