Osama bin Laden, Taliban and India (1334).

B. Raman

The first reference by Osama bin Laden to India was made at his press conference at Khost in Afghanistan on May 26, 1998, when he announced the formation of the International Islamic Front For Jihad Against the US and Israel. To a question from a journalist (only Pakistani journalists were invited), he said he would have loved to join the jihad in Kashmir, but the Pakistani authorities would not permit him. Thereafter, he has not referred to India in any of his statements or interviews. However, there have been references to his attitude to India in statements made by Pakistan-based mercenary elements and their organisations operating in Kashmir and other parts of India, and in pamphlets and posters purported to have been issued by him, which keep periodically circulating in Peshawar in the North-West Frontier Province (NWFP) of Pakistan. It would be difficult to vouch for their authenticity though.

Significantly, neither bin Laden nor the Taliban of Afghanistan, which protects him, has ever made any comments which could be interpreted as anti-Hindu or as indicating their support for the designs of the Pakistan-based mercenary …