Pakistan mainstreaming terrorism, says MEA

Hafiz Saeed of Jamaat Ud Dawa addresses a rally in this file photo. Photo:AP

“Extending facilities to a designated terror entity including providing train services, is nothing short of mainstreaming terrorism”

In the first official statement on the rally conducted by Pakistan’s Jamaat Ud Dawa in Lahore, India accused Pakistan of “mainstreaming terrorism”.

Making a sharp attack on Pakistan government authorities for facilitating the two-day ‘Ijtida’ addressed by Hafiz Saeed, indicted for the 2008 Mumbai terror attacks, the government spokesperson Syed Akbaruddin said, “This was an event at a national monument in Pakistan, with police deployed for security and advertised all across Pakistan. The rally was held by an organisation, that has been banned not only by India, but also the U.S., U.K, Australia and under the U.N. resolution 1267. Extending these sort of facilities to a designated terror entity including providing train services, is nothing short of mainstreaming terrorism.”

On Thursday, while addressing the ‘Ijtida’ at Lahore’s ‘Minaar e Pakistan’ monument, Saeed criticized elections in Jammu and Kashmir, saying they “cannot be a substitute for a plebiscite”.

During his sermon on Friday, Saeed went a step further, saying, “Ghazwae Hind is inevitable, Kashmir will be freed, 1971 will be avenged and Ahmedabad Gujarat victims will get justice Insha Allah.” Ghazwae Hind is a term that refers to an Al-Qaeda promoted doctrine of war against India. Saeed’s speech was live-streamed over the internet from the Lahore venue.

India has not made a direct protest against Saeed and the Jamaat Ud Dawa’s latest rally to the Pakistan government. However, in the past few months, the government has issued demarches to the Pakistan high commission over Saeed’s public rallies where he has made anti-India statements, as well as repeated delays in the 26/11 Mumbai attack trial against LeT in Pakistan.