With New Delhi waiting to take forward the Indo-Pak peace process with the new government in Islamabad, a nervous Hafiz Mohammed Saeed, the founder of the banned Lashkar-e-Toiba is said to have told a jihad conference in Muzafarrabad through a telephone address earlier this month that he has been banned from travelling to Pakistan-Occupied Kashmir. However, he assured the gathering that this will soon be overturned. Intelligence and security officials here say that Saeed, who now heads the Jamaat-ud-Dawa, the Lashkar’s front organisation, addressed the conference in PoK on March 1 where he said that he was in “talks” to get the ban on his movement lifted.He is also planning to organise an annual nationwide conference of Islamic fundamentalist groups at JUD headquarters in Muridke near Lahore next week. Saeed is said to have already held detailed preparatory meetings, making it clear that the conference must send out an “unequivocal message” on continuing the “Kashmir struggle”. However, intelligence reports indicate that this could all be a response to growing resentment among jihadi outfits dedicated to the Kashmir cause, particularly cadres of the Lashkar and Hizbul Mujahideen. With the passes expected to open in the next few months and elections in J&K slated for this year, there is pressure on Saeed and his sponsors for clearer directions and more importantly, improving the flow of funds. In his address, Saeed sought to explain that the war on terror had “adversely impacted the Kashmir liberation movement”. However, he repeatedly emphasised that the situation would change soon and that he would signal this with the launch of a new magazine dedicated to the “Kashmir movement”.Taking this forward, Maulana Abdul Aziz Alvi, Amir of JuD POK, described jihad as JuD’s politics. He claimed that JuD, under a “well-devised strategy, had continued jihad even after 9/11 and as a result was a strong jihadi outfit today”.Saeed’s remarks are being read in the backdrop of his speech at the Kashmir Solidarity Day function in Lahore in February. Showing signs of frustration, he had said that “if the Pakistan government did not announce jihad, JuD together with all parties (will) wage jihad on their own”. This was seconded by another JuD leader, Saifullah Mansoor, who said: “(The) Kashmir jihad will continue and the mujahideen will continue to offer sacrifices.” This was the same meeting, which separatist Hurriyat leader Syed Ali Shah Geelani addressed over the phone from J&K. He is said to have described Pakistan as a “pivot of his aspirations”The strong warning sent out by these groups have prompted Pakistan intelligence agencies to intervene. According to sources, there is pressure from different quarters, including former ISI chief Lt Gen Hamid Gul who headed the agency when Benazir Bhutto was the PM.
