‘Masood Azhar’ caught on tape vowing a Kashmir jihad

In an audio clip accessed by this newspaper, the speaker, whose identity was not disclosed, but is known by experts to be the elusive Azhar himself, has stated that no amount of diplomacy can work in these times of violence and it is only through violence that India can be forced to give up Kashmir.

Terming the thinking of certain groups within Pakistan, who feel that only dialogue can solve the Kashmir issue as a “wrong notion”, Azhar says that Kashmir can only be solved through guns and explosions.

“These people say that because of violence in Kashmir, we (Pakistan) are not getting international support against India. This is a very strange thinking. If violent activities were not carried out in Kashmir, India would not have even accepted Kashmir as an issue. It is because of the violent activities that Kashmir has become a bone that has got stuck in the throat of India. International diplomacy has never worked for a (jihadi) cause. They (Pakistan government) can send any number of diplomats around the world but it will not achieve anything except emptying the state coffer. Kashmir can only be solved through jihad, and it will be solved through jihad”, the orator says.

Azhar, while talking about the recent surgical strike carried out across the Line of Control by the Indian forces on 29 September, which he referred to as the “Shaitan ka surgical strike” (the surgical strike carried out by the devil), stated that religiously following the teachings of Quran and reciting it is the answer to tackle the “devil”. “Shaitan Jinn bhee hotey hai and Insaan bhee (Devil come in the form of spirits and they also come in the shape of humans)”.

The speaker also narrated an incident about an incident related to Delhi’s Tihar jail. “When our people were kept at Tihar jail, the Indian people would try to do magic on them but their tricks would fail after we recited our own verses and they would become helpless”, he says.

Referring to the killing of the 12-year-old Junaid Ahmed, a Kashmiri boy, who died due to pellet gun injuries, the orator says that his death is on the hands of the Pakistani rulers who rather than helping the Kashmiris are trying to please India by searching for the people behind the Pathankot attack. The orator stated that soon these leaders would be removed from their chair.

He also referred to the violence that began in Myanmar last week and congratulated his “brothers” for killing the police personnel who were harassing the Rohingyas.