After Taliban, the Al Qaeda has now ditched Pakistan on the Kashmir issue by not even mentioning the region in a document circulated to top leadership of the global terror outfit.
The document titled "The Way Forward: A Word of Advice on the Coronavirus Pandemic" and circulated by Al Qaeda Central talked about the hardships of Uyghurs and Syrian Muslims besides the community members residing under hostile regimes but has been conspicuously silent on Kashmir which was earlier on the agenda of these terror groups.
Assessments here suggest the outfit could be frustrated due to the bickering between various terror groups in Jammu and Kashmir, especially the Kashmiri groups like Hizbul Mujahideen on whose inputs a number of terror commanders have been killed by the security forces after integration of the erstwhile State into the Indian Union. Infighting between Pakistan-backed groups and their masters in the ISI and Pak army could also be a reason behind the outfit's change in stance.
This could have led to the distancing of the Al Qaeda from the issue as also a realisation of the changed realities on the ground post-abrogation of Article 370 wherein top terror commanders have been neutralised by the forces.
Sources, however, did not rule out that Pak deep state could have advised both the terror groups to disown the Kashmir issue for now so that India does not stop funding in Afghanistan for reconstruction. The cash starved groups might be eyeing to take control of such funds as Pakistan economy is in shambles.
"Before the great disaster (Covid-19) struck, obscenity and moral corruption had already become widespread in Muslim countries. In fact this phenomenon had extended its dirty tentacles to the vicinities of the purest site on the face of the earth, the Haram in Makkah ....The despots ruling over the Muslim World, specifically in the Arab World, have been guilty of committing the most unimaginable forms of torture and rights abuses against Muslim scholars and Mujahideen in secret torture cells that have become a norm across the Muslim world," it said.
It further said, "To make matters even worse, Islamic causes have been consigned to oblivion across the Muslim world, especially Syria, Iraq, Waziristan, Palestine, East Turkistan, Libya, Islamic Maghreb, and Somalia...Muslims must learn some serious lessons this calamity (Covid-19) and start taking practical steps for the liberation of prisoners for the liberation of prisoners and missing persons across the Islamic World."
"Let us not forget that Covid-19 emerged from one of the filthiest places on earth, the markets of Wuhan (China), where all known norms of decent and humane dietary practices tramples upon. From insects to rodents and reptiles, in short everything unsafe for human consumption, or the consumption of which is prohibited in all revealed religions, was sold and consumed there," it said in an indication of its disapproval of the atrocities on the Uyghurs.
"The very technological advancement and globalisation that man took immense pride in has become his undoing. Today, if someone sneezes in China, those in New York suffer from its consequences," it claimed.
Earlier, the Taliban spokesperson Suhail Shaheen had said that "the policy of the Islamic Emirate is clear that it does not interfere in the internal affairs of other countries." Considering Kashmir as an internal affair of India is the clearest hint that Kashmir is not an issue or on the agenda of Taliban which is seeking to engage with India.
