Hafiz Mohammad Saeed. PHOTO: AFP
The announcement comes just four days after Pakistan decided to ban JuD, the Haqqani Network, and 10 more organisations. India and the US have have long considered the charity run by Hafiz Saeed as a front for the Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) militant outfit, which has been accused by New Delhi for masterminding the 2008 terrorist attacks in Mumbai
"The government of Pakistan has no evidence against Hafiz Saeed or the JuD," Hussain said, adding that Saeed has the right to address rallies.
"India or the US should give us evidence and we will consider it. The JuD does not have a military wing and they are only involved in preaching Islam and working in the education field."
"Lashkar is banned in Pakistan and we have not found any linkages between JuD and LeT," the minister said.
Hussain said Saeed, who has a US bounty worth $10 million on him, was “not involved in any terrorist activity.”
He further said he supported JuD’s stance on freeing Kashmir from India.
“Even I refer to Kashmir as our [inalienable part]. Tomorrow you will ask for a ban against me and against all Pakistanis who support the freedom struggle in Kashmir,” he said.
"The JuD only pinches India, not Afghanistan or America. You can’t group it along with ISIS and al Qaeda,” he said.
Further, speaking about the tension between India and Pakistan, Hussain said Pakistan had given its all to improve relations, but to no avail.
“We have tried our best to improve relations with India but have had a bitter experience. We have a policy for peaceful relations but the talks must be fruitful and constructive. The firing along the border does not create conducive environment for talks.”
COMMENTS (28)
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Come one lets celebrate the good terrorists of our land...Afterall they were the damaad of our system.... We did not raise them for qurbani on Eid...
"JuD not a terrorist organisation, no reason to ban it: PML-N minister "
Of course, JuD is not a terrorist organization. They are just state strategic assets.
Osama bin Laden wasn't living in Pakistan. He just happened to choose Abbottabad to take walk in the park.
@Barooq: But then the General told the CNN journalist, its an insult to question Pakistan's capability to fight terrorism". If the General is right, then let's face it - He supports likes of Hafeez Saeed and differentiates between "Good terrorists" and "bad terrorists".
@Barooq: I kinda agree with you. This is the reality. But what's the solution? Either Pakistani army takes it own time and destroy JuD or if Pakistani army does not do so, because of the reasons you have mentioned, it will be up to Indian intelligence to do this through covert operations. In both cases there would be bloods on the streets of Pakistan, but in the first case, where if Pakistani Army does this, you can at least expect a controlled bloodbath.
You can't expect India to remain quite and suffer because of your inability to control JuD. A point in ref would be Indian defence minister's statement where he said that in case Pakistan does another Mumbai, we will ensure Balochistan is a free nation.
@Aschraful Makhlooq: Even after Peshawar, people can come up with excuses, then even GOD cannot save Pakistan! The Minister should know the difference between "having an opinion" (i.e. Kashmir is atoot ang of India/ Pakistan etc.) and killing to enforce the opinion (Mumbai attacks).
Very true,well,authentic,excellent and august statement given by PML-N's minister by declaring JuD not the terrorist organization and definitely this statement shall be like the double-edged sword because only on India's desires Pakistan's all organizations running under muslim scholars can never be declared the terrorists without any solid and authentic evidences and India wants to fulfill its desires without any solid and authentic evidences regarding the declaration of the Pakistan's organizations' terrorists....
Believe me Pakistani friends, Within 4-5 years you will not left with any other option but to destroy these snake. Time will prove my words. We Indian Muslims also fed up by these backstabbing. This is not congress govt. This is BJP
@Saad: USA has huge purchase orders waiting from India for all sorts of products. "Calling Shots" for India is the least it can do! Business comes first for both capitalist countries.
JuD IS a terrorist organization. It needs to be dealt with. Dealing with it is not straightforward, the problem has to be approached intelligently. A frontal attack will be counter productive.
Whether you like it or not, no one has evidence against Hafiz Saeed or JhD and this is a hard fact. If he is not guilty then what is the point of the whole discussion. If America or India has any evidences against them then why they are not giving to the Pakistani government? It should not be personal liking or disliking, the justice should be served. I personally don't have any sympathies for Hafiz Saeed but if our trial courts are concluding he is not guilty then we should accept and honor them.
you need evidence? just google the videos JUD uploaded in the past
Article uses references of an Indian newspaper. Did Minister talk to etribune or any other news paper or news channel?
@A-No.1: I am not sure how you concluded about a 'soft corner' in Mr.Barooq's comment. He simply stated the current status of various state and non-state players. I personally thought Mr.Barooq's comments were the most honest and frank self-assessment I have ever read in these comments section. As much as Indians hate the current status of relation between the two countries, it is what it is.
I thought you no longer distinguished between good and bad terrorist? Pakistan continues it's policy of strategic depth and once against demonstrates that it's favors rhetoric over action.
A-No.1
did you even read what I wrote? I don't have a soft corner. But I am not an uninformed, emotional fool. If only you knew what I know.
@barooq you are absolutely correct. Your assessment is right. Over 200k people were trained by LeT / JuD for the liberation of Kashmir. It took them 25 years to do so. They did with complete support of intelligence agencies. Today touching them means getting ready for a full fledged civil war which may last for the next 20 years. On the other hand so far there is not a single incident associated with them in Pak. the only way out is dismantle them by mainstreaming them.
@Lost Unfortunately, I am just the observer, and I stated the facts. Harsh as they are, what can I do? The only way regarding JuD is to ease them into the mainstream/charity works. The process is already started.
What else can we do man? Majbori hai
Meanwhile, Sectarian outfits like Jhangvi etc should be destroyed. This is what we can do NOW.
Rana Tanveer should be arrested for supporting a banned outfit. But NS does not have the guts to follow through.
@Barooq: In short, you have surrendered and want others to follow. Seems like you and the minister have a soft corner for Hafiz Saeed and his group.
Sad and Unfortunate.
Why you quote Indian newspaper for some thing about your own country ?
hence proved that PMLN have special linkages with terrorist group.
@barooq, if thats what we have come to, lets hand over the country to them and move on then?
High time we change our mindset from 'terrorists are only the ones who attack us, not the ones who attack someone else'. This strategy has burnt our hands before, so maybe learning a lesson or two is in order.
There needs to be a clear crackdown on not just these organizations but also its sympathizers, as was decided before, while government on one hand asks for media to curb appearance of pro-militant people it is failing to clean its ranks first.
Before uninformed trolls start with PMLN bashing, let me say that JuD is untouchable. This is not ideal, this is not right, but that is the way of things. There is absolutely no way establishment can use force to dismantle JuD for one simple reason: We don’t have capacity. These are not tribals at the borders, these are not people whom we can pin anything against. For better or for worse, JuD hasn't ever betrayed the army and a betryal from army will be catastrophic for two main reasons: 1) The central Punjab cannot be bombed with F-16s. There is no way to win this war. And JuD will do what maybe a conventional enemy army cannot do. Devastate the MI and foot soldiers 2) The fracture it’d cause within the army would be tremendous.
I don’t like the situation. I hate the proxies, but anyone who knows something about JuD knows, army doesn't have the option.
Very unfortunate decision...
Minister needs to be tried in military court. Still trying to play the good/bad Taliban game. Forget India for a second, why don't you ask USA for why they have a bounty on his head? That will clear the effects of whatever you are smoking minister saab,
It is abundantly clear that the moment Nawaz Sharif tried to even shift weight from side to side, the establishment came with a long cane and told Nawaz to keep quiet.