JuD to hold 'Kashmir Solidarity' conferences this week

After lying low for over a year due to the scrutiny of its leaders in the wake of the Mumbai attacks, Jamaat-ud-Dawah, the frontal outfit of LeT, has stepped up its activities and unveiled plans to hold major conferences of Pakistani jehadi groups on Kashmir this week.

After lying low for over a year due to the scrutiny of its leaders in the wake of the Mumbai attacks, Jamaat-ud-Dawah, the frontal outfit of LeT, has stepped up its activities and unveiled plans to hold major conferences of Pakistani jehadi groups on Kashmir this week.

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The 'Yakjaiti-e-Kashmir' (Kashmir Solidarity) conference organised by the JuD in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir capital Muzaffarabad on Thursday is expected to be attended by Hizbul Mujahideen commander Syed Salahuddin, JuD leader Abdul Rehman Makki and former Inter-Services Intelligence agency chief Hamid Gul.

JuD chief Hafiz Muhammad Saeed, the mastermind of the Mumbai attacks, will address another "Kashmir Solidarity" conference to be held in Islamabad on Friday. JuD is the frontal outfit of Lashkar-e-Taiba, which is responsible for the Mumbai attacks that killed 166 people. After the 26/11 strikes, the UN banned the JuD and its chief Saeed was placed under house arrest but was subsequently released.

The conference in Muzaffarabad is being held after a gap of several years as such gatherings were not permitted by authorities after former military ruler Pervez Musharraf clamped down on jehadi groups following an assurance to New Delhi that Pakistani soil would not be used for anti-India activities.