The Hindu : Fazlur Rehman's remarks draw clerics' ire

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Jul 23, 2003

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International - India & World

Fazlur Rehman's remarks draw clerics' ire

ISLAMABAD JULY 22. A radical Islamic group today accused Maulana Fazlur Rehman, a top Pakistani Muslim cleric and a key figure in a pro-Taliban alliance in Pakistan's parliament, of doing politics on the ``blood of martyrs'' to gain popularity in India.

Mr. Rehman has been meeting Indian leaders, including the Prime Minister, Atal Behari Vajpayee. He has stirred some controversy at home by saying that Pakistan's Islamic clerics want a peaceful, political solution to the Kashmir dispute. "Maulana Fazlur Rehman has tried to give the impression that the freedom movement in Kashmir is not jihad," said Hafiz Khalid Walid, spokesman for Jamaat al-Dawat group, which supports the long-running insurgency in Kashmir.

Jamaat al-Dawat is the successor organisation of the Lashkar-e-Taiba, which was banned by the Pakistani Government after India accused it of being behind the December 13, 2001, attack by militants on Parliament.

Hafiz Saifullah Mansoor, the group's leader, said some Pakistani newspapers reported that Mr. Rehman had criticised Kashmiri "freedom fighters" during his speeches in India. His Rehman's party, the Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam, maintains that he was misquoted.

"Mr. Rehman and his party are doing politics on the blood of martyrs," said Mr. Mansoor. "They are using the language of Mr. Vajpayee." — AP

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