Hafiz Saeed tags Pak politicians puppets of India, US

Mumbai terror attacks mastermind and chief of Jamaat-ud-Dawa (JuD) Hafiz Mohammed Saeed lashed out at Pakistani politicians by calling them puppets of India and the United States.

"If we decide to vote for the slaves of the United States and the friends of (Prime Minister of India) Narendra Modi, then we are digging our own graves," Saeed said while addressing a political gathering in Okara city of Pakistan's Punjab province along with Saifullah Khalid of Milli Muslim League.

"I am giving you this message loud and clear, your Pakistan is being made a battlefield by destabilising it through barbarism and disturbing the peace of our nation. We need to fight against all these odds and save Pakistan," he added.

Hafiz Saeed's son Hafiz Talha Saeed and his son-in-law Khalid Waleed are among 265 candidates fielded by the Jamaat-ud-Dawa for national and provincial assembly seats across Pakistan on the July 25 general elections, with the banned group's political wing vowing to make the country a 'citadel of Islam'.

The group decided to contest on the platform of a little known "dormant" political entity, Allaha-u-Akbar Tehreek (AAT), registered with the Election Commission of Pakistan.

Attacking the incumbent government for muzzling his and his party's voice through various means he said the current dispensation was working at the collective commands of Washington and New Delhi.

While spewing venom against India and the US, Saeed said, "India, sitting in Afghanistan supported by the United States is planning to divide Pakistan. My brothers of Okara, maybe you don't have much knowledge about the ground reality, you only know what has reached you through media, but let me tell you I have met many in Balochistan, I have walked through the streets of Balochistan, and I have understood that India is trying to divide Balochistan from Pakistan."

He said the corrupt and unscrupulous leaders of Islamabad were extensively involved in money making through various means and were not even remotely concerned about the welfare of the state.

He also termed China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), the flagship project of Chinese Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) as a counter-productive deal poised to hurt the sovereignty of Pakistan. "This is the Pakistan of the CPEC (China Pakistan Economic Corridor), and through this project, nearly 200 countries are connected to us and through this, we want to make a 'New Pakistan'. We want to see Pakistan become a global leader through our friendship with China and Russia." Saeed said.

Various countries, including India, have expressed in discontentment over dreaded terrorist's entity being mainstreamed in Pakistan.

However, the deep state of army which seems to backing-up Hafiz Saeed has been successful in bringing him to the fore.

It is also pertinent to mention here that Pakistan, only few days back, has once again been put into the grey list by the Financial Action Task Force, for its inability to contain the terror-related finance flowing through its territory.