Taliban vow to ‘take’ Kashmir, implement Sharia rule in India

A top Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) leader Wali Ur Rehman in a rare video appearance has pledged to send fighters in Kashmir and wage a struggle for implementation of Sharia rule in India.

Wali Ur Rehman, against whom the US has announced a $5 million reward for his involvement in the murder of seven CIA officials in Afghanistan in December 2009, is believed to have said this in a rare video of his along with the TTP chief Hamikullah Mehsud, in which the two militant leaders have for the first time spoken about their ambitions transcending beyond the Af-Pak border taking them to Kashmir, India and the United States as well.

"The practical struggle for a Sharia system that we are carrying out in Pakistan, the same way we will continue it in Kashmir, and the same way we will implement the Sharia system in India too. And this is the only solution for people's problems," said Rehman, according to the translation provided by the Jihad and Terrorism Threat Monitor (JTTM) of Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI), a Washington-based thinktank.

The 45:52 minute video in Pashtun with Urdu subtitles has been produced by Umar Media, the broadcasting arm of TTP. It was released to the Internet on January 6.

According to MEMRI, for the first time perhaps, TTP's official spokesman Ehsanullah Ihsan is shown in the video, which devotes a section — towards the last part — to Kashmir.

Claiming the Jihad launched by the Pakistani government inside Kashmir has failed to yield any desired result, the video says it would launch its own jihad in the Valley and talks about sending its jihadi forces. "Allah willing, the mujahedeen of Tehreek-e-Taliban will arrive in Kashmir and as per the Islamic sharia will help the Kashmiris get their rights," Rehman said.

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