Pak youths waging war in Kashmir: Hizbul

ISLAMABAD, Oct 25 (PTI) — Pakistan’s involvement in militant activities in Kashmir was once again exposed when the chief of the militant Hizbul Mujahiddin outfit declared today that hundreds of Pakistani youths were "waging war against Indian Army in the valley".

"Pakistan is the only country in the world which is helping Kashmiris in their war against India," claimed Hizbul chief Syed Salahuddin before a massive gathering organised by the Jamaat-e-Islami at the Faisal mosque here.

Hundreds of Pakistani youths, under the banner of Hizbul Mujahiddin, were fighting against Indian troops, he claimed.

Claiming that "Kashmir is a part of Pakistan" and the "fighting" in Kashmir is a "war of survival for Pakistan", he told more than a lakh people gathered for a three-day Jamaat congregation that they should be ready to undertake "jehad" (religious war) in Kashmir.

The Hizbul chief condemned the people involved in terrorist activities in Pakistan and "invited" them to cross the border and fight the Indian Army in Kashmir.

During the meeting, huge donations were collected towards the "jehad fund" with Jamaat leadership urging people to contribute to the Hizbul which recruits youths from different parts of Pakistan and sends them to Kashmir after arms training.

The Jamaat chief Qazi Hussain Ahmed also said hundreds of Pakistani youths — even 15-16 year olds — were regularly being sent to Kashmir to fight Indian troops.

He announced that only recently three Pakistani members of the Hizbul Mujahiddin, who had escaped from the Jammu jail, had arrived in Pakistan.

Several stalls set up at the congregation site have on display lists and photographs, with details such as addresses, of Pakistani militants who have been killed in Kashmir by the Army.

Only a week ago, during the bilateral talks with Pakistan, Foreign Secretary K. Raghunath had raised the issue of Pakistan’s help to militancy in Kashmir, but his Pakistani counterpart Shamshad Ahmed had strongly rejected the charge.

ISI funded PML campaign: Beg

LONDON, Oct 25 (PTI) — A former Pakistani army chief, Gen Mirza Aslam Beg, has confirmed that the ISI had funded Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif's Pakistan Muslim League (PML) during the 1990 general election, The Sunday Times reporter today.

"Gen Beg confirmed the ISI's involvement in the 1990 Pakistan general election and said Sharif's campaign had been the main beneficiary", the paper said.

The paper, which outlined new non-payment of huge income tax arrears by Mr Sharif and his family, described the charge of the ISI funding his election campaign as "most serious".

Claiming to have obtained a copy of the affidavit signed by the then ISI Director-General, Lt-Gen Azad Durrani, confirming his and the agency's involvement in the funding, the paper said a petition levelling these allegations which was pending before Pakistan's Supreme Court was likely to come up "very soon".

The Tehreek-i-Insaaf party chief, Air Marshal Asghar Khan (retd), in a petition in 1992 had alleged that General Beg, who was asked to create a fund of £ 1.6 million, instructed General Durrani to give the money to Nawaz Sharif and his political allies.

The petition had the potential of discrediting a whole band of politicians in Pakistan, including Mr Sharif and former President Farooq Ahmed Khan Leghari, and would also reveal financing of groups like the Jamaat-e-Islami by the Pakistani intelligence agency, observers said.

The paper said the Prime Minister, his family members and close allies had been named in 11 complaints to be examined this week by the Pakistan Accountability Commission.

The petitions moved against Mr Sharif and his relatives by his political opponents refer to his failure to declare his assets as required by the law standing for election and of defaulting Rs 12 billion in bank loans made to the Ittefaq group, the family's industrial empire.

Mr Sharif recently had offered to pay back Rs 2 billion through the sale of his three companies.

One of the main allegations is that the Sharif family had not paid income tax bills totalling more than £ 30 million.

The paper quoted Mr Safdullah Khan, a retired Income Tax Commissioner of Lahore, as saying that Mr Sharif's family owed tax arrears to the tune of £ 4.7 million in 1988 alone.

He later investigated the tax affairs of the Sharif family from 1990 to 1995 and alleged that it owed a further £ 27 million. Mr Sharif has mounted a legal challenge to both the tax arrears bills.

Meanwhile, the Essex-based Qazi Masud family, who last week had alleged that its family members' names had been falsely used to open fraudulent bank accounts in Pakistan to raise loans for the Sharif family, have reportedly rushed to Pakistan.