Students protest in Delhi against the imposition of direct rule in Kashmir

A Pakistani cleric once close to Osama bin Laden has called on militants to wage jihad against Indian troops in Kashmir, increasing the threat of a terrorist retaliation to the imposition of direct rule in the region.

Maulana Abdul Aziz, 59, the imam at the Red Mosque in Islamabad during a 2007 siege by the Pakistani army that left more than a hundred people dead, declared that “jihad is mandatory”. Speaking to The Times, he denounced Pakistan’s strategy in Kashmir as a failure and demanded that Imran Khan, the prime minister, free Islamists held in Pakistani jails and “open the border for our fighters” to strike Indian forces.

Maulana Abdul Aziz was close to Bin Laden and al-Qaeda, as well as Mullah Omar, the Taliban founder AAMIR QURESHI/AFP/GETTY IMAGES

India’s crackdown in Kashmir intensified yesterday, with more than 500 people arrested and scores of