Tapes of Masood's speeches surface in Hyderabad, suburbs

Tapes of Masood's speeches surface in Hyderabad, suburbs
T Sunil Reddy

HYDERABAD, FEBRUARY 1: In a development which is causing serious concern to the police, audio cassettes containing "provocative speeches" of Pakistan-based terrorist Moulana Masood Azhar have found their way into the city.

Azhar, a frontline leader of Harkat-ul-Muzahadin (HuM), was one of the three terrorists released in exchange for the hijacked passengers of the Indian Airlines flight last month.

Informed sources confirmed that the cassettes were changing hands, mostly through subversive elements and youth studying at religious institutions, of course in a limited and discreet way.

Azhar, who surfaced in Karachi soon after his release, made provocative and anti-India speeches. During one of the addresses he delivered at a mosque in Karachi, Azhar asked Muslims world-wide to wage a holy war (Jehad) against India.

He also proclaimed his intention to create a 5 lakh strong army to secure Kashmir from India. Azhar made similar speeches at his home town Bhawalpur in Pakistan and declared that he wouldnot stop until Kashmir was freed from the "Indian clutches".

Audio cassettes containing these speeches soon trickled into the country and began circulating in important cities.

The cassettes are believed to have been played at a religious institute on the city outskirts here. They were suspected to have been smuggled from North India by ISI agents.

Considering the communally sensitive nature of the city, police agencies are working round-the-clock to trace the source -- those who brought the cassettes and through whom they are being circulated.

Already, a number of audio cassettes narrating the happenings in Jammu and Kashmir, including "army excesses", were in circulation in the city and other parts of Telangana region.

Apparently prepared by those close to the terrorist outfits, the cassettes spew venom against Indian government and the alleged atrocities being committed on Kashmiri women and children by the army.