Many times, as I travel around the country and give talks about the nature and magnitude of the jihad threat, I encounter people who tell me that what I am characterizing as jihad struggles around the world are actually simple nationalist struggles for self-determination. And that is, indeed, the conventional wisdom — witness the mainstream media’s consistent designation of jihadists in Thailand, Indonesia, the Philippines, Kashmir and elsewhere as “insurgents,” “militants,” and the like. Never “jihadists.” The conventional wisdom is that Islam has nothing to do with any of those conflicts. This story is a tough one for that conventional wisdom, for it frames the Kashmir nationalist struggle within the context of jihad, thus indicating that these Pakistani generals do not believe that the two are the same thing, and don’t think that their audience confuses the two, either.
“Former Pakistani Generals: Kashmir’s War of independence Cannot Be Won Without Jihad,” from the MEMRI Blog (thanks to the Constantinopolitan Irredentist):
The Urdu-language website of Pakistan’s independent television network GEO TV quoted a group of former Pakistani generals as saying that “the war for the independence of Kashmir cannot be won without jihad.”
‘According to the report, the Ex-Servicemen Society, comprising “the former military leadership” said that the entire Pakistani nation must unite for a resolution of the Kashmir issue.
The ex-officers were addressing a seminar on Kashmir Solidarity Day in the city of Rawalpindi, organized by the Ex-Servicemen Society. Addressing the seminar were former chief of army staff Gen. (R) Aslam Beg, Lt.-Gen. (R) Faiz Ali Chishti, former president of Pakistan-administered Kashmir Maj.-Gen. (R) Sardar Anwar Khan, Lt .-Gen. (R) Abdul Qayyum, and others.
Source: Geo Television Network, www.geo.tv/urdu.asp, Pakistan, February 5, 2008