MUZAFFARABAD, Jan 13: Mutahidda Jihad Council (MJC), an alliance of the Kashmiri freedom fighter groups, on Sunday asked Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf to review the decision to ban the two Mujahideen outfits battling illegal Indian rule in held Kashmir.

“India is launching a false propaganda against the Lashkar-i-Taiba and Jaish-i-Mohammad groups only because of their successful actions against the forces of oppression in occupied Kashmir.

These groups are fighting to clinch freedom which India has usurped at the strength of its military might,” MJC chief, Syed Salahuddin, said in a statement.

“I am saddened at the ban imposed by Islamabad on them and I call upon President Gen Pervez Musharraf to reconsider his decision,” he said.

The MJC comprises 18 groups, and of them the Lashkar-i-Taiba, Jaish-i-Mohammad and Al-Badar have observer status.

Earlier on Saturday night, Salahuddin had said that Mujahideen groups would accept this decision for the sake of “Pakistan’s internal security and sectarian harmony.”

But on Sunday he made the appeal to President Musharraf to review his decision.

He said he was sure that the performance of these groups in the occupied territory will remain unchanged, irrespective of Islamabad’s decision.

“Let me tell everyone that both Lashkar and Jaish have local organizational setup in occupied Kashmir which are being run by the Kashmiris,” he said.

Commenting on the other points of Gen Musharraf’s address, Mr Salahuddin said it was “encouraging for the freedom-seeking Kashmiris.”

“What the president has said regarding Kashmir is encouraging for the people and the Mujahideen of Kashmir,” he said.

He particularly counted the three points regarding Kashmir which Gen Musharraf mentioned in his speech and said all of them were “highly commendable and had given a new boost to the freedom fighters.”

The Kashmiri commander said India had massed its troops along the borders in a bid to pressure Gen Musharraf but it was heartening that the president had not bowed to that pressure.