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Kavita Bajeli-Datt in New Delhi
The imam of Delhi's Jama Masjid, India's largest mosque, said on Friday that he had received a threat from the pro-Pakistan Lashkar-e-Tayiba extremist group.
"They have threatened to kill me, but I'm not scared," said Imam Syed Ahmed Bukhari. "I will continue to fight for the cause of Indian Muslims."
Bukhari, who spoke about the Lashkar threat during a thirty-minute sermon delivered after the traditional Friday prayers, did not say when or how it had been conveyed to him. He also did not disclose the reasons for the threat, which he spoke about towards the end of the sermon.
The priest had recently challenged hardline Kashmiri separatist leader Syed Ali Shah Geelani's contention that the Himalayan state should be merged with Pakistan.
He has also criticised terrorist groups operating in Jammu & Kashmir and Islamabad for supporting these outfits.
The Indian government has blamed the Lashkar for several violent attacks in Kashmir, including the massacre of almost 100 people, including some 35 Hindu pilgrims on their way to a Himalayan shrine, on a single day last year.
"God will decide my fate. The Lashkar can't do anything to harm me unless it is willed by God," Bukhari said.
Indo-Asian News Service
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