Calls for jehad against India and US were made in Pakistan's national assembly on Tuesday by a parliamentary secretary for defence, Syed Tanveer Hussain

Submitted by Rahul (India), Aug 10, 2007 at 02:30

Calls for jehad against India and US were made in Pakistan's national assembly on Tuesday by a parliamentary secretary for defence, Syed Tanveer Hussain, who argued that the dispute over Kashmir would be settled in "one month" if jehadis were allowed free entry into areas under Indian control.

According to newspaper reports from Pakistan, Hussain, who found support from Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal, said that Quranic concepts should be allowed to guide foreign policy since in the case of Kashmir, there was clearly an US-India conspiracy to make the region autonomous. He said talks were never going to settle the issue.

Taking the populist anti-US position, Hussain said that "our love affair with US should come to an end and we should have better relations with Iran, Russia and China. We should wage jihad against US and resolve the Kashmir issue through jihad, not talks:.

Though the government distanced itself from Hussain's remarks, claiming that these were individual views, Hussain remains a member of the ruling party, who also holds a post. His outburst also reflected a deeply held belief in Pakistan that jihad was the only answer to ending Indian "occupation" in Kashmir and that this task could be carried out by freedom fighter-jehadis

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