NEW DELHI: In a coordinated escalation of hostilities coinciding with so-called “Kashmir Solidarity Day”, top commanders from Jaish-e-Muhammed (JeM) and Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) engaged in incendiary anti-India rhetoric during public gatherings in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir, inciting direct violence against India and global powers.The rhetoric, which included open calls for jihad and threats to strike major Indian cities, has triggered a high-level alert across the Indian intelligence establishment as forces brace for potential cross-border spillover. Top Lashkar ideologue Syed Abdul Rehman Naqvi’s speech was particularly alarming for its specific geographic targeting, as he shouted to a cheering crowd the group will “set Agra on fire, rouse the Deccan, and shake Delhi”.In Rawalakot, POK, JeM commander Masood Ilyas Kashmiri addressed a large gathering where he exhorted Pakistani youth to join the ranks of the terror group. Kashmiri said his supporters stand ready with “full force and terror to crush the enemy”. He also warned that a “message” would be delivered to Delhi and global powers, specifically referencing the US, England and Israeli PM Netanyahu.The rally featured the public appearance of a “next-generation” cadre of newly recruited terrorists. Kashmiri is the same operative who previously admitted to the devastating impact of Indian strikes on JeM’s Bahawalpur headquarters, describing how the blasts left terrorists in “shreds”. In Lahore, Syed Abdul Rehman Naqvi, a commander of Pakistan Markazi Muslim League, the political front for Hafiz Saeed’s LeT, issued a chilling threat to India’s territorial integrity. Naqvi, who maintains close ties with Saeed and his son Talha Saeed, vowed to fulfil the “testaments of his elders” by dismantling “Akhand Bharat”.
