JeM chief Maulana Masood Azhar
JeM chief Maulana Masood AzharReuters

Masood Azhar, the leader of terrorist group Jaish-e-Muhammad (JeM), has directly approached the Pakistan government, asking it to be courageous and approve the Jihadi operations that JeM is planning in India.

In Azhar's appeal, which has been published in the Jaish weekly magazine al-Qalam, Pakistan government has been warned that its indecisiveness could cost the country a "historic opportunity" to seize Kashmir. He further told Pakistan that if the government could open the path for the mujahideen, other issues with India, including the Indus Waters Treaty, can be resolved.

"If the government of Pakistan shows a little courage the problem of Kashmir, as well as the dispute over water, can be resolved once and for all right now. If nothing else, the government simply has to open the path for the mujahideen," Azhar wrote in the article.

Azhar also argued that Pakistan enjoyed strategic benefits in the 1990s when the government backed the Jihadist policies during the time. Further turning his attention to the failed South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) summit, the JeM chief said that it should not have been India that gets to put pressure on Pakistan and lead the other countries in boycotting the event. Instead, Pakistan should have cancelled the ceasefire along the Line of Control (LoC), he wrote, adding that Kashmir is the country's jugular vein.

Jaish-e-Muhammad had claimed responsibility for the terrorist attack on the Pathankot airbase in January and Pakistan government had promised to take action against the group. However, reports since then suggest that JeM works openly in the country, with a leaked video tape even showing a cadre collecting funds for Jihad outside mosques in Karachi as a police personnel looked on.

On Monday, October 10, there were also reports about Pakistan government approaching JeM and asking them to attack the Indian Parliament and other key locations in the country. 

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