Masood Azhar met Osama in May?

By Amit Baruah

ISLAMABAD, JUNE 16. Masood Azhar, Pakistani cleric released in the hostages-for-terrorists deal in Kandahar on December 31 last year, met the wanted Saudi dissident, Osama bin Laden, and Mullah Omar, Taliban chief, in Afghanistan last month and sought their continued support for the ``Kashmir jehad'', the independent Newsline monthly has reported.

The Pakistani journal also linked the sensational May 18 murder of Maulana Yusuf Ludhianvi, principal of the Binori Town madrassa, in Karachi, to the infighting between armed militants of the Harkat-ul-Mujahideen and the breakaway Jaish-i- Mohammad led by Masood Azhar.

``A week before his killing, Maulana Ludhianvi, along with Maulana Masood Azhar and Maulana Jamil Ahmed was in Afghanistan for a meeting with Mullah Omar and Osama bin Laden....to seek their continued support for jehad in Indian-held Kashmir,'' the magazine reported in its June issue.

``Sources within the religious parties claim that the killing of the Maulana could be linked to internal infighting in the Harkat- ul-Mujahideen....with which Maulana Ludhianvi was associated. Rifts within the Harkat emerged with Maulana Masood Azhar's release from an Indian prison....''

As Azhar was looked upon with suspicion for forming a new group (some in Pakistan firmly believe Azhar is an ``Indian agent'') with the blessings of Mufti Nizamuddin Shamezai, also a Binori cleric, the journal quoted ``insiders'' as saying that Maulana Ludhianvi could have been killed as a warning to Jaish activists.

``Insiders describe Maulana Ludhianvi as Jaish-i- Mohammad's chief ideologue and patron and cite his recent visit to Afghanistan with Maulana Masood Azhar in support of their claim,'' the magazine reported.

Referring to the hostility between the Harkat and the Jaish, it claimed that several Harkat activists had joined Azhar's outfit and managed to wrest control of a dozen Harkat offices in Punjab.

It also said the police were pursuing several other lines of inquiry into Maulana Ludhianvi's killing, including a possible sectarian angle though the Maulana always urged sectarian harmony.

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