Srinagar: A DVD, circulated among media organisations in Srinagar, on Friday claims that the Al-Qaeda has opened its India chapter beginning with Kashmir. Comparing the "struggle in Kashmir" with struggles in the rest of the Muslim world, a man speaking through the DVD vows to ensure a "Khilafat" type of set-up in the world.

The 15-minute DVD, delivered at newspaper offices, shows a veiled militant with pouches of bullets hanging across his belly and chest and a gun besides him. He speaks in Urdu and quotes several verses from the Koran.

He also delivers a stern warning to both mainstream and separatist politicians in Kashmir for "selling out." He introduces the new chapter as "Al-Qaeda Fil Hind" and maintains that Kashmir would be used as a gateway to intensify "jehad" all over India. "Kashmir is our door to jehad in India," the man, who identifies himself as Abu Ibrahim Al Qasim, says.

The militant, reading out a written statement, names mainstream politicians Farooq Abdullah, Mufti Mohammad Sayeed and Chief Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad and says they are "misleading the people of Kashmir."

A statement allegedly issued by the Al-Qaeda's so-called India chief Abu Abdul Rehman Al-Ansari and delivered along with the DVD claimed that 1,000 copies of it were distributed in mosques across the Kashmir Valley.

However, officials said: "We are watching the development and trying to verify it [the DVD]." "Nothing can be said at this stage unless we verify it and its origin. But there is no need to panic," said Director-General of Police Gopal Sharma.

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