"Kashmiri guerrillas will fight India until it frees Kashmir"

PAKISTAN: One of India's most wanted men and the leader of a top militant group said in interview that Kashmiri guerrillas will keep fighting India until it ends its rule over the disputed Himalayan territory.

Syed Salahuddin, chief of Hezb-ul Mujahedeen, the largest Muslim rebel group fighting against Indian rule over part of Kashmir, also said in the interview with Pakistan's Geo TV that he was sure Pakistan will never hand him over to India.

In the TV interview, Salahuddin demanded that India recognize Kashmiris as a party to the dispute and settle it with "sincerity and seriousness."

"Come what may, whatever the successes may be, until our right is acknowledged and a practical mechanism comes for giving us our right, our armed struggle will continue, God willing," Salahuddin said in the interview Geo broadcast on Thursday.

The station said that the interview was conducted in a "remote" area in the Pakistan-controlled part of Kashmir. Salahuddin accused Indian security forces in Kashmir of involvement in human rights violations such as raping women, and abducting and killing children and Kashmiri intellectuals. He warned that India should stop - or militants would launch attacks inside other parts of India.

"We will hit any soft target in any part of India. But we do not want (to do this)," he said. "Our purpose is not to interfere with the people of India."

"We are fighting against Indian imperialism that has enslaved us through its 750,000 army," he said.

Islamabad, Friday, AP