Top militant leaders warn Pak against any retreat on Kashmir

Top terrorist leaders of the Lashkar-e-Tayiba and Hizbul Mujahideen have warned the Pakistan government against softening its stance towards India and threatened to wage a "war in Islamabad and Lahore" if there is any "retreat" on the Kashmir issue.
      
Speaking on the eve of the resumption of the composite dialogue process between India and Pakistan, Syed Salahuddin, chief of the terrorist conglomerate the United Jehad Council, said the Kashmir issue's importance had increased as India, Israel and the US had made "Pakistan their target".
     
Salahuddin, who is also the head of the Hizbul Mujahideen, told a conference in Sialkot that his organisation would wage "war in Islamabad and Lahore" if the "Kashmir liberation movement suffered due to the Pakistani rulers' cowardice, retreat and pro-India policies".
     
Salahuddin claimed that Pakistan's rulers had created "problems for themselves by extending a hand of friendship towards India".
   
Salahuddin also said the government had created dangers along the border with Afghanistan while "safeguarding US interests".

Salahuddin claimed that Pakistan's Foreign Office was "paralysed" and had not taken up the alleged rights abuses in Jammu and Kashmir.
      
Though the new government had been voted to power by the people who were opposed to President Pervez Musharraf and the US, the current political leadership is being "held hostage" by Washington through a "great strategy", Salahuddin said.
      
Salahuddin declared that the struggle in Kashmir was "gaining momentum" and would continue.

Addressing a separate meeting on Monday in Chakwal, Lashkar-e-Tayiba founder Hafeez Mohammed Saeed urged the Pakistan government to "shun the policy of unilateral friendship and adopt a principled stand".
      
Any solution to the Kashmir issue that was imposed on the Kashmiri people and went against their aspirations would not be acceptable to the Pakistani nation, Saeed said.
     
Saeed also alleged the US was instigating India to attack Pakistan and that India only understood the language of might.
      
Terrorists like Salahuddin have re-emerged since the new government led by the Pakistan People's Party came to power in March, and have been addressing meetings in different parts of the country.