Author:
Publication: Rediff on Net
Date: October 13, 2001
The Pakistan-based extremist organisation
Lashkar-e-Tayiba's chief Hafiz Muhammad Saeed has called for a jihad against
America's "state terrorism in Afghanistan".
Saeed's call came even as the United
States froze the assets of another Pakistan-based terrorist group, Jaish-e-Mohammed.
Pakistan's Online news agency quoted
Saeed as appealing to the people at his Friday prayer address in Islamabad
to "join a jihad in Afghanistan against the US cruelties inflicted upon
innocent civilians". India has been calling for a ban on all Pakistan-based
extremist groups, including the Lashkar, which operate in Jammu & Kashmir.
In his address, Saeed also called
upon Pakistan's military regime to change its Afghan policy and "play the
role of a real Muslim country to defend the cause of the entire Muslim
ummah [nation]".
He termed the US attack on Afghanistan
an "attack on Islam that is part of a nefarious design to wipe out Islam
from the earth" in the name of eradicating terrorism.
Saeed said the Taleban had upheld
Islam's honour by giving shelter to Saudi Arabian fugitive Osama bin Laden,
prime suspect in the September 11 terrorist attacks on the US.
"The days are not far when brave
soldiers of the Taleban will disintegrate the US and it would be worse
than the Soviets [who invaded Afghanistan in 1979 and finally withdrew
in 1989 after sustaining heavy losses]," he said.
Indo-Asian News Service
