The Islamic radicals in Pakistan have not been pacified by Musharraf’s pardon of Abdul Qadeer Khan. They still think he has withdrawn his support not only from the Islamic bomb but from the Kashmir jihad. This from the Daily Times of Pakistan, with thanks to Jean-Luc:
The six-party religious alliance, the Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal (MMA) vowed on Thursday to wage jihad not only for Kashmir but also for the protection of Pakistan’s nuclear technology, and it also accused the government and Army of withdrawing their support on both fronts.
“Our rulers as well as the army have withdrawn from the protection of Pakistan’s nuclear assets of Pakistan and now it is the duty of the masses to wage a campaign to maintain nuclear deterrence and help liberate Kashmir from the Indian yoke,” central MMA leader Qazi Hussain Ahmad, announced at a mass rally here on Kashmir Solidarity Day. . . .
Mr Hussain was very critical of the US government and accused it of disarming the country. “It is an effort to disarm Muslim states,” he said. “America never wanted to see any Muslim country become a nuclear power.”
He questioned why the nuclear programmes of India and Israel have not been criticised.
He said the government is paying lip service to the Kashmir cause. “Now the President talks about setting aside the UN resolutions on Kashmir and calls the Kashmir jihad terrorism,” he said. “A stable nuclear Pakistan is necessary to win a war on the Kashmir front.” . . .
Later Mr Hussain initiated a mass signatory campaign against the detention of the nuclear scientists.
Other parties in Pakistan evidently feel the same way. From another Daily Times story, with thanks to Mentat:
Atomic weapons, traditional weapons, a strong army and voluntary mujahideen are obligatory for jihad and the Jamaat ud-Daawa (JD) will continue protecting and arranging these resources for jihad against Hindus, the JD party announced Thursday at a Kashmir Solidarity Day rally.
Around 3,000 people participated in the rally on The Mall, the biggest Kashmir demonstration in the city. The Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal (MMA) also arranged a rally of about 1,500 people, mostly women and children.
JD Ameer Hafiz Muhammad Saeed said the organisation would not allow the government to disregard the sacrifices of Kashmiri mujahideen, and would start a countywide campaign to inform people about “conspiracies against the Kashmir freedom struggle”. “Jihad is the only solution to the Kashmir issue and it was a fact and will remain a fact that jihad will free the Indian Muslims, who are looking to us,” he said. He said no one could stop Pakistani and Indian Muslims when they joined Kashmiris in their struggle against the Indian occupation because it was their “obligatory duty”.
“Muslims throughout the world have a bond of kalma. From Lahore to Srinagar, Kabul to Baghdad, Basra to Chechnya, they are fighting under this kalma, but the infidel world doesn’t like it and describes it as terrorism,” he said.
Mr Saeed said only jihad could guarantee the security of Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Iran, Afghanistan and the whole Islamic world. He praised Dr Abdul Qadeer Khan and said he hadn’t committed any crime by transferring nuclear technology to Muslim countries. “He shared the technology for the supremacy of Islam and he acted on the Allah’s command,” Mr Saeed said, describing Dr Khan as a hero. “He is our hero, will remain our hero, and the government can’t undermine his honour under American pressure.”
JD Foreign Affairs Committee head Maulana Abdul Rehman Makki said in his speech that the Western media was linking terrorism with Islam, which were wrong. America, Britain, Israel and India are the biggest terrorists, who are occupying the resources of Muslims countries and violating human rights all over the world. “The media and the (Pakistani) parliament should know that there are 77 commands related to jihad in the Quran. They should follow these and fulfil their religious duty,” he said.
An editorial reprinted in the Daily Times, “Our Meaning of Allah’s Army,” from Khaled Ahmed’s Urdu Press Review declares jihadist principles plainly. (Thanks to Mentat and Nicolei.)
The idea of war under Islam is at the root of our belief. We have many meanings of jihad but one central meaning is fighting in the way of Allah. Many of us think that only defensive war is allowed in Islam and that covert or proxy wars are not permitted. Others think that aggressive war “to remove injustice” is also included. Here we are on interpretive territory. The idea of Islamic war joins us with other Muslims in other countries although this introduces complications into the discussion because nation-states cut into the concept of the “umma” or one transnational supra-nation.