KARACHI: Hafiz Mohammad Saeed, the founder of the Jamaat-ud-Dawa (JuD), on Sunday asked Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif not to attend the oath-taking ceremony of India’s prime minister-elect Narindra Modi as it would be a betrayal to the Kashmir cause and would hurt millions of Muslims in Jammu and Kashmir and other parts of the gargantuan eastern neighbour where Muslims lives in large numbers.

“I will advise Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif not to sit beside Narindra Modi who is the killer of thousands of Muslims of India as it will bleed the cause of Kashmir’s freedom and irreparably hurt the sentiments of Kashmiris and millions of other Muslims living in India,” said Hafiz Saeed while addressing a rally titled ‘Takbeer convention’ outside the Quaid’s mausoleum to mark the 16th anniversary of nuclear tests conducted by Pakistan.

The fiery leader of the JuD was standing on a stage made up of containers full of the group’s cadres and leaders in the backdrop of a large banner showing everything eulogising the country’s defence more prominently the ballistic missiles like Ghauri, Shaheen, Ghaznavi and Babur, submarines, armada and fighter jets.

Just beneath the floor of the stage another banner was prominently read as: “An atomic Pakistan guarantees security to Pakistan and the rest of the Ummah.”

Calling the PM’s decision to visit India as ‘hasty’, Hafiz Saeed said the people wanted to see a Nawaz Sharif of May 1998 who, despite all pressures, lucrative offers and threats, decided to conduct nuclear tests to offer a ‘befitting reply to Banya India’.

He said the prime minister was ‘an ambassador for Kashmiris and the Muslims of India’ and he should not go to India. However, the JuD leader was ready to give a positive nod to Mr Sharif’s visit to New Delhi but not without certain conditions.

“If it is so important for you to attend Modi’s oath-taking ceremony, then you should represent the Kashmiris and Indian Muslims who are at present are suffering persecution. You should pronounce that you will not allow to build Ram Mandir in place of Babri Masjid, you will have to oppose the Indian authorities decision against the slaughter of cow and all other issues, which directly relate to Muslims’ faith.”

Besides, he went on, “You make Modi to accept that Kashmir’s fate will be decided only as enshrined in the United Nations resolution”.

Otherwise, he warned, the issues would get worse, the situation will deteriorate and the whole Pakistan will make you accountable for. “Everything over Kashmir should be done openly and we don’t accept any back-channel diplomacy.”

He said the election of Mr Modi in India and ‘imminent’ coming into power of Abdullah Abdullah in Afghanistan was a part of a big conspiracy perpetrated by the United States and its allies France and the United Kingdom, who “want to punish Pakistan for their worst defeat in Afghanistan”.

He held India and the US responsible for the unrest in Pakistan.

“Our enemies want to malign Pakistani forces and ISI (Inter-Services Intelligence) before their people. Especially India has longstanding designs to create endless disarray in our country.”

He said the army chief, General Raheel Sharif, should remember that the army owed to the Quaid-i-Azam whose order to protect Kashmiris was not obeyed 67 years ago. “It is time to act in the light of Quaid-i-Azam’s orders and vision,” he said.

He lauded former prime minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto and governments came subsequently for launching the country’s nuclear programme and stuck to it till the capability was successfully achieved through tests on May 28, 1998.

Sahibzada Awais Noorani, leader of the Jamiat Ulema-i-Pakistan, Asadullah Bhutto of the Jamaat-i-Islami, Chun Zaib of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz, Hafeezuddin of the Pakistan Tehrik-i-Insaf and local leaders of several other groups and parties also spoke.

Published in Dawn, May 26th, 2014