A video clip surfaced on Monday showing Pakistan Interior Minister Shehryar Afridi promising “full support” to UN-designated terrorist Hafiz Saeed, founder of Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) and mastermind of the 2008 terrorist attacks in Mumbai.
The video shows Afridi sitting with members of the Milli Muslim League (MML), a body affiliated with the LeT, reassuring that the group would be protected by the Pakistan Tehrik-e-Insaf (PTI).
“Allah willing, as long as we are in the Assembly, we will support Hafiz Saeed and anyone who follows the righteous path. This is our faith,” Afridi is seen as saying.
His comment came in response to the MML leaders expressing concern about the US sanctioning the group as a terrorist organization. Also its struggles to get registered as a political party in Pakistan.
“You should come [and] join us in the assembly and see whether we’re on the right path or not… We aren’t even worth the dirt on your feet,” the minister adds in the video.
The video surfaced two months after a team from the Asia-Pacific Group in the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), which monitors the funding of terrorist groups, expressed dissatisfaction with Islamabad’s efforts to cut financial support for terrorist organizations.
In February, the FATF placed Pakistan on its grey list following inaction in regard to funding of terror groups. The country still faces the threat of relegation to the FATF blacklist alongside North Korea and Iran, unless it complies with the international agency’s recommendations.
Government sources have confirmed that groups affiliated with Hafiz Saeed, including Jamaat-ud-Dawa (JuD) and Falah-e-Insaniyat Foundation (FIF), which front as charities for the militant organization, have regularly been cited as the primary concern of FATF delegates.
Hafiz Saeed and his groups were designated as terrorist groups in February, when the Anti-Terrorism Ordinance 2018 was passed. However, observers note that the move was a bid by the former government to forestall FATF action ahead of a summit meeting in Paris.
A similar last-ditch effort was seen when the Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan released its Anti-Money Laundering and Countering Financing of Terrorism Regulations in line with FATF recommendations ahead of the follow-up meeting with the terror watchdog in June.
However, with the duration of the Anti-Terrorism Ordinance lapsing, Hafiz Saeed is no longer designated as a terrorist in the country, a shortcoming that led to the US State Department admonishing Islamabad last month for its failure to follow up on the matter.
Experts now believe the video of Shehryar Afridi’s meeting with Saeed could spur another international backlash.
“This will be taken very seriously by the FATF. It will also depend on how the US is looking at the matter. It could get nasty for Pakistan,” the former secretary of Pakistan’s Ministry of Defense Production Lieutenant-General Talat Masood said.
“The government needs to urgently clarify its position. Because nobody believes Pakistan now. People know exactly what is happening in the country. The state needs to stop deceiving itself and its people,” he said.
However, Shehryar Afridi told local media the video was “two years old” and questioned the timing of its release “at a time crucial for the entire country.”
But there is skepticism about his claim, given that the MML was only formed in August last year and the fact that US sanctions discussed in the video were put in place in April this year.
Insiders within the JuD and MML have confirmed that members of the group have been asked to refrain from commenting on the matter in front of the media, and confirmed the fact that the video was old. “The video is a few months old but not two years old,” a member of the MML told Asia Times on condition of anonymity.
Meanwhile, senior JuD leader Yahya Mujahid said the video was “very old, but I can’t say how old.” He refused to comment on the video and blamed India for stirring conspiracy in Pakistan. “It’s the Indian media that has generated noise for no reason, and [the Pakistani media] is unnecessarily following their lead.”
Sources said the group’s reluctance to speak about the matter despite the minister openly vowing support for Hafiz Saeed was because its leaders were still working on future plans of action with their “backers”.
Lieutenant-General Masood maintains that the military is protecting Hafiz Saeed because that is part of the establishment’s policy to try to get militants into the ‘mainstream’ of politics, and that is the prime reason why Saeed’s groups have enjoyed impunity.
“The military has its own policy which is dominant. Whether the video is from before the election or now, it’s the military that is dictating the [mainstreaming] policy,” he said.
This is country is such a living hole. Damn boi
This is country is such a living hole. Damn boi
you get back to stocking shelves. They’re paying you by the hour!
you get back to stocking shelves. They’re paying you by the hour!
hope the brave journalist, shahid, doesn’t come to harm
hope the brave journalist, shahid, doesn’t come to harm
Messed up country, they speak with forked tongue, saying the war on terror is their own, US did not force it on them blah blah blah and then they say they need to be paid billions of dollars for the war.
Messed up country, they speak with forked tongue, saying the war on terror is their own, US did not force it on them blah blah blah and then they say they need to be paid billions of dollars for the war.
India is full of Hindu extremist groups like cow vigilantes, Rashtriya sehwak sangh and the Hindutva army all engagged in persecuting the minorities in India. Even going to the extent of beating the people from the minority communities to make them accept Hinduism forcibly, and all these organisations enjoy the full support of the ruling BJP party, this is not a new phenomenon in the sub-continent. To get more votes the political parties know how to exploit the radicalists in both the countries. In comparison to BJP in India , PTI is far less religious and radicalist political party in Pakistan . This writer has been heavily paid to propagate such type of one sided propaganda. India is only shedding crocodile’s tears and mere crying being unable to provide any evidence of involvement of Hafiz Saeed in Bombay attacks, whereas "Betrayal of india" by a German writer, Elias Davidson unveils the true picture of the plot behind Bombay attacks and is worth reading for those who believe in truth.
India is full of Hindu extremist groups like cow vigilantes, Rashtriya sehwak sangh and the Hindutva army all engagged in persecuting the minorities in India. Even going to the extent of beating the people from the minority communities to make them accept Hinduism forcibly, and all these organisations enjoy the full support of the ruling BJP party, this is not a new phenomenon in the sub-continent. To get more votes the political parties know how to exploit the radicalists in both the countries. In comparison to BJP in India , PTI is far less religious and radicalist political party in Pakistan . This writer has been heavily paid to propagate such type of one sided propaganda. India is only shedding crocodile’s tears and mere crying being unable to provide any evidence of involvement of Hafiz Saeed in Bombay attacks, whereas "Betrayal of india" by a German writer, Elias Davidson unveils the true picture of the plot behind Bombay attacks and is worth reading for those who believe in truth.
Pakistan is a true shithole.it rightfully belongs to India and must be re united with India to regain a semblance of self respect
Pakistan is a true shithole.it rightfully belongs to India and must be re united with India to regain a semblance of self respect
I am a Muslim from south Africa.ever since end of white rule, paki dregs began flooding our country and importing their criminality
I am a Muslim from south Africa.ever since end of white rule, paki dregs began flooding our country and importing their criminality
Am grateful I didn’t grow up under these mediaeval ragheads.their underlings are only good for chicken tika, barbershop, and pirate CDs and DVDs
Am grateful I didn’t grow up under these mediaeval ragheads.their underlings are only good for chicken tika, barbershop, and pirate CDs and DVDs
Oh bhai you are just a nigger. Had you been in Pakistan, you’d have been treated as such……nothing medieval about it. Indians are treated like a bunch of niggers in Pakistan.
Oh bhai you are just a nigger. Had you been in Pakistan, you’d have been treated as such……nothing medieval about it. Indians are treated like a bunch of niggers in Pakistan.
Long live Hafiz Saeed ????
Long live Hafiz Saeed ????
If you sleep with dogs you will get fleas!
If you sleep with dogs you will get fleas!
Pakistan is a Sovereign country and it is up to Pakistan courts to decide who is a terrorist or not. Nelson Mandela was also a terrorist according to the US and UN. Later the US changed their mind and gave Nelson Mandela a ticker-tape parade when he arrived in the USA. Erdogan in Turkey want the alleged terrorist Gulen extradited from the US, the US refuse and say Gulen is only a gullible old man.
The best way to fight terrorism in Pakistan is to get the US troops out of Afghanistan. The US has destabilized the region and created extremism and poverty that fuels terrorism. Prime Minister Imran Kahn should help US to get out of Afghanistan and remove CIA “asset” listening post like the NATO/Norwegian company Telenor who have telecom infrastructure in Pakistan and Bangladesh.
Pakistan is a Sovereign country and it is up to Pakistan courts to decide who is a terrorist or not. Nelson Mandela was also a terrorist according to the US and UN. Later the US changed their mind and gave Nelson Mandela a ticker-tape parade when he arrived in the USA. Erdogan in Turkey want the alleged terrorist Gulen extradited from the US, the US refuse and say Gulen is only a gullible old man.
The best way to fight terrorism in Pakistan is to get the US troops out of Afghanistan. The US has destabilized the region and created extremism and poverty that fuels terrorism. Prime Minister Imran Kahn should help US to get out of Afghanistan and remove CIA “asset” listening post like the NATO/Norwegian company Telenor who have telecom infrastructure in Pakistan and Bangladesh.
Ahson Aftab Practically in every town in South Africa there are pakistanis- no doubt many criminals,some that abandoned there wives or families,crooks and thieves or perhaps murderers in the mix
Ahson Aftab Practically in every town in South Africa there are pakistanis- no doubt many criminals,some that abandoned there wives or families,crooks and thieves or perhaps murderers in the mix
Frank Khan oh, and South African’s are not criminal?…..GTFO!
Frank Khan oh, and South African’s are not criminal?…..GTFO!
Ahson Aftab at least you dont find us scattered all over the world like you pakis- As hustlers you are not wanted nor trusted where ever you go. Pakistan belongs rightfully to India and should be re-united. go cut someones hair mate- only thing you r good for
Ahson Aftab at least you dont find us scattered all over the world like you pakis- As hustlers you are not wanted nor trusted where ever you go. Pakistan belongs rightfully to India and should be re-united. go cut someones hair mate- only thing you r good for
Ahson Aftab Also many of your village preachers come to our country to lecture to us when their own country is one big shithole. your imams and moulanas are a fk joke-the stinkin ragheads
Ahson Aftab Also many of your village preachers come to our country to lecture to us when their own country is one big shithole. your imams and moulanas are a fk joke-the stinkin ragheads