Several banned anti-India militant groups, including the Lashkar-e-Taiba and Jaish-e-Mohammad, on Wednesday announced their resolve to step up ‘jihad’ in Jammu & Kashmir and avenge the execution of Afzal Guru by India for the 2001 Parliament House attack.

Other organisations, which converged at the National Press Club under the banner of the United Jihad Council, included al-Badr Mujahideen; Jamiat-ul-Mujahideen; Harkat-ul-Mujahideen; and Hizb-ul-Mujahideen.

Slogans

The speeches by representatives of all these organisations were punctuated with slogans like ‘al-Jihad, al-Jihad’; “Kashmir banega Pakistan”; and “Guru tere khoon se inquilab aayega” (“Guru, your blood will bring revolution”).

While they trained their guns on India, the speakers did not spare Pakistan’s government either, questioning its silence on Kashmir in general and Guru’s execution in particular. They questioned the bid to improve relations with India and step up bilateral trade. “How can you trade with India when India is destabilising Pakistan?”

They also demanded the execution of Sarabjit Singh, the Indian death row prisoner who is currently lodged in Lahore’s Kot Lakhpat Jail. He has been held guilty of a terror attack which killed over a dozen people in the industrial city of Faisalabad.