Jihad against India: Hizbul Mujahideen

New Delhi, March 17: HIZBUL Mujahideen chief Syed Salahuddin has been caught on camera at a terror launch pad in Pakistan-occupied-Kashmir, exhorting his squad of suicide attackers to cross the Line of Control (LoC) and attack the security forces. “Go to India, wage Jihad. You will be fighting in the most inhospitable weather conditions. You will be killed there but your martyrdom will be supreme,” screams Salahuddin, the commander-in-chief of the Pakistanbased terror outfit.

The video accessed exclusively by Headlines Today shows Salahuddin indoctrinating his suicide attackers. They are armed to the teeth, with rocket launchers and Kalashnikov rifles. “The battlefield of Kashmir is no doubt the most difficult of all battlefields. That is why compared to others, the holy war (jihad) in Kashmir will bear you the sweetest fruit,” Salahuddin is seen telling his cadres before they cross the LoC.

He warns them of the might of the Indian Army. He tells his terrorists they will be killed in Kashmir and that they would be fighting in the most inhospitable weather conditions and altitude. Highly placed sources told Headlines Today this is a recent video made in late January or early February 2010.

“On February 5, 2010, Kashmir Solidarity Day was observed across Pakistan and Pakistanoccupied- Kashmir where Salahuddin was quoted talking about the 21-year struggle in Kashmir,” the sources said.

“ For the past 21- 22 years, in the beautiful valleys and snow clad peaks of J& K, along the Dal lake and Jhelum river, we have been fighting a war with the 7.5 lakh strong Indian Army,” Salahuddin tells his bandof suicide bombers.

The sources also said this video is in line with intelligence intercepts and warnings about expecting “ one of the hottest summers ever in J& K”. Intelligence agencies have warned that terrorists across the LoC have been ordered to carry out a series of “ intensified spectacular terror strikes” in the state.

“ Terrorists are now attacking security forces at least once a week. According to reports, Pakistan has reactivated the training camps in PoK and infiltration figures are on a sharp upward curve,” sources said.

In the latest attack, a terrorist walked up to a CRPF jawan in Srinagar and shot him on Tuesday before disappearing in the early morning crowd at Lal Chowk, which has earned the epithet “ Bomb Chowk”. “ Our real concern is the existence of terror camps across the border after the 26/ 11 attack.

There are 42 terror camps. And there has been no serious effort to dismantle them,” defence minister A. K. Antony said on the sidelines of Op Vayu Shakti in Pokhran last week.

Sources in the state police said the number of trained terrorists who have crossed into Kashmir has doubled. “ In 2008, 60 terrorists sneaked in and it doubled to 120 in 2009. The army and intelligence agencies estimate this to double again in 2010,” a top ranking police officer said.

“ Terrorists like Salahuddin, Hafiz Mohammad Saeed and Illyas Kashmiri represent the terror troika that openly operates out of Pakistan. Salahuddin has been leading the oldest group of terrorists. He is not confined to PoK and has a house in Islamabad,” sources said.

Even as India prepares for the “ hottest summer” in Kashmir, the attacks such as the one at Lal Chowk and the recent ones at Tral and Sopore where the army lost a special forces officer and an infantry officer, are proof of Pakistan stepping up operations to spread terror across the LoC. 120 terrorists crossed the LoC in 2009