MUZAFFARABAD: Calling upon the leadership of Muslim countries to show bravery, Jamaat-i-Islami emir Sirajul Haque on Saturday vowed that his party would rally the entire Ummah behind the cause of liberating the oppressed Kashmiris and Palestinians from India and Israel, respectively.

“The Ummah is facing this situation due to its spineless rulers. From the soil of Muzaffarabad, I call upon the rulers of Pakistan as well as all other Muslim states to take practical steps [for freedom of Kashmir and Palestine] rather than banking on ritual resolutions of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation,” he said in his address to a big gathering organised by JI’s Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) chapter, under the title of “Solidarity with Palestine and Kashmir March.”

Participants of the event held in Upper Adda also included a sizable number of young boy and girl students. Many of them were also carrying flags of AJK, Palestine and JI.

“If the Arab League can spend 30 billion dollars on the environment, why can’t they do anything for the Palestinians,” Mr Haq questioned. He maintained that engaging people in jihad (holy war) against the evil nexus of India and Israel was the collective responsibility of the Ummah.

“Jihad is the sole path to secure freedom for the Kashmiris and the Palestinians. The martyrdom will eventually lead to liberation,” he said.

He said the gathering of the Kashmiris in Muzaffarabad was giving a message to the mothers and sisters of Gaza and occupied Jammu and Kashmir that “we feel your pain and will not leave you alone”.

“The rulers should either themselves organise advancement towards Israel occupied territory like that of Sultan Salahaddin Ayyubi or let the Muslim youths do it on their own,” he said. He said he had made a commitment to the Hamas leadership that “we will join them for the liberation of al-Aqsa”.

Speaking about the occupied Kashmir situation, the JI emir said India had dumped almost the entire pro-freedom Kashmiri leadership, as well as women, young men and children in notorious prisons and interrogation camps who were waiting for practical [military] support from Pakistan.

“Instead of conquering Muzaffarabad, people at the helm in Islamabad should conquer Srinagar where people are eagerly awaiting them,” he said.

He said the solution to the issues being faced by the Muslims was installation of a leadership that only feared the Almighty and not the US. “Remember, if Gaza is not saved, no one will pardon the Mir Jafars and Mir Sadiqs,” he said. He said that Pakistani rulers had neither been able to address the economy and enforce merit nor bring back Aafia Siddiqui.

“What else do they do?” he questioned, and then answered himself: “When in power they only raise their fortunes and when they are not in power they move to the US and UK.” He said it would have been better if the AJK prime minister had also attended this solidarity march.

Published in Dawn, December 3rd, 2023