Freed Militant Seeks End to U.S.

KARACHI, Pakistan — One of three Kashmir militants freed as part of a deal to end the Indian Airlines hijacking called on his followers Wednesday to destroy India and the United States.

Encircled by men dressed in camouflage-colored clothes and brandishing automatic rifles, Maulana Masood Azhar gave a fiery speech to 10,000 supporters, many of them members of his militant group, Harkat Moujahedeen, who gathered in front of a central Karachi mosque.

“I have come here because this is my duty to tell you that Muslims should not rest in peace until we have destroyed America and India,” Azhar said, vowing to liberate the embattled Kashmir region from Indian rule.

The Pakistani government earlier said the hijackers would be arrested if they set foot in Pakistan, but there was no effort to detain Azhar or to bar him from speaking.

Another of the freed militants, Mushtaq Ahmed Zargar, has also arrived in Pakistan.

The five hijackers seized the plane and held 155 passengers and crew members hostage for eight days. The ordeal ended Friday after India agreed to free the militants.