Pakistan-based militants promised to step up attacks...

Pakistan-based militants promised to step up attacks in Indian Kashmir to protest the death sentences handed to Syed Abdul Rahman Geelani, Mohammed Afzal and Shaukat Hussain Guru on December 18 for their part in a deadly attack on the Indian Parliament.
The three men did not take part in the December 13, 2001 attack, but prosecutors said they helped in the planning and logistics of the assault. Fourteen people were killed in the attack.
"India should be declared a terrorist state for awarding death sentences to three innocent Kashmiri Muslims," Maulana Abdul Aziz Alvi, head of the Islamic group Jamaat al-Dawat, said in a statement issued from Muzaffarabad, capital of the Pakistani-controlled Kashmir.
Jamaat al-Dawat was formerly known as Lashkar-e-Tayyaba, one of the fiercest militant groups battling in Indian Kashmir. The group adopted the name Jamaat al-Dawat in January after Pakistan's President Gen. Pervez Musharraf banned Lashkar-e-Tayyaba.
Instead of disbanding, the group simply changed its name.
The group's leader, Hafiz Saeed, was recently released from house arrest in the Pakistani Punjab city of Lahore.
Alvi threatened more attacks on the Indian army in Indian-controlled Kashmir, saying "freedom fighters will send more gifts of dead Indian soldiers to their government."
India accused Pakistan of arming and training militant Kashmiris, who want a united Kashmir to either be part of Islamic Pakistan, or be independent. Pakistan denied the charges, and refused to comment on the Indian court decision.
But Alvi said the insurgency in the Himalayan region can't be suppressed with death sentences.
"The sacrifices of Syed Abdul Rahman Geelani, Mohammed Afzal and Shaukat Hussain Guru, will not go to waste," he said of the three men.
New Delhi blamed Lashkar-e-Tayyaba and another Pakistan-based militant group, Jasih-e-Mohammed, for the Parliament attack.
Since 1989, more than 61,000 people have been killed in Kashmir, where militant groups regularly battle Indian troops.