Pakistani hardline leader offers 1 billion for NaMo’s arrest‏

New Delhi: Adding fuel to the enflamed relationship between India and Pakistan, the chief of the hardline Jamaat-e-Islami party on Monday denounced attempts by Pakistani politicians to forge friendly ties with India and announced a reward of Rs 1 billion to anyone who “arrests” Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Speaking at a gathering at Rawalakot in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir, Siraj-ul-Haq said India had not been able to arrest jihadi leaders like Hizbul Mujahideen chief Syed Salahuddin even after offering a reward for him.

“I want to say to Modi that you and your agents cannot arrest Salahuddin… And you say whoever will arrest Salahuddin, we will give him Rs 50 crore. I too say that whoever arrests Modi, we will give him Rs 1 arab (Rs 1 billion),” he said.

Haq contended Kashmir is a part of Pakistan and any Pakistani politician who favoured friendly ties with India is a traitor to the country and to the Kashmiris.

“As long as the issue of Kashmir is not settled, whoever talks of friendship with Hindustan, he is a traitor to Pakistan and the Kashmiris,” he said.

“If you want the friendship of Hindustan, then go to Hindustan, to Delhi and to Mumbai, there is no place for you in Islamabad.”

In an apparent reference to the effort by Pakistan to give “Most Favoured Nation” status to improve trade ties, Haq said politicians who spoke of such matters “should be ashamed”.

Haq claimed Modi was responsible for killing “hundreds of civilians” in Jammu and Kashmir and Gujarat. He said Pakistani leaders were turning a blind eye to alleged Indian atrocities in Jammu and Kashmir.

“Our relations with India are conditional to Kashmir’s freedom,” he said.

The Jamaat-e-Islami has only four parliamentarians in Pakistan’s 342-member National Assembly but wields considerable political influence in several pockets across the country. It has traditionally opposed better ties with India.