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| India-Pakistan |
| United Jihad Council disappears |
| 2008-12-13 |
| ISLAMABAD: A coalition of five major Jihadi organisations, led by the once fiery militant commander Syed Salahuddin, has simply disappeared. It has temporarily dissolved itself, closed its offices, removed all signs and asked its leaders to stay quiet. The strategy follows the current Pakistan-India tension following the Mumbai blasts and the ban imposed by the UN on several such organisations in Pakistan. The United Jihad Council (UJC) is a major Kashmiri group comprising Harkat-ul-Ansar, Hizbul Mujahideen, Jamiat-ul-Mujahideen, Al-Jihad, Al-Barq, Ikhwan-ul-Mussalmin andTehrik-ul-Mujahideen. By early 1999, as many as 15 organisations were affiliated with the council, though only five of these were considered influential. "Following the Mumbai attacks and the subsequent tension between Pakistan and India, the United Jihad Council has decided to remain silent," said a commander of one of the UJC member organisations, requesting anonymity. He said the incumbent Pakistani rulers were pursuing the same policy adopted by Pervez Musharraf and the statements on Kashmir issued so far by President Asif Zardari had made it clear that the present Pakistan government would extend no support to the Kashmiri freedom fighters. "In the current situation, the UJC is maintaining complete silence and has no contact with any Pakistani organisation or institution," the UJC commander said. "The outfits banned in Pakistan, including the Lashkar-e-Taiba, have never worked with the UJC nor maintained with it any direct or indirect contact," he added while claiming that that they were fighting for the liberation of occupied Jammu and Kashmir and their struggle would continue. Since the government launched a crackdown against Jamaat-ul-Dawah and started sealing its offices across Pakistan and Azad Kashmir, all the central leaders of the UJC have been maintaining a low profile and have removed signboards from temporary sub-offices of the organisations in various districts of Azad Kashmir. When The News contacted Foreign Office spokesman Muhammad Sadiq, he said there was no change in Pakistan's Kashmir policy. He said Pakistan supported the just struggle of Kashmiris for their right to self-determination but no authority in Pakistan had any links with militant or political organisations operating in occupied Kashmir. The UJC was formed in the summer of 1994 by amalgamation of several armed resistance organisations. It is currently headed by Syed Salahuddin, the leader of Hizbul Mujahideen, the largest group operating in the occupied Jammu and Kashmir. This organisation was created to unify and focus efforts of various armed resistance groups fighting the Indian rule in Kashmir. This made distribution of resources like arms, ammunition, propaganda materials and communication more streamlined. It also made it easier to coordinate and pool resources of various Jihadi groups to collect information, plan operations and strike at targets of military importance in the Indian occupied Kashmir. |
| Posted by:john frum |
| #1 Quiet dinner parties at home with key members of the UJC as guests don't count as meetings, of course. |
| Posted by: trailing wife 2008-12-13 09:23 |