Islamabad, February 05: The Jamaat-ud-Dawah, blamed for the 2008 Mumbai attacks, today flayed the ruling PPP for diluting the Kashmir issue as it prepared for rallies across Pakistan on’Kashmir Solidarity Day’.
JuD deputy chief Abdur Rehman Makki urged Pakistan’s civil and military leadership, including President Asif Ali Zardari, Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani and army chief Gen Ashfaq Parvez Kayani, to resolve the Kashmir dispute without making any compromises to India.
Addressing a protest organised by the Lashker-e-Taiba linked JuD outside the National Press Club in Islamabad to mark’Kashmir Solidarity Day’today, he accued the ruling Pakistan People’s Party was trying to”dilute”the Kashmir issue.
The JuD has said it will hold protests and rallies across Pakistan tomorrow to mark’Kashmir Solidarity Day’, which has been observed by Pakistan on February 5 since 1990.
Former President Pervez Musharraf had weakened Pakistan’s stand on the Kashmir issue by extending a hand of friendship to India, he claimed.
The JuD had earlier announced that the protest would be held at Aabpara Chowk near the radical Lal Masjid, but the venue was shifted this morning to the Press Club.
The turnout was small compared to similar protests organised in the past by the JuD.
Sources told media the change of venue and low turnout could have been due to efforts by the security establishment to prevent a major show of strength by the JuD just days before a meeting between the Foreign Secretaries of India and Pakistan on the sidelines of a SAARC meet to be held in Bhutan during February 6-7.
India has called for action against the JuD and its chief Hafiz Muhammad Saeed, who is also the founder of the banned Lashker-e-Taiba.
Pakistani authorities have said they are unable to act against Saeed as India has not provided sufficient evidence linking him to the Mumbai attacks or other terrorist incidents.
–PTI–