No surprise here. Peace offers are only accepted by jihadists if they can be used as stepping stones to greater concessions or future military victories. But this is a lesson that Western officials refuse to learn. "United Jihad Council attacks Musharraf peace offer," by Praveen Swami in The Hindu:
SRINAGAR: A coalition of terrorist groups operating in Jammu and Kashmir has lashed out at President Pervez Musharraf's new offer for a resolution of the India-Pakistan dispute over the State, describing his four-point charter as a "unilateral concession.""Kashmiris cannot compromise on their right to self-determination," a spokesperson for the Pakistan-based United Jihad Council said in a press release faxed to newspaper offices in Srinagar late on Tuesday.
Referring to Gen. Musharraf's suggestion that India-Pakistan supervise the autonomous or self-governed states of Jammu and Kashmir that would be created if his proposals are accepted, the UJC said that "options like joint control can only be acceptable if they are a stepping stone for the right to self-determination."
UJC leaders have become increasingly critical of India-Pakistan dialogue on Jammu and Kashmir in recent months. "Freedom is our goal," Hizb ul-Mujahideen chief Mohammad Yusuf Shah in an October 30 interview, "and we will not accept anything under the Indian Constitution." He described plans for self-rule — a formulation that figures in General Musharraf's new proposals — as "a document of slavery."
Of course the offer itself by the government of Pakistan was not new, and was always deceptive. That offer, to "drop Pakistani claims to Kashimir" as long as the "Kashimiris themselves" could have independence, means only the following:
1) We are not at this point strong enough to fight with India, and America is now, alas, clearly on India's side.
2) We know that Muslims in Kashmir are clearly in the majority. They always were, and of course are so even more now that we have helped to drive 400,000 Kashimir pandits out of Kahsmir and into India proper.
3) An "independent Kashmir" would still become a Kashmir ruled of, by, and for Muslims, and that means it would be part of Dar al-Islam. It need not be made part of Pakistan for this great triumph of Islam to be achieved.
4) Finally, that "independent Kashmir" can always, at a later date (in un secondo momento, as Sonia Maino Gandhi might say in her native tongue) become one with Pakistan -- and thus the original goal be achieved in any case.
That's what the "brand-new Pakistani offer" really means. It means nothing at all. It means: Dar al-Islam will expand, and we'll see about the aggrandizing of Muslim Pakistan later.
"War is deception" said Muhammad. Right.
Musharraf is a sly, insincere dictator.
He is, however, better than those corrupt pakistani politicians who could NEVER POLITICALLY AFFORD to join any US-led "war on terror"
And that is why this naive idea of "democracy in the middle east" is an unsound proposition.
If you were today to remove the dictators from Saudi, Qatar or the UAE - only one type of political force would step in to fill the vacuum -political Islam - which - with its culture of violence- would probably eventually lead to another dictator anyway.
I think Washington needs to understand this clearly - THAT TRUE DEMOCRACY CANNOT TAKE ROOT IN AN ISLAMIC SOCIETY. EVER.
So, who is the United Jihad Council?
“In the summer of 1994 Pakistan's Inter Services Intelligence organized thirteen leading organizations into the United Jihad Council [Muttahida Jihad Council - MJC] under Commander Manzur Shah, the leader of Jamiat-ul-Mujahideen, the largest Jihad group operating in Kashmir”
[http://www.fas.org/irp/world/para/mjc.htm]
“Harkat ul-Mujaheddin is formed as part of the United Jihad Council. Some of the groups affiliated with the council are thought to be funded and supported by Pakistan’s intelligence service, the ISI” [Jane's International Security News, 9/20/2001]
OK – so, it seems to have been created by and now affiliated with the ISI of Pakistan.
What is Musharraf’s relationship with the UJC?
In Fear stalks Pakistan's anniversary, Syed Saleem Shahzad tells us:
“Musharraf has also sent exclusive messages to members of the United Jihad Council for Kashmir in which he assured them of his support for the armed struggle against the Indian army” [http://www.atimes.com/atimes/South_Asia/FH14Df04.html]
Perhaps far more revealing is the following quote from Hindu Business Online from Nov 11, 2005
QUOTE
…it is no secret that the Muzaffarabad-based, ISI-sponsored United Jihad Council (UJC), nominally headed by Syed Salahuddin, has served as the coordinating organisation for ISI-supported terrorist groups operating in Jammu and Kashmir. The organisation that plays a pivotal role within the UJC and remains a hot favourite of Gen Musharraf is the Lashkar-e-Taiba.
According to a well-informed Karachi-based journalist, the Lashkar chief, Hafiz Mohammed Saeed, visited Karachi on August 20 and held a series of closed-door meetings there. (The Binori Mosque in Karachi that has hosted Osama bin Laden is a nerve-centre of jihadi terrorism.)
Just before his Karachi visit, Saeed, along withZakiur Rehman, the head of the military wing of the Lashkar-e-Taiba, are reported to have met Gen Musharraf and were instructed by him that the Lashkar could carry on its activities in J&K, but "at a low key". On October 8, the day the earthquake devastated Pakistan Occupied Kashmir, Saeed warned India that it would be "destroyed" as a result of its "atrocities" in J&K. A similar warning was given to the US.
The United Jihad Council met on October 9 and stated that it would suspend military operations only in those areas of Jammu and Kashmir that were hit by the earthquake. The killing of Hindus and the assassination of a Kashmir Minister, Ghulam Nabi Lone, in Srinagar signalled a policy of continuing resort to terrorist violence.
Thus, when Gen Musharraf claims that there is no infrastructure of terrorism in Pakistan and Pakistan-Occupied Kashmir, it is not surprising that Dr Manmohan Singh points out the "truth deficit" in anything the glib General says.
UNQUOTE
So, for all we know, this is a well orchestrated drama by Musharraf…
Not only Western officials, but Indian politicians and leftist liberal too, do not even acknowledge the existence of 'United Jihad Council' in Kashmir. For the former it is a just separatist movement against the oppressive Indian rule, and for the latter it is only a Pakistan intelligence agency's hand with no independent religion based movement. Whether they are pretending to have this opinion, with being well aware of the ground realities or not is another important question.
So, for all we know, this is a well orchestrated drama by Musharraf…
Posted by: AJack at December 7, 2006 03:22 PM
It is, indeed, a well-orchestrated drama. Mush & the United Jihad Council have mastered the "good-cop"/"bad cop" routine to an art form. Of course, there are plenty of gullible people in this world who keep falling for this charade.
The only peace Islam accepts is one of total victory. So long as any one of their innumerable demands is not met there won't be any peace. They must have the whole pie or they will burn down the whole kitchen with their insane rage.
While on the subject of the subcontinent, there has been an unusual develpment in the case of a British charity worker found dead at the end of November in Dharamsala. Apparently he was stoned to death!
http://news.independent.co.uk/uk/this_britain/article2054647.ece
There are unconfirmed reports of attacks on the local church recently, although this mainly Buddhist and Hindu area has a reputation of being free of sectarian strife.
Two years ago, some Muslims tried to get the Dalai Lama to hand over one of the buldings his Tibetan exiles use because they claim it was once a mosque, although it is unclear if there is any merit in their case.
http://www.friendsoftibet.org/databank/indiageneral/indiag32.html
It would be worth keeping an eye on the investigation of this murder.
Hugh 's astute observations are spot on.
There is another reason too:
" .. for Pakistan, it is imperative to hold on to the region to ensure its very survival. Therefore, Pakistan will never allow it to exist independently ....
The next war may actually be fought over water. The increasing demand for water to meet the irrigation needs of the four provinces of Pakistan has reduced the Indus's gush to a trickle in its course through Sindh.
Water conflicts will only worsen and the Pakistani Government is incompetent to overcome the problem. Food insecurity, diseases and defunct laws characterise the fallout of this malaise. This is a security issue at the root of which lies the politics of patronage and an emerging threat to the nation's security, reminiscent of the 1971 crises that led to the bifurcation of that country.
The water issue has become so alarming that it is hurting Pakistan. As demand for water hits the limits of supply, potential conflicts will brew between nations that share freshwater reserves.... A water war may well start as a civil war in Pakistan and spill over to its neighbouring countries."
Pukistan has always been able to bulldoze its way through only because of the spineless, visionless infidel rulers who have no well thought out strategy in place.
All it takes to brainwash and disarm Indian infidels is a visit to their country and some biryani eating. Recently an ex-CBI official , adequately 'sated' sang some predictable paens of praise about pukistanis.
http://worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=51177
"India is afraid of its own muslim citizens"
Read it all.